According to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, ecommerce has continued to account for an increasing proportion of retail sales in 2017. In the second quarter, the agency reported over $111 billion in online sales, making up 8.9 percent of total retail transactions. With favorable growth conditions, leaders at ecommerce businesses must consider how they will meet the challenges of scaling up.
These three steps will put an organization on track for sustained success and continuing expansion:
1. Build on marketing efforts
"Stakeholders must have a clear sense of the brand identity."
For an ecommerce company to reach the next stage of growth, stakeholders must have a clear sense of its brand identity and the resources to communicate its message to consumers. The organization will transition most successfully if it retains the recognizable voice that customers are accustomed to, even as it reaches out to new people.
By gathering expansive business intelligence, marketing and sales teams get to know the audiences they are addressing. Examining customer behavior and the paths that lead them to make a purchase guides the company in striking the right balance between an inbound, content-based strategy and outbound efforts such as email, pay-per-click and display ads.
2. Step up your order management
As they expand operations, ecommerce businesses need to maintain flexible, agile processes that allow the company to take on greater demand from customers. Implementing a robust order management system is an important factor in making growth a reality.
Leaders should consider whether they have the infrastructure in place to create customer records and handle a mounting volume of credit card transactions with efficiency and security. To operate at the forefront of today's ecommerce, an online retailer needs to offer easy access to information on shipping and tax, along with reliable billing and invoicing. Maintaining strong relationships with customers calls for establishing the means to collect feedback and interact via social media.
3. Team with a fulfillment partner
A small ecommerce company is often able to handle packing and shipping orders in-house. However, for a growing business, achieving consistent fulfillment and logistics soon becomes a major challenge. It's essential for these organizations to find a partner with the technology, personnel and established relationships to accurately track inventory, get packages ready to go and ensure rapid delivery to customers.
SFG provides ecommerce businesses with the tools and expertise to manage orders, collect business intelligence and take command of fulfillment as they continue to grow.
