Throughout the pandemic, many people have decided to start up their own side hustles to boost their income. Whether this has been selling the products created by your newly found hobbies, the start of a business dream that has taken a long time to come to fruition. There are even those random things that you thought would be fun and have turned out to be very successful; there has been a slightly different origin story for everyone.
However, as the restrictions of the pandemic are lifted, people start to go back to their old jobs, and their businesses start to putter out. This leaves a little more room on the market for others to take advantage of. Unfortunately, it also leaves more customers waiting for other businesses and actively searching for those to replace the other businesses that they invested in who have left the trade. This creates a void of opportunity for those willing to take advantage. With this in mind, here are some ways that any eCommerce venture can expand their market in ways that can help both their business and their customers.
#1 The business website
The business website is very important. In fact, it would not be an overstatement to say it was one of your business’s most important assets, which is why you need to ensure it is well looked after. Here are some of the things that your website needs to help your customers and to help you make a sale.
- Website Maintenance. This is something that can help your website stay in action for a long time. You can have it maintained at monthly or bi-weekly intervals by website maintenance teams. This can be a great way to help your business stay in action on the web.
- Online presence. Your business’s online presence can help you get your business’s website on the first page of Google results. By using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services and link-building services, you can help potential customers find your business far easier.
- Your business’s social media. Your business’s social media is incredibly important to bringing in new customers and getting free, universal advertising. This is a great way to get your business out there. This has to tie into your website; otherwise, people are going to think that your business is a scam, and they won’t invest in your services. This can be a silly way to lose customers but can be very costly.
#2 Your distribution network
Your business’s distribution network is very important. As an eCommerce business, it can be one of the key factors that define the customer experience. This is why you should invest in quality freight truckers who can help packages get from A to B without needing to be constantly organized and reminded of their jobs, who handle packages with care, give professional in-person services and keep to their ETAs (Estimated Time of Arrival) which can be key when it comes to making your business work in a smooth and organized manner.
You can find and book the best truckers in your area by looking at sites that will give honest and clear reviews on individual truckers all over America. This can be incredibly important if you want to save money on fleets, as freight trucking is cheaper than having your own truckers, especially for smaller businesses who might not be able to get the income to get many of their own vans and vehicles. This is something that every expanding eCommerce business must look into during a business expansion, as it is one of the key features of your business’s practice.
#3 Your warehouse
When it comes to getting a warehouse, you want to make sure that it is efficiently organized and ready to use. You can do this by using various means and systems that will be particular to your business niche. However, there are many other ways that you can help your business’s warehouse. Here is a shortlist of the crucial areas that you need to make sure that your warehouse, of any size, works well.
- Communication is key. Communication is a key factor to any business; for example, if there is a rule change and you don’t communicate this properly to other workers, there will be a lot of breaches in the safety of your workplace. So, you need to make sure that everyone knows what they are doing and what everyone else is doing during the day to work a lot more smoothly and cooperatively. It will also cut out a lot of wasted time arguing over who was told to do what.
- Hygiene is very important. The last thing you want is your employees working in a place where there are pests, or it’s unsanitary due to the lack of cleaning that goes on. So, you need to be really careful about how you implement rules and what is allowed to happen on the shop floor and that you always follow health and safety, as you might get caught out.
#4 Working from home
When it comes to running an eCommerce business, you might be working on your own at home, or you might be working in a team. If you are working on your own, it’s easy to make the decision to work where you want to. However, if you work in a team, you will need to communicate with them when it comes to choosing to work from home or working in a certain place together, such as an office.
It can be a struggle if you find your team is split when it comes to making a decision, which is why you might find hybrid working to suit your and your team’s needs the best. It allows people to work from the office and from home on a rota, and it also means that you can hot desk, which has the added plus that you won’t have to spend more money on a bigger office if you have employed more people over the pandemic.
