Online selling has proven to be a very profitable and resilient business that has shown great potential for 2021 and beyond.
We’ve seen that even with the global pandemic hampering trade and other industries, online sales of products and services have continued to flourish.
But not every business is as lucky. If you are struggling to make ends meet, especially if you know you have a great product, then read on to find ways to increase sales on your e-commerce site.
1. Determine your Target Market
If you’re having a hard time selling your products, then perhaps you have not defined your target audience enough. Defining your target market is more than knowing their age, gender, or location. It also means you can understand their buying behavior and when they will most likely buy your products. If you cast a wider net, it will be harder for you to attract attention, but if you make it too narrow, you might encounter a problem with having so few people who know about your products.
If this is a difficult feat, then don’t worry. There are marketers that can help you research what kind of people you should be aiming for.
2. Improve Visibility
Since you are an e-commerce shop, the best way to improve visibility is by way of digital marketing or paying for traffic. Many kinds of software and even some companies specialize in this, too. Remember that improving visibility must always come after you’ve defined your target market to up your chances in transforming these leads into actual sales. Improving visibility won’t automatically mean more sales, but it will make sure that you reach more people that are hopefully looking for the kind of products you are offering.
3. Up your Packaging Game
Delivery problems can be a big enough reason that causes fewer sales than you intend to. While getting a responsible courier will help ease such concerns, you can still do something on your end to make sure that your products are in pristine condition once they reach the hands of your customers. In order to do this, you must think about how to optimize your product packaging.
Apart from making sure your product is protected, good packaging also attracts certain segments, like eco-warriors and those looking out for novelty items. Plus, good packaging helps in brand recall.
4. Streamline End-to-End Operations
If you believe that you’ve done a fairly good job at packaging, knowing your customer, and basically improving your product, then perhaps the problem lies in your turnaround time for basic operations. This includes anything from answering queries, sending out deliveries, and attending to other customer concerns and feedback. This is an important step in any e-commerce company since you’re job does not end when your customer hits pay. It actually ends once they receive the product.
In fact, sometimes it even transcends the use of the product and moves towards a repeat order. But before that, you have to focus on attending to the needs of your potential and existing customers.
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways you can address and improve your end-to-end operations. JD Edwards Software is one such solution. JD Edwards Software is an example of an ERP system that automizes operations in terms of financing, human resources, distribution, and customer relations.
5. Go Back to the Drawing Board
Sometimes, no matter how hard you look for a leak, the problem might be bigger than it seems. If that’s the case, the first thing you need to do is recognize that you’re facing a bigger issue that simple solutions can no longer rectify. If sales are on a downtrend for over a couple of months, with or without the pandemic, then you might be experiencing a serious issue.
Once you recognize the fact, you have a big decision to make. It’s either you choose to salvage your company and all your earnings or you close up shop. It all really depends on how much risk you’re willing to take and how long you can keep up operations at a negative. You must also factor in investor relations if any since if you do have investors, they should get a say in this issue.
At the end of the day, the only person who can understand and implement big changes to increase sales is you, the business owner. So stay on top of things to stay in the game. Don’t let up and learn to innovate if necessary. Because if there’s anything you should know about entrepreneurship, nothing really goes according to plan.