The pandemic has forced brick-and-mortar SMEs to transition to the eCommerce space. With more and more customers choosing to shop from the comfort of their homes, this change is necessary for businesses that want to survive these harsh economic times. So, how do you make the move? This blog post covers four major categories that businesses need to focus on during this transition period.
Ecommerce store setup
Brick-and-mortar retailers dread the setup and design process, but eCommerce platforms are becoming more streamlined every day to meet the growing demand. The first thing you have to do is create and buy a domain name. It should be memorable, easy to type, and should reflect what your business is about. When it comes to the design process, it is best that you hire a professional to help you. Once the site is up and running, pay attention to the feedback from customers and optimise your store to their needs.
Marketing
Transitioning to an eCommerce store means that waiting for foot traffic won’t work anymore; you’ll need to actively look for customers. Luckily, there are a lot of digital marketing strategies that you can use to increase traffic to your website. To kickstart your business, consider investing in SEO and paid advertising. In addition to that, you’ll also need to build a social media presence on relevant platforms to engage with your target audience.
Shipping and fulfilment
The need to package and ship your products adds a logistical layer to your business that you didn’t have to consider before. You’ll need to decide whether to handle packing and shipping in-house or outsource to a fulfilment service. The former option will cut costs and increase your profit margins, but the latter is more scalable.
Customer service
Customer service is going to be a little different when operating an eCommerce store. Most of your customer service requests will consist of logistics and troubleshooting, so anticipate as many scenarios as possible and give your customer care team all the training they will need to address them. Also, keep records of all your interactions to help you spot trends and make changes required to manage them.
Transition from offline to online – find out more
Tower Leasing have supported the investment and growth of over 40,000 SMEs. No matter what your plans are, we have the business finance products in place and the expertise to help you see them through. If you need to obtain finance so your company can transition from offline to online, get in touch with us to see how we can help. Or read about our range of business finance solutions.
Image by: mohamed_hassan via Pixabay
