How Order Management Works

Order management is a significant part of any business operation as it connects inventory and customers. It starts right from the moment a customer places an order and ends when the customer receives it. Many times, eCommerce merchants connects with the customers after few days to know how happy they are with their products. Although it seems easy, there are lot many intricacies involved in this process. Let’s have a look at the process in detail.

Steps involved in order management

• When the order is placed, the merchant will pick the ordered items from the inventory and ship it to the customers
• Send email notifications to the customer, informing him/her about the shipment status

Problems involved in the process

• The merchant may be facing an out-of-stock situation when he/she received an order. So now the merchant has two options: either he/she can partially ship the order and request the customer to wait for few days to receive other part of the order, or he/she can ask the customer to cancel the order altogether.
• Sometimes the merchant may not stock all the items, especially when he/she is selling thousands of items. He/she may be using drop shipping, asking the manufacturer to directly ship the item to the customers.
• Another potential area of problem is when the merchant is using fulfillment warehouse. When the cost of carrying inventory rises too much, many merchants use third-party warehouses to store their inventory. When the merchant using such facilities receives an order, he/she forwards the order information to the warehouse party, who in turn will ship the goods directly to the customers.

Execution of the process

As I said earlier, many times there can be multiple parties involved in the order management – merchant, customer, shipping company, manufacturer/vendor, and/or fulfillment warehouse. To co-ordinate between all these parties, the merchant will need to use series of communication tools, including email, fax and phone calls. This method is feasible until the operations are small. As your business starts expanding, problems will start cropping up in this system. So in this situation, it’s better to use order management software.

What can order management software do?

Through order management software, a merchant can automate the entire process – right from the moment a customer places an order to the moment when the customer receives an order. Merchants can even set reminders to follow up with customers. Through an order management system, a merchant can:

• Send automatic order details to the involved parties
• Keep track of your inventory through a centralized inventory system
• Co-ordinate with various parties involved through a set procedure
• Send automatic shipping information to the customers
• Follow up with the customers to gather their feedback

Do you need help in implementing such order management system? Contact us.

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Why to Do Business with Amazon

Amazon Webstore is not only popular in the U.S.A. but it’s also gaining recognition as a powerful eCommerce platform throughout the world. With strong infrastructure and user-friendly features, Amazon is growing leaps and bounds. Have you ever wondered why eCommerce merchants love Amazon?

Consider the following features:

Infrastructure: Amazon offers highly reliable technological infrastructure that reassures customers and merchants alike for timely and accurate payments. The checkout process is secured with the latest firewalls and anti-hacking programs to protect your information. It employs risk management techniques to reduce your bad debt. Apart from payment, Amazon offers logistics and fulfillment support too to its sellers.

Templates and layouts: At Amazon, you can find several thematically organized and arranged design templates and layouts. You just need to select the one that’s appropriate for your business and customize it. You can even personalize your entire store to give it a unique feel and look.

Costs: To set up a store on Amazon, you require quite a small pool capital. Apart from charging monthly fees, Amazon charges a small percentage of commission when you sell the product.

Products: Listing products on Amazon is quite easy. It just takes few minutes to do so. Also, you can list unlimited number of items on Amazon Webstore.

Marketing: Apart from helping you list your products, Amazon helps you sell your products with highly search engine optimized website. With Amazon, you can optimize the keywords as well as images of the products. You can even use marketing strategies like product recommendations, customer reviews and recently viewed items on web store.

Multiple store: You can even create multiple stores on Amazon if you are targeting two different segment of audience. For each store, you can have customized looks, features and shopping cart. What’s more, you can even integrated the dashboard of both the stores for easy management.

User experience: To offer the best user experience, Amazon lets customers use the same account, shipping addresses and billing methods on other sites that Amazon.com empowers.

If we conclude that Amazon Webstore is indeed an amazing platform to big boost to your eCommerce business, we wouldn’t be wrong. So go on and set up your shop on Amazon.

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4 Tips To Improve eCommerce Brand

When you are selling online, it’s quite important to create a strong brand. A brand that will stand out among thousands of products and services; a brand that differentiates itself from your competitors. 

Brand strengthening can be done through social media comments, customer reviews, videos and content syndication. 

Let’s discuss them further.

1. Social media comments

Social networking platforms aren't just for socializing; they are great for connecting with the customers too. When you engage and discuss with customers, you are doing free advertising of your business as well as growing your brand online at the same time. Be proactive and post more than just one-line sentences about your products. Use social networking platforms to tell stories, ask questions, sharing news related to your products and initiating discussions about your products. Also, when you get comments, respond to them – thank customers for positive comments and try to resolve customer’s query for negative comments. Once you solve their problems, those customers will get converted into loyal customers, always ready to buy from you.

2. Customer reviews

When customers are unhappy, they are going to review your product negatively – if not at your website then somewhere else. Why not convert the unhappy customer into a happy one? Actively ask for their reviews and feedback. When those are positive, it’s a great way to attract new customers; and when those are negative, you can work with the customers to change their opinion. However, do remember not to spam your customers’ email box with repeated requests. One email asking them to post what they thought of your product is a good idea. Also, when you respond to reviews, you are building a positive image for your brand.

3. Videos

Videos are great for giving a product demo for potential customers. And they have the ability to go viral, presenting your brand to millions of people. Apart from showcasing your products, you can use videos to tell your story or use various techniques to engage people in your brand and draw them to your store. You can even make a funny tutorial to make your brand lively.

4. Content syndication

In simple terms, content syndication means the content – including text, video and audio – that’s created by you is made available at other sites for use.  When you syndicate the content, you are allowing customers to access the information about your products that you want them to have, instead of information created by the secondary company. Syndication is the best way to offer accurate and consistent information to your customers.

Now, all you need to do is to make sure that all the functionality or eCommerce branding features as mentioned above should be implemented and customized in your eCommerce website properly as a part of your branding and marketing.

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5 Factors To Consider While Hiring An eCommerce Developer

Hiring a Professional eCommerce Developer

A lot has to be taken care of while developing an eCommerce site, and due to this very reason, eCommerce merchants usually prefer to hire a professional developer even when they have little bit of technical knowledge. Hiring a professional developer, however, doesn't guarantee that everything will be hunky-dory, especially when a relatively inexperienced developer is hired. If you wish to make the development process of the website simple and quick, you need to consider following five factors while hiring the developer.

Experience:

The first and the foremost factor to consider is developers’ experience. While discussing the idea of eCommerce sites, they usually tend to spout technical jargon. You need to cut through that and look at the hard facts. Ask them for the examples. Look at the websites created by them. Scrutinize the designs they have used, features they have embedded in the websites and the applications that are implemented to offer superior user experience. If the given examples do not match with what you are expecting, ask them to show the example of what they can do. This will give you a fair idea of what the developers can do for you and if that’s enough for you.

eCommerce Platform:

Before you proceed with the development, you definitely need to know which eCommerce platform the developers are going to use. But before you ask this question, you will need to conduct your own research. So look at the various eCommerce platforms and solutions that are available in the market; what exactly they bring to the table and how much they can contribute toward your business success. Apart from the paid software and solutions that offer hi-tech features, ecommerce platforms such as e-Smart eCommerce Suite, Magento and PrestaShop are quite handy because they offer convenience yet are free for use. 

Special features:

Although you will require bit of technical knowledge for looking into this aspect, it’s definitely worth the research time. Ask the developers what special features they will embed in the website, ask whether the theme will be the existing one or a new, custom one built from the scratch. Consider the amount of time they will need to create such features an

d embed them. Compare this estimate with the open-source eCommerce platforms that offer various innovative features at nominal prices.

Mobile-friendly:

Mobile website is as important as a desktop website, if not more. You need to make sure that your eCommerce site is easily accessible for mobile users as well as is user-friendly enough to engage them. You can opt for responsive eCommerce site that will allow you to offer unique shopping experience to all the users irrespective of the gadgets they are using.

Managing website:

Building a website is a one-time effort; however, managing it is a continuous process. The photos, videos, content, product details and banners need to be constantly updated. So make sure the developers understand this and they create a website that you can handle it on your own. Also, ask them how they are keeping your website’s backup as well as get access to all accounts, passwords and codes associated with your site.

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How to Measure ROI for Social Media Marketing

Measuring an accurate return on investment for each business operation is quite necessary as it gives businesses an idea about how successful their strategies are and how effective their processes are. Measuring an accurate ROI for social media marketing is complex and difficult, and due to this very reason many eCommerce sellers hesitate to initiate such a strategy. However, through the following metrics, you can measure the ROI of your social media marketing efforts up to a certain limit.    

Referring domains or traffic sources

When you are selling on eBay, Amazon or Etsy, you don't have access to the information about how the customer found the product they were looking for even though the marketplaces have that information. But you can definitely learn how your customers visited your store or item pages if you are selling on eBay or Etsy. This is called referring traffic or traffic source.

If you are selling on eBay store, traffic reports will be included in your subscription price. From this report, you will know from where your customers came, i.e., if they found you through eBay search or through your Facebook page.

Amazon doesn't offer traffic source information to merchants, but merchants do have access to total traffic per item data.

Followers

You can gauge the success of your social media presence by monitoring the number of followers you have. As your following grows, so does your influence. Initially your followers may just consist of people who know you but as you continue to share interesting and informative content, interested people too will start following you.

Approval

When you get a "Like" on Facebook and Pinterest, a "Heart" on Instagram, a "+1" on Google+, and a "Favorite" on Twitter, it means your content is being liked by the readers and they are approving it. Monitor how many of your posts garner approval and study the trend of the most liked posts. This will help you understand what's working for you and what's not.
 
Comments

On social media platforms, readers have an option to offer their comment. Whenever the readers come across interesting content, they tend to comment or reply. Monitor and measure how many comments and replies your content is receiving.

Shares, retweets and repins

Whenever the readers like your content, they will share it, retweet it and repin it on various platforms. This simply means that your content is being shared without any cost or effort from your side, and this is the best feature of social networks. So always aim to create the type of content that the users would like to rebroadcast on their own without any prodding.

While monitoring shares, retweets and repins, do understand getting likes, shares or comments on every post is impossible. If a post doesn't get any interest from the users, try posting similar content at a different time of the day and gauge its success. If it doesn't seem to be working, it's better to avoid such content in the future.

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Top 10 Features For eCommerce Websites

Although mobile websites and apps are gaining popularity, eCommerce websites are still in vogue. Focusing on an effective website would be definitely beneficial for any business in the long run. Following are the Top Ten eCommerce Features that any eCommerce website should have to reach and engage its target audience.

1.Branding: Have your logo and tag line in the front and center. The features and content of the website should revolve around the logo, making visitors aware of your brand and business.

2.Focus: Clutter free websites are always attractive and soothing on eyes. Update only relevant and helpful information and sections on the website. Too much of fluff is not very amusing or entertaining for visitors.

3.Attractive images: This is the age of clarity and transparency, specially when it comes to eCommerce websites. You need to have multiple images for all your products. Also, make sure those images are of high resolution for better visitors' interest.

4.Videos: The latest fad is to have demo videos of the products. If you can't mange to have a demo video, upload videos of user guides and videos about your customer reviews.

5.Easy search: User-friendliness is key to success. Let your customers easily find the products they are looking for through simple and effective search options. Having a huge search bar at the top of all the pages is a good idea. You can also keep a button for advanced search along with the regular search option.

6.Easy login and checkout: Garner customers' loyalty by giving them easy access to their accounts. Make the checkout process quick and painless. Also, reassure the customers about the security of their personal and financial data.

7.Free offers: Customers love free stuff. Always have something free for your customers. It could be free gift, shipping or something similar.

8.Clearance section: Do away with your old products or clear the overflowing stock by having a separate clearance section. You can also offer cheaper alternatives in this section, drawing a wider section of audience.

9.Information: Customers like to make informed decisions. Have a news section, broadcasting the latest happenings of your industry.

10.Personal touch: Customers love to feel human connection even if they are buying online. Put up your team's information in a friendly manner, encouraging your visitors to connect with them.

We’re here to answer any questions you may have or give you information on how we can help grow your eBusiness!

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Why Choose us for Amazon Webstore?

Amazon stands for genuineness and trust.

(1) We want you to succeed.

We earning more than 60% of our new business from referrals, we want you to succeed. That is our goal for you. We have been creating a reputation for outstanding web service (and results) in Kaushalam.Inc for almost 5 years of professional experience and they are highly qualified to tackle any kind of developments issue.

(2) We promise…

Based on your Requirement, audience, and budget, we promise to keep up with the growing trends, ever-changing technology, and make sophisticated recommendations for your online success.

(3) We treat clients like partners.

Part of the success is our process and quality. The other part is that we build partnerships with our clients. We understand that loyalty is tough to come by, so we work extra hard to earn your trust and keep your business. We will demonstrate results, provide superior service, and always consider your best interest.

Please call us to understand how we can help you with your Amazon Webstore.

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