According to Jacob Hawkins, VP Ecommerce, Aeropostale, many retailers today need to get back to the basics of what makes “good ecommerce.” It’s easy to get lost in technology innovations and new techniques that seem to arise daily, but when times are bad, when the economy is down (which he says it still is), people rely on the fundamentals.

If you don’t have good fundamentals, you won’t weather the storm. According to Jacob, these basics rest on 5 P’s. Curious what they are? Watch the video here to learn.

Ok, so to recap, we’ve got:

1. People

2. Product

3. Price Point

4. Place

5. Promotions

Jacob also points out in this video that while many companies say that customer satisfaction is important, they aren’t actually spending money to see that their customers are, in fact, satisfied. The money their spending would suggest that they don’t see it as important. To put it more bluntly, many aren’t putting their money where their mouth is.

“You need to be surveying your customers; understanding how satisfied they are is not a one-time thing,” he said. “It’s something that you do over and over again every week. You see how it trends over time. You find the times where it’s going well and you say, ‘What are we doing right?’ You find the times where it’s not going well and you say, ‘What are we doing wrong?’ and you make adjustments.”

In a tough economy, he says, the people who do the basics well are going to succeed.

Simple concepts, but just as simple to overlook.