Running an e-commerce company involves much more than just setting up your goods for sale and waiting for customers to buy them.
Behind the scenes, the show is run by a whirlwind of tasks. Maintaining accurate product listings and inventory management is a continuous process.
When orders arrive, they must be processed quickly. Meeting customer expectations and handling returns also necessitate a delicate balance to keep customers satisfied and operations running smoothly.
The support team is crucial in providing a good customer experience by answering queries and resolving customer problems. Furthermore, marketing efforts such as creating ads and maintaining a social media presence are critical for promoting the business.
Furthermore, effective data management and thorough data analysis are vital for gaining deep insights into customer preferences and overall business performance.
However, you may not have a full-fledged marketing or support team at the start of your business. And investing in in-house teams will consume a large portion of your budget. So, how do you deal with it all?
The simple solution is—Outsource it!
This blog will discuss everything you need to know about outsourcing for eCommerce businesses, such as dropshipping on Amazon or B2C wholesale. Let’s begin with what eCommerce outsourcing is!
What is eCommerce Outsourcing?
Outsourcing your eCommerce business is like hiring additional staff for your online store. You hire a team or a professional (virtual assistant) to handle particular tasks rather than trying to do everything yourself. You are hiring professionals to make your life easier and maintain the efficiency of your online store.
A well-designed outsourcing system can manage large volumes of work without compromising quality. They typically have well-organized teams with project managers, team leaders, and qualified personnel to ensure the job is done correctly. This eliminates the need to continuously hire workers for specialized jobs since outsourcing takes care of it for you.
The key is to enlist the help of experts to complete the task without adding to your workload.
Outsourcing online jobs is the strategic key for eCommerce companies, streamlining operations, saving time, reducing costs, and leveraging specialised expertise to enhance overall efficiency and competitiveness in the digital market. And remember, integrating clear guidelines within your employee handbook template can facilitate seamless collaboration with outsourced partners, ensuring alignment with your business objectives and standards.
eCommerce Tasks to Be Outsourced
The following administrative duties can be delegated to a virtual assistant or reputable outsourcing company:
Website Development: Hiring a web developer outside your company guarantees that your eCommerce site functions correctly and gives customers quick access to the information they need to purchase. A well-functioning website is essential because, according to statistics, 38% of visitors will abandon a website if they think the layout is ugly, and 39% will do the same if the page loads slowly.
Product Listing and Optimization: Creating and improving the product catalog using AI content generators for your online store is all about giving customers relevant information, eye-catching copy, and concise product descriptions.
Customers have a more informed shopping experience when this task is outsourced, as it enhances their understanding of your offerings and helps you develop a character for your brand.
Inventory Management: By keeping an eye on stock levels, outsourcing inventory management helps your team track when products are available. This simplifies processes and aids in analyzing sales trends, enabling you to satisfy client requests successfully.
Customer Service: Outsourcing customer service entails handling inquiries, gathering feedback, and assisting customers through multichannel contact centers. According to the CX Trends Report, over 90% of customers want to spend more money with companies that provide seamless and efficient customer experiences.
Order Processing and Fulfillment: Based on recorded data, this critical step involves picking, packaging, and shipping goods to customers. Selecting the right outsourced company for order processing and fulfillment is critical to ensure a smooth and reliable process.
Graphic Design and Video: Visual content is critical in today’s digital market. Outsourcing graphic design and video production allows your company to create visually appealing visuals to influence current and potential customers positively. Additionally, investing in outsourced web design can ensure your online presence aligns with your brand’s aesthetic and functionality, enhancing user experience and credibility.
Social Media Marketing: This entails increasing product visibility by promoting your eCommerce business on social media platforms using different social media tools. Outsourcing social media marketing tasks like content creation, online campaigns, and subscriptions can help you engage your target audience more effectively.
Product Sourcing: You need to ensure you have supplies, machinery, and inventory before selling anything. By outsourcing this work, you can help find the necessary resources and concentrate on other areas of your business.
Accounting and Bookkeeping: Hiring outside help with accounting and bookkeeping guarantees that you are always aware of your earnings, outlays, and overall financial situation. It protects financial stability and offers the information to make wise business decisions. A virtual bookkeeper can help you better handle the financial aspects of running your online store.
Lev Tretyakov, CEO and Sales Director of e-commerce business Fortador shares his rule of thumb about what tasks should be outsourced: “Make sure that you outsource highly predictable routine tasks like writing or PPC while you keep your core competency to in-house”. This formula will help your business scale and stay competitive at the same time.
eCommerce Business Challenges
The following are some typical eCommerce challenges:
Competitive Pricing: Given that customers can quickly compare prices online, it is imperative to concentrate on effective management when operating a successful online business. There is much pressure to offer competitive pricing, and attractive prices depend on operating efficiently.
Cutting Overhead: eCommerce has fewer overhead expenses than traditional businesses, which have higher costs for rent and utilities. But scaling operations without dramatically raising costs makes striking the right balance difficult.
Managing Labor: Developing platforms and products can take a lot of time and effort in the early phases of an eCommerce business. The difficulties are increased by ongoing maintenance and the expense of recruiting and training employees, particularly for smaller eCommerce businesses.
Tough Competition: Companies in the eCommerce space compete fiercely to provide the best deals on goods and services. Making an impression becomes essential, necessitating care for small things like a polished website, effective SEO, and effective backend procedures.
Support Around-the-Clock: Unlike physical stores with set hours, online businesses must be open 24/7. eCommerce businesses like Shopify subscriptions must offer strong IT and round-the-clock support because modern customers expect to interact with them whenever they want.
eCommerce companies must adopt a deliberate and strategic approach to address these issues, striving to innovate and adjust to meet customer demands in the face of a constantly shifting market.
How Can Outsourcing Help?
Increased Time
Outsourcing eCommerce tasks saves you and your employees valuable time and allows you to focus on more important aspects such as customer research, development, and outreach.
With this tactical change, you can concentrate on initiatives that significantly increase your brand’s market presence and influence and get more followers for your brand.
Additionally, by making the most of your workers’ time through outsourcing, you can avoid risks like technical debt and improve their effectiveness in managing the primary duties for which they were initially employed. This increase in output results in higher team morale, generating a favorable knock-on effect that raises customer satisfaction and sales.
Employees who have saved time are less likely to take shortcuts, which lowers the number of urgent support tickets and total support requests. This promotes an operational environment that is more efficient and streamlined.
Reduced Spending
For eCommerce webshop companies, outsourcing is a very economical option with several advantages beyond cost. Businesses can do away with the costs of hiring and training new employees by choosing outsourcing.
In addition to reducing direct expenses like salaries and benefits, this also lessens indirect costs like the time and materials needed for the hiring and onboarding process.
Additionally, outsourcing reduces the need to purchase pricey software and equipment.
eCommerce enterprises can utilize the proficiency of outsourcing partners, who usually possess cutting-edge infrastructure and systems, instead of incurring the initial expenses linked with obtaining and upholding specialized tools and technologies.
This lowers capital costs and guarantees access to state-of-the-art solutions without the hassle of ongoing maintenance and updates. In a similar vein, leveraging AI for capital markets can optimize financial operations, providing eCommerce companies with advanced insights and automation, further enhancing efficiency and strategic decision-making.
Higher Revenue and Enhanced Client Contentment
Various eCommerce tasks can be outsourced to improve standard operations, which has advantages beyond being more efficient. When specific tasks are delegated to outside experts, your internal team has more time to focus on closing sales more successfully.
This strategic reallocation of responsibilities can significantly improve overall sales performance and customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, when outsourcing is integrated with other business strategies, it becomes a powerful tool for developing a comprehensive, customer-centric approach. Combining outsourcing with effective marketing strategies, streamlined operations, and a focus on product quality ensures that your company attracts and gains more customer loyalty over time.
Up-to-date with Latest Trends
The rapidly changing digital landscape necessitates agility and adaptability, and outsourcing offers a dynamic solution for keeping up with industry trends and shifting consumer preferences.
Digital marketing and trend analysis are just two of the many eCommerce-related specializations that outsourcing partners possess. Businesses can utilize the newest technologies, trends, and marketing techniques by using their experience, all without investing heavily in internal research and development.
This is especially useful in digital marketing, where keeping up with the latest developments can significantly impact consumer engagement and brand visibility.
Another benefit of outsourcing is access to experts experienced in putting together winning marketing campaigns. Outsourcing partners can contribute a multitude of creativity and experience, whether in the form of appealing graphic design, bulk email marketing, focused advertising campaigns, or engaging content creation.
Competitive SEO Advantage
For eCommerce companies looking to improve their online presence and increase search engine visibility, outsourcing SEO services and keyword research offers a significant advantage.
One significant advantage is the specialized knowledge that external SEO professionals bring to the table. These experts are well-versed in the ever-changing search engine algorithms, allowing them to implement strategies that align with the most recent industry trends.
Outsourcing ensures that the website is positioned to rank higher in search engine listings, from on-page and off-page optimization to technical SEO practices.
Another area where outsourcing excels is efficient keyword research, a critical SEO component. External professionals excel at comprehensive keyword research, identifying high-value terms, evaluating competition, and developing strategies to target keywords that align with the company’s products or services.
Key Takeaways
You can think of outsourcing as your company’s secret weapon. You can compete with large international corporations by concentrating on your strengths. You take advantage of time differences, save on additional expenses, and receive excellent services.
Additionally, outsourcing your online store’s customer service is like taking a considerable weight off your shoulders. Not only can you save time, but you can focus on the things that only you can do to grow your business.
Just hand it all over to a reputed virtual assistant company, and they will take care of the rest!
Mayur Bhatasana, Co-Founder & CEO of Jeenam Infotech LLP, is dedicated to propelling B2B and SaaS startups to remarkable rankings through the art of strategic link building. 🚀