When
entrepreneurs start a business, they dream of growing it and watching it
thrive. In those early days, when sellers are just trying to gain traction, it
can be hard to imagine too much growth might ever be a problem. However, before
they know it, their endeavor is developing in size, sales and operations.
A growing
business presents a new set of challenges. How will processes, such as shipping
and storage, scale? Is there a need to hire more staff to handle demand? Can
the website handle an increase in consumer traffic?
Planning for
ecommerce growth is mostly a matter of anticipating expansion and the
challenges it brings.
Working with Suppliers
One of the
first things ecommerce entrepreneurs need to do when experiencing rapid growth
is communicate their changing needs to their suppliers. Alerting your suppliers
to the need for an increase in product to match the surge in demand, you’ll
protect yourself from potential lags and downtime. The last things growing
businesses want is backorders, which could stymie sales.
Additionally,
working with suppliers early on, ecommerce sellers can negotiate favorable price
points and further develop relationships with suppliers. Failing to plan ahead,
e-sellers are left to the whims or demands of the supplier.
It’s always better
to expect the changes necessary, communicate with your suppliers, ensure that there
is minimal lag time, and negotiate good deals on merchandise so you can pass savings
along to your shoppers.
Storing a Growing Product Line
Another
headache associated with upscaling an ecommerce business is storage. If you
operate an ecommerce store sustained by drop shipping or are selling ebooks through Shopify,
then these problems won’t touch you. However, if you run an e-store out of your
home this probably conjures visions of an even more cluttered garage or storage
shed.
Again, the
best strategy is to plan ahead for the amount of storage you will need to house
your growing product line. If you operate a business out of your home, consider
investing in a nearby storage facility. Make sure the area and facilities are
secure enough to protect your assets. Insurance is also a good idea.
If you
operate a larger business, either invest in larger warehousing as well or plan
that your items are sold at a rate that won’t require excessive storage. Enterprise resource planning and management software can help keep track
of incoming and outgoing merchandise.
Handling Increased Customer Requests & Questions
Customer
service will also need to scale. With an increase in customer interest and
sales, e-stores see an increase in customer questions and complaints.
One solution
now used by many ecommerce stores is to hybridize customer service blending
technological solutions and human staff. Using AI-powered chatbots to field quick questions and one-off queries makes customers
feel their needs are addressed in a timely manner. This frees up human customer
service agents to tackle bigger and more complex issues.
Depending on
the number of questions and issues handled each month, you may still need to
hire more customer service agents. Still, a chatbot solution can fill in the
gaps.
Ensuring a Robust Website
We’ve all
seen the chaotic videos of retail stores flooded with Black Friday shoppers. It’s hard to imagine that
profitable sales can come from all that pandemonium. But did you know a similar
plague can beset online businesses? It’s true. A flood of online shoppers can crash
your website, thus preventing sales and causing disorder.
To handle
higher traffic demands, invest in more processing power for the website or work
with a third-party provider to ensure a robust website architecture. Similarly,
a better ecommerce platform can handle more pages, more product images, more
videos, and all the rest.
Yes, putting
your ecommerce site online and choosing products to sell are the easy parts, if
you want long-term success, you have to plan to scale.
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