Choosing the right first sales channel can shape everything that follows for a small business. Many founders get stuck debating whether to start online, in retail, or selling wholesale. According to recent data, e-commerce now represents about 16.3% of all U.S. retail sales as of Q2 2025. Meanwhile, among small businesses, 44% now sell online only, 16% sell in-person only, and 41% combine online and in-person sales—showing a clear shift toward hybrid or fully digital sales models.
Founders often rush into online, wholesale, or retail without understanding where their customers are looking for them. Yet, success happens only when you stay focused on what you uniquely contribute. Business leaders must match their sales channel to real demand and take action when momentum hits.
On a recent episode of The Big Idea from Yahoo Finance, I sat down with Baked by Melissa founder and CEO Melissa Ben-Ishay to explore how early sales channel decisions shape a company’s ability to grow. Ben-Ishay built a nationwide brand from her New York City apartment after getting fired from her job, eventually becoming CEO of a company that sells through events, retail, e-commerce, and a thriving social media engine. Her perspective is grounded in lived experience, from getting fired to going viral, and her three lessons for choosing the right sales channel are practical for any industry.
1. Focus on what you uniquely bring, and delegate everything else.
Ben-Ishay’s first tip for small business owners is simple: Stop trying to do every job yourself. “Get people to do everything that you don’t need to do,” she advised. “Those areas where I can uniquely add value, that’s the only place I should focus my time.”
For founders choosing their first sales channel, this means being realistic about capacity. If your strength is product quality, not logistics, you need the right support before scaling e-commerce. If your strength is brand, not operations, make sure someone else owns fulfillment and accounting. Channel strategy only works when the founder is not spread so thin that nothing gets done well.
2. Let customer demand determine where you sell.
The clearest theme in Ben-Ishay’s story is that the customers always point to the next channel. Her early growth was not planned. It was reactive to demand. Her friend brought cupcakes to a PR agency and that relationship produced her first revenue channel.
From there, tastings led to retail. Then, customers began asking for delivery. Event sales were driven by demand. Retail came from a retailer who approached her. E-commerce began because customers asked for it. Her channels expanded naturally because she listened.
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Elizabeth Gore
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