Preparing Your Business for eCommerce Expansion

The rapid rise of online business in recent years has accelerated eCommerce growth. According to studies, more than 20% of the overall retail sales in 2020 were from online spending, and this trend will likely continue in the future. So how can companies best prepare for eCommerce expansion? Read on to find out.

1. Using Multiple Fulfillment Centers
Sticking to one warehouse or fulfillment center results in increased expenses and prolonged delivery times. Instead, you should adopt a robust shipping network for your eCommerce business by using various facilities. With multiple fulfillment centers, you can reduce shipping costs and slash shipping times. Having products closer to your customers reduces the time it takes to deliver orders to their homes.

2. Leverage Feedback to Grow and Scale Your Business

Customer feedback is vital for business growth. Obtaining feedback from all areas of your business is critical for steering your expansion in the right direction. You don't want to disrupt purchases or bother shoppers, so try to devise creative ways to track satisfaction during the browsing, buying, and delivery stages.

Customer feedback will allow you to create a more personalized website experience and help consumers know that you care for their needs. Creating this bridge will eventually also inspire customers to cross over and choose your eCommerce services.

3. Scaling

The ability of your business to cater to the needs of rising consumer demand is also critical for its survival. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic enforced certain restrictions that prohibited many people from shopping in-store. This meant a great number of people turned to the Internet to meet their shopping needs in a short period of time. Businesses must therefore always be prepared to meet new demands. eCommerce companies that are struggling with order fulfillment should consider ways to best facilitate business growth without straining their existing resources.

4. Watch Out for Future Trends

Adopting multiple fulfillment centers and improving CRM (customer relations management) solutions are important common trends. Entrepreneurs should also strive to forecast eCommerce trends in order to improve their service deliveries early on. Being on top of industry trends will help you satisfy your customers while making smart, informed investment decisions.

Sweet Tips from Ally:

Using the aforementioned tips will help ensure that your company can reap all the benefits of a growing industry. You can also look into other strategies like improving internal communications and balancing manual labor and automation to lower human errors to maximize the full potential of your eCommerce business.