Month: December 2020

The world of e-commerce is ever-changing thanks to the developments in technology. Therefore, business owners need to keep on top of the trends to ensure their online platform is a success. Regardless of whether your business is large or small scale, it’s crucial to keep on top of the key trends and advice to retain longevity in the business world, especially in such a competitive e-commerce market. In this guide, we’re going to take a look at some of the best tips for running an e-commerce store for your small business. Take a look below to find out more.

Have a mobile-friendly interface

Most of your customers are going to be accessing your website from a mobile device. Therefore, if your e-commerce store isn’t mobile-friendly, you have already met your first hurdle. User experience is essential in retaining your customers, and if they struggle to access what they’re looking for, they’re likely to move on and find a website that makes their shopping experience much more streamlined.

Hire an IT solutions company

There are times when your e-commerce store will endure technical difficulties, meaning your website could be inaccessible to customers for a period of time. This is not only inconvenient for uploading content and retrieving data but may also mean you could lose out on a large number of sales. Unless you are experienced in IT, it can be near enough impossible to know how to tackle technical difficulties, which is why you should have an IT solutions company such as Data Cube Systems on-hand to analyze the situation and get your e-commerce store back up and running.

Provide self-service

We live in a day and age where customers strive to find out information by carrying out Google searches. In most cases, they always find what they’re looking for. With this in mind, you should be including vital answers to questions that are likely to be asked within your e-commerce platform, without the customer having to resort to phoning customer service. This not only saves your customers time but also that of your employees. Some top tips you may like to take on board include:

Adding an FAQ page

In the early days of setting up your e-commerce store, you may find that customers are asking the same questions repeatedly. Therefore, it would be worth adding these questions and the relevant answers on an FAQ page. It may also be worth adding a search bar where customers can browse a question and find the answer they’re looking for quickly to prevent having to resort to direct contact with your team. 

Develop a knowledge base document

It would be wise to produce a document of content that may come in useful for the customer to find out key information on the products and services you offer, as well as shipping and returns, etc. This will ensure that all the information they need is in one place rather than having to navigate their way around the site to find separate pieces of information. 

Successful businesses are the ones that run like a well-oiled machine, but efficiency is something that many companies struggle with, especially when there are a lot of moving parts and industrial businesses. Inefficiency could be holding your business back in several different ways in both the short and long-term, so it is important to be aware of the key steps to take in order to increase efficiency. This, in turn, could increase your output, improve morale, and even help the company to make more money, just to name a few perks. Here are the main steps that you should take if you are looking to increase efficiency in your business.

Find Areas That Could Be Improved

The first step to take is to identify areas of the business operation that could be improved – there is no point in changing a process if it is working well. It can be hard to spot these areas, which is why you will find it helpful to use data and to map out each process, and then work through these will relevant staff members to see if there are any big or small changes that could be made.

Automate Tasks

When analyzing each process, you are likely to find that there are a few processes that could be automated either by machine or software. This can make a big difference to the operation’s overall efficiency as it will free up time for your team to focus on other areas while also speeding up processes and reducing errors.

Outsource

A smart way for a business to increase efficiency and output without putting additional strain on the team is to outsource instead of hiring new staff. This allows you to get work completed to a high standard by outside professionals, meaning that you do not have to pay a salary and other employee costs. This will also lighten the load for your team of employees and help them to be more productive in their roles.

Asset Management Software

An area that many companies fall down when it comes to efficiency is asset management, particularly in large industrial companies when they have many assets, people, and projects to manage. Advanced asset management software can simplify this by providing a centralized database of all of your assets, making it is easy to manage and streamline so that a business can work efficiently and get the most out of its assets.

Motivate Your Team

While tech and software are certainly important, you must not overlook the value of motivating your team as this will have a huge impact on efficiency. You need to keep your employees happy, motivated, and engaged so that they are performing to a high standard each day, which might include positive feedback, role variation, career development, and teambuilding events.

These are the key areas to focus on if you are looking to increase efficiency in your business. Combining a few of these could have a powerful impact on the business and help you compete at a much higher level.

Millions of businesses are at a significant threat of cybercrime every single year; however, these threats aren’t always easily detected. Your business holds a great deal of data that is important to the company, customers, and clients. If this were ever to be at risk, you would not only lose your reputation but could also impact your financial security. Dependent on your industry, you may need to integrate heavier security barriers to prevent your business from being attacked by cyber threats. In this guide, we’re going to look at the importance of cybersecurity and why it shouldn’t be ignored.

1. Crime prevention 

First and foremost, paying attention to cybersecurity will prevent your business from being a victim of crime. Without putting the relevant barriers in place, such as strong passwords, firewall software, or anti-virus protection, you’re leaving your devices and data open to hackers. Personal information is regularly uploaded onto computers without thinking about the risk you’re opening yourself and your customers to, which could be sold on or even used to ac cess bank accounts.

2. Protects productivity

When viruses and malware infiltrate your system, it can cause devices to run extremely slowly and potentially even crash altogether. As a result, it can make working on them virtually impossible, which means your employees will be unable to complete tasks and may and hinder productivity throughout the whole company as a result.

3. Stops your website from shutting down

You’ll likely be hosting your own website, and while this can be beneficial to make the necessary changes and adaptations, it can become a real issue if your system becomes contaminated with a virus, which could eventually cause your website to shut down completely. Damage to your website caused by viruses can become long-term and may also cause you to lose out on sales temporarily while it is down. If you have no experience in website maintenance, it would be highly advised to hire a professional company such as Evolvtec to detect and eliminate viruses and maintain your website on your behalf to ensure worst-case scenarios do not occur.

4. Inspires confidence in your customers

Proving that you have thought carefully about cyber-security can truly instill a sense of confidence within your customers to do business with you. If customers have trust in your company, it’s much more likely that they’ll go through with making a purchase. It can be a nerve-racking experience to enter personal details onto a website when making an order but adding a button that proves you have covered all angles with cybersecurity will certainly work in your favor.

5. Reduces potential costs

Did you know that a breach of data could cost your business thousands of dollars? For small companies with very small budgets, this could be detrimental to the future of their business by thrashing the bottom line. Although you may be worried about paying for cybersecurity techniques, this is, in fact, much cheaper than if you were to be the unlucky business that is hacked this year.

As a business owner, your main goal is to appeal to customers to generate sales, which means having an engaging website. These days, people spend much of their time online, and most people will find you through the internet. If the website is the first thing they know of you, then it must be engaging enough to make them stick, and here is how you can do that.

Use the Correct Colors

Color choice is an important part of any website. If you want users to end up at the shopping basket, then you should choose your shades wisely. Try to avoid using too many different colors as this can over-stimulate the user and appear messy, but don’t let it look too blank, either. Think about your brand and the kind of feeling you want to give off. For example, if you want users to feel calm, opt for paler colors like aqua and cream.

Make Navigation Simple

When the goal is to create an online shopping experience, then it helps to keep everything as simple as possible. Make sure the contact page, categories, and shopping basket are all clear, and test out the website yourself to find areas you could improve.

Keep the Website Up to Date

You are never finished with your website. You will need to update it on occasion, and sometimes, you might run into technical difficulties. It is beneficial for you to make sure you have a great internet connection and Local IT Support to help you out if anything goes wrong.

Choose the Right Images

Images will sell your product. If you are selling clothes, for example, then you must take the best photographs you can. Your e-commerce site might sell something like an online course, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use eye-grabbing images. While images may only keep the users’ attention for a moment, they are a large part of whether or not they stick around. Remember – everything on the website represents you as a business.

Keep Text Simple

You don’t want to overload your users with information. While you might want them to know every little detail about the way you work, they simply don’t need it, and most will turn away. Instead, strip down the information into short, engaging paragraphs that people are more likely to read.

Use Videos

Videos are excellent for engaging an audience but don’t go overboard. Incorporating a few videos throughout your website provides users with an alternative way to engage with your content other than reading.

Use Ads Sparingly

Nobody likes to be overcrowded with ads. Using a few for a little extra profit is fine, but don’t use too many, as you will be losing out on potential customers.

Offer Discounts

Customers love discounts. By offering a percentage off the first order, you increase the chance of creating recurring customers. Seeing that discount on the website will help users decide to purchase from you when they were previously unsure.

By engaging more customers on your e-commerce website, your sales will increase, so get your design and tech head-on and focus on your site’s user experience.

Finding funding for your marketing efforts is vitally important to the success of your business. When you shut down your marketing function, or drastically reduce it, it has big consequences for your entire business, so this should be a last resort.

Here are some reasons it’s important to find funding for your marketing.

Increased Revenue Streams

Good marketing should result in an increase in sales. When you reduce your marketing budget, you’re cutting yourself off from reaching your target audience and expanding your customer base, which has a knock-on effect on your revenue.

If you’re making cuts to your marketing budget, then there’s a big chance it will affect revenue, further putting a strain on your finances. Instead, look at other ways of financing your marketing such as a small business loan from biz2credit.com.

If you’re seeing a good ROI on your marketing, then it will outweigh the interest you pay on your loan.

Maintain Relevance

If you’re working in a competitive industry, then it can be a challenge to maintain relevancy. Your competitors aren’t going to lower their advertising budget just because you are, so they’re going to be getting their brand in front of people while you are not, and this is a big advantage.

Marketing keeps you relevant, and keeps you engaged with your audience. It might not just be new customers you lose out on by reducing your marketing budget; it might be your existing customers with whom it’s more difficult to maintain a relationship.

There Are Always Ways to Streamline Your Marketing

If you can find some funding for your marketing then there are always ways of getting the most bang for your buck. Modern marketing offers business so many different ways of reaching their target audience, and these can be surprisingly good value.

With platforms such as Facebook, you can be extremely specific with your advertising, meaning you’re only spending your budget on the people who are most likely to buy your products. There are lots of ways to get bang for your buck, so it’s important to find what you can for your marketing budget.

It Helps You Make Informed Decisions

Your marketing should give you great insights into your customers.

At the end of the day, your customers are one of the central pillars of your business success, so the better you understand them, the better your business is likely to perform. Marketing helps you to do this, and so is hugely beneficial to your operations.

When you cut back on your marketing, you’re cutting back on your interactions with your customers, so it becomes more difficult to make informed decisions. Your understanding of your customers helps drive your decision making, and you need marketing to do this.

Your Rivals Will Take Advantage

Drastically reducing your marketing efforts will give your competitors opportunities. It’s a competitive world out there, and marketing is one of your key tools to stand out from the crowd.

When you stop investing in this, then your competitors are going to be the ones standing out.

In 2020, not many retailers only have a brick-and-mortar store, with many businesses opting to combine e-commerce avenues with more traditional methods of selling. However, managing both your physical location and your e-commerce store can be difficult, and this guide shows you how you may be able to ensure that both are as successful as possible.

Combine Digital and Physical Marketing Methods

Although you might now believe that the only way you can market your products is online, this is not the case. Real-world marketing methods are just as important and can even be more effective for businesses that are operating from a physical location. One of the best physical marketing methods that you can rely on is direct mail marketing, as this allows you to share information about both your online and brick-and-mortar locations with customers within their own homes.

Create a Strong Brand Image

The most important step that you can take to make both your online and real-world stores successful is to create a cohesive image for your company that can be recognized no matter what platform your customers choose to engage with you on. For instance, you should use the same logo and color scheme, as well as an accurate domain name. You might also consider giving them the same experience online as they would get in-store by providing a chatbot function where they can interact with you and ask questions, as well as an easy navigation system that will allow them to browse at will.

Manage Your Inventory

One of the most difficult aspects of juggling an e-commerce store with a physical location is being able to manage your inventory. To do this effectively, you should download an inventory management app that can prevent any double or conflicting orders. It will also ensure that you have the stock you think you do in order to fulfill requests. You should also consider outsourcing your order processing to a fulfillment center, as this will allow online and brick-and-mortar stock to be separated and can ensure that each operation runs parallel to the other.

Give a Click and Collect Option

If you believe that your retail location is becoming redundant, you should consider introducing a click and collect service to your store. This can allow customers to use both your online platform and your real-world location by selecting their order on their laptop and then heading to their nearest shop to collect this. This can take some of the strain away from your online store and can also encourage customers to make spontaneous purchases while they are picking up their order.

Track Your Expenditure

It is hard to keep track of your physical store’s finances and your online store all at once. To do this, you need to download finance tracking software and use the same platform to enter the details of each venture. This will allow you to view your financial situation as a whole on a single page.