5 Ways to Lower Costs Involving eCommerce Business

From an ideation point of view, running a business may sound nifty, but when it comes to execution, it comes to an awful lot of work. Once the business starts scaling, it becomes very difficult to manage this workload on its own; hence, Outsourcing.

So then, what is E-Commerce outsourcing?

E-Commerce Outsourcing

Outsourcing refers to the act of hiring professionals from outside your company to perform the tasks of your business.

Outsourcing is sometimes misunderstood as synonymous with automation — whereby some processes of work are automated with the use of certain tools; the key difference being quality of work.

With the onset of Pandemic, e-commerces are seeing a boom like never before; with their orders and sales skyrocketing.

But getting more customers also requires a business to harbor a highly efficient customer service team.

Successful startups most commonly outsource their customer experience team; however, outsourcing isn’t limited to such task forces.

Why Outsource?

The basic goals of E-commerce generally entail increasing revenues while cutting costs and the amount of work required to provide the goods or services.

Outsourcing helps reduce production expenses and labor costs.

By hiring freelancers located offshore, companies often save a huge chunk of money.

Not to mention, highly skilled and trained task force provides them with an edge over sectors that they might not be excellent at.

Moving on, as a business scales, it’s almost essential to outsource certain tasks, in order to save time.

By distributing the workload amongst the freelancers, saves time and lets the business focus on other important aspects of the business — thus driving them to eventual success.

Data keeping is often a huge challenge for E-commerce entrepreneurs -especially when they’re in the range of small-medium businesses.

So it is often a wise plan to outsource such needs. Outsourcing helps you streamline your data for easy processing at all times.

Other forms of outsourcing most commonly stumbled upon are -Technical Support, Lead Generation, Back Office Support, etc.

Effectively Outsourcing your Ecommerce Activities –

You may have decided to outsource parts of your E-commerce and may be wondering as to how you’d like to start.

Well, lucky for you, we’re here to guide you through the process.

One of the very fundamentals of outsourcing is the issue of trust.

Many times, Startups find it difficult to entrust third parties with their work or information.

Questions like ‘Whether they’ll efficiently carry out the work; whether it will be worth it’ arise in the minds of the Entrepreneur.

To tackle such issues one must choose wisely.

It’s only natural for you to want to take control over the work process. But it’s also true that you need to let go of some parts.

Micromanaging bits and pieces of the pipeline can be stressful.

Eventually, it will keep you from focusing on other core issues like building your business or expanding it.

Suffice to say, it’s best that you take care of the work that truly requires your time & focus while leaving the rest to other specialized people.

Easy Steps to Outsource Your Ecommerce

1. Identify Your Needs & Define Them Clearly

The first step is to identify which tasks you need to Outsource and why. You can start off by creating a pros and cons list for the tasks done (In-house vs Outsourcing).

Upon close scrutiny, you can quickly identify which tasks, if outsourced, can be carried out more efficiently.

Once that is done, you can move on to defining your needs clearly.

Say you need customer support for positive customer experience; hence you decide to hire some people.

You’ll need to address issues like –

i. Your Target Consumers (domestic or foreign)

ii. How many hours/day & days/week you’ll need the support

iii. Your Budget

iv. Which Timezone your business operates in

v. Which mediums do you need the support in (email, phone, chat, etc)

vi. Your Customer Support philosophies.

2. Agent Requirements

Unlike hiring in-house employees, with outsourcing your options are endless.

Outsourcing allows you to hire with great flexibility. You can even hire employees on a seasonal basis.

Say you have a Black Friday Sales coming up and you’re planning to add 300 items to your inventory.

Given so, you’ll probably require 2–3 extra hands on deck who can successfully add the products to your inventory and write a short product detail for each item.

As far as outsourcing is concerned you have the liberty to handpick freelancers as per your needs- being able to choose from a global pool of experts.

3. Dry Runs

Now that you have shortlisted CVs of candidates you find suitable, you should consider a dry run.

This is a great way of determining whether the people you’ve selected are actually befitting.

You can consider offering a paid trial period or project to test your candidates’ aptitude or compatibility.

The outcome of the project will guide you to your dream team; meanwhile, if you’re still hesitant, you’ll have a chance to look at alternatives.

4. Team Building

Once you’ve officially selected your team of freelancers or desired agency, you can move on to team building.

First off, you should get them fully acquainted with your E-commerce business. (it’s history, products & services, goals).

You should also consider running them by your company’s SOP along with all the platforms & tools that you generally use to complete your task.

The best way of doing this can be to prepare a detailed outline containing guidelines (Do’s & Don’ts) for the work.

5. Team Management

Your team could be brimming with superstars, but they can always use great guidance and management.

Team Management is the missing piece of the puzzle. Setting goals and objectives will help set a standard for your team.

As they meet the goals, in turn, you’ll find your team becoming highly compatible and aligned with the philosophy of your company and work.

Therefore, your team will become a highly functional extension of your E-commerce business.

EndNote

Outsourcing your E-commerce provides you with great prospects like expansion and comparative advantage. The recent trends of E-Commerce shifting to outsourcing lead us to believe that it is the eventual future of the E-commerce industry.