For independent online businesses
Make your online business
work better.
Starting an online business, or looking to improve the one you run? Buildingmoats helps you build an efficient business system, so you know what you’re working toward, how to get there and when to adjust course—helping you turn your business goals into a practical plan of action.
A clear business framework
Build a clear business system.
Improve how your business performs.
This framework breaks your business into seven connected areas, each with a clear focus and practical guidance. Understand your business as a whole and explore each part in depth, so you can find problems faster, improve performance and work toward your goals.
01
Customer research
You may be wondering
Why would my target customers buy my product—and what gives me reason to believe they would?
We help you
Understand the needs of a clearly defined customer group, so your product and marketing decisions are grounded in how those customers think and act.
02
Product development
You may be wondering
How do I turn this idea into a product customers will want to buy?
Which product features matter most to my customers?
We help you
Turn customer needs into a clear brief, then sample, test and improve the product.
03
Supply chain
You may be wondering
Can I deliver reliably without tying up too much money in stock?
We help you
Connect sourcing, quality, inventory and fulfillment to keep delivery and cash commitments manageable.
04
Store building
You may be wondering
How do I choose the best way to build my online store?
We help you
Compare building options and understand their impact on costs, maintenance, flexibility and future growth.
05
Customer acquisition
You may be wondering
How do I bring the right visitors to my store without wasting budget?
We help you
Go where your potential customers are.
Choose suitable channels, understand what works on each and test how to turn your effort and budget into results that support your business.
06
Conversion diagnosis
You may be wondering
People visit my store. Why aren’t they buying?
Is my price too high, or are my product photos failing to convince customers?
We help you
Review each step from arrival to checkout, narrow down the barriers to purchase and test targeted improvements, so you can respond faster and improve conversion over time.
07
Business optimization
You may be wondering
Why am I working hard across the business without seeing better results?
We help you
Find where the system is slowing down.
Remove the bottlenecks that disrupt other parts and build on your strengths, so the business can work more effectively as a whole.
About Buildingmoats
Why we built Buildingmoats.
Experience behind the framework
More than five years of end-to-end experience in independent online businesses.
We have been there
Many people want to start an online business—or already run one—but struggle to work out how to make it succeed. Our core team has been there too. Through years of hands-on work, we have built practical experience and developed approaches that have worked in our own businesses. We created Buildingmoats to share what we have learned and help more business owners build their own path to success.
A system you can work with
Buildingmoats helps people starting or running an independent online business build a clear business system. We break down the goals, practical steps and decisions at each stage, so you can pinpoint problems faster, improve performance and work toward your business goals.
Practical help for your business
Through practical guidance, templates & tools, and consulting, we help you understand customer needs, develop products, plan costs and cash, build your store, attract relevant visitors and investigate why they do—or do not—buy.
Resources, tools and consulting
Practical support for the business behind your store.
Learn through practical resources, get tools built around your workflows and work with our team on improvements that support your business goals.
01
Resources
Guides, tutorials and templates to help you understand the work and put it into practice, with industry insights and case studies to learn from.
02
Custom Tools
We develop tools around your operating needs, from cost and profit calculations to purchasing, inventory and fulfillment workflows.
03
Consulting
Discuss your business with our team, examine the issues in depth and work on improvements that support your goals.
Start with your situation
What stage is your business at?
Preparing to launch or already running a store? Find guides, templates & tools to clarify your goals and follow clear, practical steps toward them.
Preparing to launch?
Get clear on what to work through before building and launching your store.
8 questions to answer before you start an online store
Get clear on who you’ll sell to, what you’ll offer, how you’ll reach customers and what the business will need to operate.
Which store-building option fits your business?
Compare popular store-building options—Shopify, WordPress with WooCommerce and custom-built stores—through cost, control, maintenance and the work you’re prepared to manage.
Already running a store?
Review what is happening across your business and identify where to investigate next.
Why is no one visiting my store?
Check whether your store can be found, whether your channels reach the right people and what your traffic data tells you to investigate next.
People visit my store. Why aren’t they buying?
Examine traffic quality, product pages, pricing, trust and checkout to narrow down what is preventing purchases.