E-commerce has opened up new dimensions in the world of shopping. Gone are the days when people had to que up outside retail stores to shop for their favorite merchandise. Today with the rise of digital technology, shoppers can now order their favorite products from the comfort of their home. Removing the necessity of costly storefronts, the e-commerce vendors can now offer better discounts to their customers and operate at better margins themselves.
E-commerce is truly proving to be a revolution in the field of retail and it would be safe to say that e-commerce has changed the way we do business.
The problem that many conventional retailers are facing is the lack of expertise in the domain of E-commerce. Although the conventional retailers are excited about the prospect of e-commerce, they cannot take the plunge due to their lack of knowledge in this relatively new business arena. This is where e-commerce outsourcing companies come into the picture. These companies have the required knowledge and experience of running an e-commerce business successfully.
In this blog, we will identify the reasons that will compel you to consider outsourcing your e-commerce needs to a professional e-commerce outsourcing service provider.
It’s economical!
Let’s analyze things here. There are two ways to delve into the exciting field of e-commerce.
In method 1 you will hire new employees, rent out a new office(in-case you do not have enough space in your current office), hire an IT company to look after the development of a new e-commerce website/ mobile app, identify the logistics partner to ship your products, in-case you are planning to sell all over the world then identify a team to handle the paperwork with the customs, hire accountants to keep a tab on the finances and then constantly manage and coordinate with all these teams. Exhausted? Don’t worry there is a better approach.
In method two, you select an efficient e-commerce partner who will take care of all the above mentioned functions and ensure that your business runs smoothly. By hiring an e-commerce partner you will save money on hiring employees and renting out office space, as your e-commerce outsourcing company will already have all the necessary infrastructure to support the business operations.
With our experience as a trusted e-commerce outsourcing service provider for many reputed clients, we can say with surety that it is much more economical to outsource your e-commerce business than to try and do everything yourself.
Keep a laser focus on your core business functions
Imagine a scenario in which you are so entangled in your day to day business activities that you forget to think about the future of your business.
You forget to do competitor analysis, listen to your customers and bring innovative changes into your product line. This is death knell for an e-commerce business as the genre of e-commerce changes faster than anybody can ever imagine. Having a professional e-commerce outsourcing company managing your workload for you, will help you in keeping your focus on the core functions of your business.
You can think about the future of your business, or even focus on a new business altogether! All this will be possible only when you know that your operations part is taken care of. As we discussed in the earlier section, an e-commerce business has many back office operations which need to be managed efficiently in order for the business to function smoothly. Having an efficient outsourcing partner at your side will help you in achieving this goal.
Leverage the expertise of the e-commerce outsourcing company
Any e-commerce outsourcing company will know the process of conducting business in an e-commerce domain efficiently. When you choose an experienced e-commerce outsourcing service provider, you will have the advantage of gaining access to years of experience in dealing with various e-commerce businesses. In-case you have a physical retail store along with an e-commerce website, then the outsourcing company will also handle your omnichannel consumer journey efficiently.
With experience, the company would have dealt with problems that you find new. They will have the required expertise and resources to fulfill the various tasks required to be fulfilled in an e-commerce business.
By choosing to outsource, you will also gain access to international talent. In this digital era, it is not hard to find talented companies all over the world that will provide you with state-of-the-art e-commerce outsourcing solutions.
Operate seamlessly
Any e-commerce website serves thousands, sometimes even millions of customers all over the world. Imagine a situation where due to some reason, one of your operations stops. You will have a constant torrent of customer complaints, even if the stop is only for a few hours. Social media will roast you and your brand’s image can be damaged irreversibly.
Imagine the pain when you come to know that some of your employees have quit the company abruptly or are on leave due to personal reasons. This can slow your work down considerably. What would be your mental state when you come to know that the person who handled your product uploads got sick just before the day of an important product launch?
The stress of training a new person or delegating the task to another one during such emergencies can prove to be too much for a new e-commerce entrepreneur. This can easily take the charm out of business and put you in a state of complete mental distress.
By having an e-commerce partner, you are saved from such hassles. it would be the responsibility of the outsourcing partner to handle all these issues. By choosing an experienced outsourcing solutions provider, you will ensure that your business does not face such difficulties in future. The company would have backup plans ready, as they will have more number of employees as compared to you. Thus, by choosing an e-commerce business partner you will ensure that your business operates seamlessly without any hiccups.
Focus more on digital marketing
Although you can hire digital marketing and SEO experts, when you take the complete package of outsourcing, an e-commerce outsourcing company will handle the digital marketing part for you. You can also choose to only outsource digital marketing to an e-commerce outsourcing agency and see the results.
The e-commerce battle is either won or lost on the basis of the strength of your digital marketing team. If your digital marketing team is good enough, then they will craft effective digital marketing strategies that will help your brand in gaining advantage over competition. Efficient digital marketing strategy is absolutely essential for making that connect with your customers. Understand that e-commerce customers are normally more affected by digital marketing strategies as opposed to traditional ones like TV and radio.
Social media marketing strategy is an essential part of digital marketing, and by availing the e-commerce outsourcing services of an e-commerce outsourcing firm, you can be rest assured that they will handle all the digital marketing activities effectively. This is because they have the required experience of handling the digital marketing activities of companies from varied industrial domains.
They can apply the knowledge gained from handling the digital marketing activities of different companies. Since they cater to a wide range of clients, they will know what works best for a particular industry.
Maintain resource flexibility and gain competitive advantage
By having an outsourcing partner on your side, you can easily manage demand fluctuations. During off-season, you can scale down the staff and during high demand season you can scale them up. By having an outsourcing partner, you can demand for additional support to meet urgent demands as and when necessary.
This provides you with the option of availing on-demand service, eliminating the need for full time employees, thus improving your bottomline.
Availing the services of an e-commerce company is especially beneficial when your competitors are not doing so. This will enable you to gain an unassailable competitive advantage, as you will have a partner who is proficient in a field in which you and your competitors are not.
Wrapping up
Choosing a correct mentor is absolutely essential to achieve phenomenal success in any area of life or business. By choosing to outsource you are essentially taking the help of an experienced mentor who has tread through the path of e-commerce and knows the pitfalls like the back of the hand.
An efficient e-commerce outsourcing partner will channelize all of their resources to ensure that you have a great e-commerce journey.