Crucial considerations for enterprise eCommerce platform decision
Within the last five years, the rise of eCommerce platforms has been phenomenal such that every second we are bombarded by different products. Nevertheless, it will be wrong to assume that everything about online shopping lies in business-to-customer (B2C) platforms alone. Recent studies from Forrester Research show that the United States business-to-business eCommerce industry will reach over $1.3 trillion over the next five years. In other words, this figure will double the B2C market size. Therefore, to acquire a B2B buyer, you need to provide a seamless and customized shopping experience that comes with automation. To up your game and win in this ever-competitive industry, you need to provide a self-service option for B2B buyers. To do that, you need to consider the enterprise eCommerce platform you would use. What is a B2B eCommerce Platform? Business to business eCommerce is an online platform where the parties involved are businesses. What facilitates the transaction is the eCommerce platform, which is a software-based solution. The software is responsible for presenting and providing relevant information to increase sales. What to consider for enterprise eCommerce Platform? Cost The first thing to consider is the cost of acquiring the platform because a hosted solution will cost more. It comes with the software fees, development costs, maintenance cost of hosting the platform, and the IT team costs. Furthermore, Paas or SaaS platform often requires monthly fees for support, hosting, maintenance, and security. You need to consider these as they will help you determine the overall cost of operating the software. Security Security of the eCommerce platform must be top-notch. Today, the rise of online theft and hacking is on the rise, and you need a platform that offers security for your business. Here, you have to consider if it is your responsibility or a third-party team to maintain the security of your platform. Most cloud-based platforms offer client security since the data is on their servers. It means they are responsible for managing your security. Maintenance What maintenance features does the eCommerce platform offer? Here, you have to consider if it performs routine check out on the platform or you have to schedule maintenance on the system manually Features, add-ons, integrations Integration is an important thing to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform. It should effectively integrate the platform with other systems to enable it to work both online and offline. If you have a well-integrated platform, it will allow you to deliver a better customer experience. When analyzing different platforms, you need to check if the platform can work with POS or ERP systems. Most eCommerce platforms have a trial period that you should take the most advantage of. Moreover, don’t miss out on maximizing efficiency for your stores. Try our automation apps for free: BigCommerce Automation, Shopify Automation. Customization Customization allows you to customers various aspects of the platform. You can enable you to customer business units, product lists, and individual customers or buyers. Analysis shows that over 75% of business-to-business brands increase sales when they provide a customizable customer experience. Most times, eCommerce stores fail because of their rigidity and decision to depend on a particular template. However, there is no one size fits all solution to meeting the needs of customers for any business. Therefore, when choosing an eCommerce platform, ensure it allows customizable experienced instead of using an already-made template. Further reading: Comparing top B2B eCommerce platforms.
5 key customer retention metrics and how to calculate them
An essential component of any business is customer retention metrics. Each company is customer-focused, notwithstanding the type of business it is. However, when you begin to lose customers unusually, it means something is not right. Customer retention is critical to the success of your business. Regrettably, it is a significant problem for most businesses despite applying various retention strategies. It is much more than that. Therefore, what customer retention metrics can you use to justify the success of your brand? How can you calculate these metrics to know if you are meeting your goals or not? In this article, you will learn important customer retention metrics for your online business. Customer lifetime value It measures the revenue you generate from a particular customer. It doesn’t matter if you sell individual products or render services; you need to trace this metric consistently. Usually, customer lifetime value should either rise or remain constant. However, anything that makes it shrink only means losing customers faster or capturing low-value customers. To evaluate customer lifetime value, you need to determine the average revenue of a particular customer for a year. To get the average revenue, you divide the gross annual sales you generate by the number of unique customers you acquire for that year. Repeat Purchase Ratio The repeat purchase ratio represents the percentage of customers returning to purchase an item from your store or company. This metric helps you know your loyal customers, which you can use to assess your performance and the impact on the customer retention strategy you implement. Here, the repeat purchase ratio applies to products. However, you can also use it for contract renewals or repeat subscription services. To calculate the repeat purchase ratio, you divide the number of returning customers by the total customers. Product Return Rate The product return rate is essential for businesses that deal with intangible products. It represents your product return rate when an item is purchased. It is a proportion of the total units of an item returned compared to what was sold. The product return rate is equivalent to the number of units sold that customers later returned divided by the total number of units sold. Net Promoter Score This metric measures the general satisfaction and loyalty to your brand. Your overall score will determine if your customers are willing to advertise your product to others in their community. You can compute the net promoter score by getting the percentage of promoters subtracted by the percentage of detractors. Loyal Customer Rate Loyal customers represent those who have previously made a purchase on your store at a given time. Since your existing customers buy from you, this metric identifies the percentage of your customer base that is loyal to your business or brand. Importantly, you need to know your existing customers because these customers are your valuable assets. They don’t only buy items to drive your sales; they act as ambassadors to your brand since they can share positive words about your business. To calculate your current customer growth rate, you have to determine the number of existing customers divided by the total customers that visit your store. If you are looking for a tool to increase customer retention rate, check out our apps for BigCommerce automation and Shopify automation.
Common BigCommerce issues and their impact on your online stores
What is BigCommerce? BigCommerce, founded in 2009, is one of the major online store builders powering online stores in thousands in 150 countries. This platform provides an engaging online experience. It allows you to create pages, add products, process orders, upload photos, creates discount coupons, and more. For instance, design it using drop and drag panels. It is a cloud-based platform offering multichannel selling, abandoned cart saver, fraud monitoring, product ratings, cart-level discounts, and more. You may save yourself from managing complex hardware and software systems. BigCommerce keeps you away from troubles by installing and maintaining software that is easy to access online through the internet. Common BigCommerce issues The constant changes in Big Commerce’s business plans, model, and pricing is making the online store owner’s business afloat. Here are some of the BigCommerce issues that are arising with this platform. No automatic categories There are no automatic categorization tools that are common for online stores. It is because the products are in large numbers that they keep discontinuing. Visitors browsing your site may reach the wrong product type or unavailable products, resulting in frustration. They believe the entire website is not up-to-date. Only if you know to access smart categorization or automated tools, you can assign products to categories and their sub-categories automatically based on their attributes. No standard backordering feature There are annoying BigCommerce issues that do not come to notice glaringly as issues until you need the feature. One such issue is not having a standard backorder feature. BigCommerce tutorial section and SEO support offer little to no helpful information. The backordering feature allows customers to order even before the stock is on hand. Having this feature means the companies can ensure it is available soon. If you are fed up with the workarounds to allow backorders, try out BigCommerce BackOrder app. The tool does more than just a single backorder function. It ensures your customer will have a favorable experience with features to customize CTA, messages, and threshold. Limited payment options Having an online store and trying to attract visitors call for real hard work. The last thing anyone wants happening is the inability to convert the shoppers because of non-supportive payment methods. It is one of the BigCommerce issues that turns out potential customers. BigCommerce does not support a lot of payment options and even on enabling digital wallets used commonly by online shoppers, it fails to support Visa Checkout, and so on. Limitations to SEO and blogs Other common BigCommerce issues include the limitations to SEO and blogs. It lacks the feature of blog posts relating to the associated products, and so visitors cannot find the items in your online store. The advantage of associating your SEO and blog content with your website products is impossible. It means you will lose valuable opportunities and call-to-action in converting the inbound traffic. As BigCommerce now lacks this feature, it requires the website owners to manually add to the blog post body the product references. Conclusion Agreed, no eCommerce platform is perfect, yet ensure to manage and settle your business with efficiency. Look for features and tools that you need to survive and ensure it is at your fingertips and succeed. Thus, you should be comparing different platforms, make a plans to get rid of common issues before building your site. Further reading: How to build your BigCommerce website.
How to reduce backorders
There is a hypothetical scenario that you have experienced a backorder. If you don’t understand what that means, then this might make it easier. Imagine a customer who visits your websites and decides to buy a particular item. He searched for the item with so much excitement and eagerness and added it to its cart, hoping he has gotten what he wanted. It was his last destination to acquire that product. However, after checking the expected date his order will arrive, he receives an alert, “We are sorry. Currently, the order is on backorder. We will notify you once we get it in our inventory.” Suddenly, all the expectation has turned to disappointment and anger towards your store. It is frustrating to find yourself in such a situation. How long does a backorder take? What can a store online do to minimize backorder? What is a backorder? In eCommerce, a backorder is when an item ordered isn’t available in the inventory but will be made available at a future date. The problem with backordering products is the fact that it brings about delay. The customer has to wait until the date specified in the shipping date to receive the item. Most customers are unwilling to wait for a backorder, which might be a loss for the business owner to his competitors. Furthermore, a backorder is quite different from an out-of-stock order. Both terms refer to the shortage of an item, but there is a distinct difference. While a backorder relates to an item that is currently unavailable but can be delivered at a particular time, an out-of-stock order means the item isn’t available and might never be listed in a store. How to reduce backorders No eCommerce store owner wants to experience a backorder situation consistently. Therefore, to reduce backorders, there are several things you can do to minimize the shortage of items and handle it peradventure they happen in the future. Have an estimate of demand using past purchases The first thing to do is to get an estimate of what your customers purchase in a particular period to reduce backorders. For instance, if you sell sweaters, and you observe that during the fall and winter, customers order over 120 pieces. You can use this information to restock your store during this period. You can double the number of sweaters you purchase to accommodate more customers during this period. In this way, you will always have enough items in your store to meet your customers’ needs. Work with manufacturers or suppliers If you face an unexpected increase in demand for an item or ran into shortage, you can work hand-in-hand with the manufacturer or supplier of the product to know when the item will be available. If you know the exact date an item will be restocked; you can help manage your customer’s expectations. Good supplier relationship management will help you greatly in meeting requirements. Diversify your manufacturer or suppliers At times, backorder occurs when you depend on a particular supplier or manufacturer. To minimize the risk of running into frequent back order situations, you can have multiple suppliers or manufacturers working together. In this way, once a particular supplier doesn’t have the product, you can switch to the other. With this, nothing can disrupt your supply chain as you always have products to meet the demands.
The Ultimate Guide to scale your Shopify store
Every business owner knows that increased steady sales are the key to growth. No merchant would want to get inconsistent sales and expect to grow over time. When it comes to scaling your eCommerce business, you need to enable and support the growth process to be successful. If you run a Shopify store, how do you plan to scale your store considering the number of competitors in the market? Sales and growth are directly proportional to one another. Therefore, to ensure you have steady sales that will boost your growth, here is a simple guide to scaling your Shopify store. Improve mobile experience More than 87% of online shoppers use their mobile or smartphone to make a purchase, therefore, improving the mobile experience can help your store. There are several ways to do this. You can test the usability of your website and make it mobile-friendly. An easy-to-navigate website is essential to a positive experience and customer satisfaction. It makes it easier for customers to buy from you. Furthermore, ensure your website speed is excellent because when a page loads slower, it turns off shoppers. Improving your site speed is essential when scaling your Shopify store because customers are not patient, slow loading sites are penalized, affecting your sales since it takes less than 2 seconds for a customer to abandon a cart. Show social proofs Nowadays, social proof is everything since we are in a social media age. Displaying social proof such as feedback and reviews allows your customers to read about other shoppers’ experiences. You need to use social proof to scale your Shopify store because it helps build trust and credibility. When other customers see positive reviews from previous shoppers, it boosts and encourages them to buy products from your brand. Furthermore, these customers that provide reviews can become your brand ambassadors, who can help convert indecisive customers to make a purchase. Another benefit of showing social proof is that it gives customers an unbiased insight into your brand. These pictures can provide insight into the quality of your product and services. Start upselling and cross-selling Cross-selling and upselling is another way to scale your Shopify store. Upselling involves convincing your customers to upgrade and buy an expensive product than they would have preferred to buy. When you encourage upsell, you maximize the profitability of your store. Furthermore, it is easier for you to encourage your existing customers to spend more to get more benefits. Use email marketing campaigns Email marketing can help boost your sales. You can personalize emails to help strengthen the customer journey to making a purchase. Implement email marketing contributes to scaling your Shopify store as it builds a stronger relationship with your customers. You can implement different email marketing campaigns to scale your store. With discount emails, you can offer unique coupons to encourage customers to buy specific products and drive your website traffic. Personalized emails can also help to boost your sale, while you can use product announcement emails to inform your customers about your latest products in your store. Get creative with automation tools Shopify automation app frees you from repetitive tasks and creates room for growth. There are countless options to minimize manual processes tailored to your own business model. You can get some ideas from this post: workflow automation examples to increase productivity.
Common causes of backorders
As a retailer, what action do you take when your store goes out of stock? What do you do when the demand for your product surges? How do you meet the demand when you have limited stocks? What if there is a sudden surge in your backlog? If you can provide relevant answers to the questions above, then you know how to control your inventory. However, what if the demand increases beyond what your stock has? Once you can’t fulfill your customers’ demand, they will shift their focus to your competitors. It means you will lose sales, and it will affect your overall revenue. In this situation, you need backorder features when faced with an increase in demand. It requires careful planning to ensure the orders are fulfilled in a timely fashion. What is Backorder? The meaning of backorder is a process where a supplier or retailer takes orders for a particular order that is not available in your inventory. Businesses must deal with backorders when out-of-stock issues arise. However, what causes backorders? Understanding what causes backorders is a key to dealing with the issues of backorders. Causes of backorders Inventory miscount Inventory miscount can happen when there is a stock inwarding. Most times, it is because of human error why we experience inventory miscount. For instance, a store owner might mistakenly miscount an available product only to discover it is beyond the estimated amount. Delayed inventory sync Delayed inventory sync also contributes to backorders. For instance, you sell products through several channels while keeping a central inventory through channels. Expired and damaged products not updated Damaged or expired products can cause backorders; when a product with an expired shelf life with the information not updated in the system, it causes backorders or shortage. Furthermore, it inflates the inventory count in your store. System outage or error Another significant reason why you might experience backorder is due to system outages or errors. It occurs when the inventory doesn’t get updated frequently as required. Once the inventory doesn’t show currently available stocks, it causes extra orders to show in the store. Other causes of backorders Besides these, damaged products cannot be counted in inventory, and once the system doesn’t update such information, it affects the number of items in-store. Furthermore, offline product billings might not be updated in the inventory on time. Another reason for backorder is the issue of employee theft. When an employee illegally takes an item out of the inventory, they hardly update such information on the system because it can be noticeable. In such a situation, you might have a shortage from what you can see in your system. Inventory misplacement is another common cause of backorders. For instance, when an order comes into the warehouse, once the staff cannot find the complete item in the warehouse, it creates a backorder situation. Additionally, an increase in order velocity during the festive and holiday period can cause a backorder once the system isn’t updated regularly.
Strategies to handle eCommerce return
Nowadays, consumers are connected and informed about different shopping options they can evaluate. Everything now lies in their hands as they can make or mar an online store. When they are unsatisfied with a particular product, they don’t hesitate to return the product. For eCommerce store owners, managing product returns can be a complex process that can create a crack in your business. To ensure you handle eCommerce return appropriately, we have compiled essential practices or strategies to manage eCommerce returns effectively without losing your customers. Create a clear and suitable return policy Oftentimes, most returned products are due to a lack of understanding of the return policy. When preparing your eCommerce return policy, write in a conversational and friendly tone that everyone can understand. Setup fraud prevention With the rise of online shopping has also lead to increasing return fraud. Return fraud could be when a customer buys a product and returns it to get financial benefit. It affects your business as you lose money and inventory. To avoid this, you need to set up a fraud prevention system that deals with such situations. You can identify if your business is a victim of fraud return when you receive higher returns than normal, excessive inventory loss, and shrinking margins because of increased returns. Optimize product image and description You won’t want your customers to take a leap of faith when shopping online. Remember, they can’t physically see or touch these products, and the only way they can get a feel of it is through the images and description. To avoid returns, ensure to optimize your product image and description. Get a high-quality camera or hire a professional to produce quality images. Furthermore, you can employ a writer to write a good description for each product. Use automation to avoid mistakes Another effective strategy to handle eCommerce returns is to automate the process to avoid mistakes. Businesses must account for the cost of items sent to a vendor along with the human capital that goes into it. Return can be more effective if the process is automated instead of outsourcing or doing it through the manual process. Therefore, to minimize returns, you should set up a standard process that handles returns. This will genuinely help in streamlining the return process. You can use a chatbot, tracking data, or scan-based return labels to quickly reenter any returned product. Encourage exchanges over returns Instead of just returning the product, you can offer exchange or store credit to help cut return rates while creating new opportunities to increase your sale. Furthermore, this strategy allows you to minimize the monetary loss of returns while improving customer experience. Ask for reviews and feedbacks To deal with future returns, you can ask customers to provide feedback and reviews on why they are returning the product. Through this, you can minimize future events and enhance a better customer experience. For instance, most customers will return a product because it doesn’t fit what they expected. Therefore, through their reviews and feedbacks, you can provide better sizing on your product pages.
Best Practices For Managing Backordered Items
Managing backordered products can be a tricky challenge for BigCommerce merchants. When a customer places an order for an out-of-stock product, it’s important to have a clear process in place to communicate with the customer and fulfill the order once the item is back in stock. This blog post will provide an essential guide on how to effectively handle backordered items on your BigCommerce store to minimize disruptions and keep your customers satisfied. What are backordered items? Backorder items refer to an item that is currently out-of-stock but is planned to be restocked and delivered soon. When a product is on backorder, it means the manufacturer has already scheduled production, and the item will be next in line to be delivered once it’s back in stock. Backorders and out-of-stock products present distinct challenges for eCommerce merchants. Customers are able to place orders for backordered items on an online store, with the understanding that there will be a longer than normal shipping time until the product is available again. In contrast, when a product is marked “out of stock” on a website, customers cannot order that item at all. While both backordered and out-of-stock products are temporarily unavailable, the key difference is that backorders are guaranteed to be fulfilled in the near future, whereas out-of-stock items may or may not be restocked. Backordered items will have an extended shipping time frame, but they will ultimately be delivered once the inventory is replenished. What causes backorders? Backorders can arise for a variety of reasons, some of which are within a merchant’s control, while others are external factors beyond their direct influence. Unusual or unexpected spikes in demand This could be due to seasonal fluctuations, where certain items experience a surge in popularity during specific times of the year. It could also result from a product being featured in the media, such as an appearance on a popular TV show or a review in a high-profile publication. Inadequate safety stock Safety stock refers to the extra units merchants keep on hand to buffer against supply chain disruptions or fluctuations in regular demand. If a merchant underestimates the required safety stock levels based on historical sales patterns and forecasted demand, they may find themselves facing backorders when regular demand cannot be fulfilled from available inventory. Manufacturer or supplier problem Manufacturer and supplier issues also commonly contribute to backorders. Problems such as material shortages, production delays, or unexpected shutdowns at the manufacturing or distribution level can disrupt the supply of goods and result in backorders for the merchant’s customers. This is particularly problematic when the merchant has little control or visibility into their upstream supply chain operations. Human mistakes cause backordered items Mistakes can and do happen, even for the most diligent merchants running an eCommerce operation. Sometimes, backorders are simply the result of a misunderstanding or forgetfulness on the part of the business. For example, a merchant may forget to replenish a particular SKU until it’s too late, leading to an out-of-stock situation. They may also forget to properly delist a product from their website while it’s out of stock, continuing to allow customers to place orders for an item the merchant can’t fulfill. Inventory and warehouse management discrepancies With so many moving parts involved in a typical warehouse operation, it can be surprisingly easy for merchants to lose track of precise inventory counts. Items can go missing, become damaged, or expire during routine checks, organizational shuffling, or other warehouse activities. And if these issues go unnoticed, the merchant may end up selling inventory they don’t actually have in stock, resulting in backorders for their customers. Long lead times Even when merchants reorder inventory in a timely manner, long lead times from manufacturers or suppliers can still result in backorders for their customers. Lead times can be particularly volatile, especially during periods of supply chain disruption, and delays in replenishment shipments can force a business to burn through their safety stock before the next delivery arrives. This can leave the merchant with no choice but to place customers’ orders on backorder until the inventory is finally replenished. How to handling backordered items on BigCommerce using BackOrder When dealing with backordered items in your BigCommerce store, it’s crucial to set clear expectations and maintain open communication with your customers throughout the process. Set expectations Start by clearly indicating on your product pages which items are currently on backorder, including an estimated shipping time frame if possible. This upfront transparency can help prevent any unpleasant surprises for customers after they’ve placed their orders. Follow up with email communications to further keep customers informed. Let them know you’re working to fulfill the backorder, and provide updates as the item gets closer to shipping. Build excitement You can use the backorder period as an opportunity to build excitement and anticipation. Set up an automated email funnel to periodically touch base with waiting customers – tease the product features, introduce complementary items they may want, and countdown the days until shipment. These proactive communications can transform a potentially negative experience into a positive one, fostering stronger customer relationships. Maintain Open and Honest Communication Keeping customers informed every step of the way is critical when managing backorders. Regularly update them on the progress of their order, and don’t hesitate to report any bad news or further delays honestly. Being transparent will help build trust, as customers will appreciate the candor rather than being left in the dark. Consider implementing stock notification tools that allow customers to track the status of their backordered items as they move through the supply chain. Proactively sharing updates on the product page or through social media channels can also help create visibility and manage expectations. Consider BackOrder from GritGlobal to comprehensively handle backordered items For BigCommerce merchants looking for a practical solution to recover lost sales from backordered items, the BackOrder app from GritGlobal offers a comprehensive approach. Stores using BackOrder have generated over $20,000 in additional revenue on average, while boosting their annual
Essential emails when you have backorders
eCommerce customers want to get whatever they want when they want it. If any delay occurs in a backorder situation, you still have the chance to lose revenue and customers. However, to avert such a situation, eCommerce store owners use an email marketing strategy to ensure customers frequent updates, answer questions, and keep them excited pending when they have their order. For any new eCommerce store, getting started with essential emails when faced with a backorder can be challenging. In this post, you will explore important backorder email strategies that will help build trust and decrease refunds from customers. The days of backorders are inevitable, but you’ve got to be prepared to scale through this period. Backorders Out-of-stock and backorder mean almost the same thing for a particular product. It means the product isn’t available at the moment. Nevertheless, the particular word you choose depends on its meaning. When you see an out-of-stock in an eCommerce website, it means you can’t order the item, even though the order button is still activated. However, a backorder occurs when the product isn’t available, but customers can order even though the product will be delayed. If you are on BigCommerce, try out our BigCommerce BackOrder app: The app allows your customers to purchase even at 0 inventory, with customizable notifications and ETAs. Notify customers of backordered products You can send BigCommerce automated emails to inform customers of backordered products in your store. When doing this, ensure to estimate when the item will be available with an option to opt-out if they can’t wait. Thank you email after order placement After receiving an order and payment made, you should send a thank you email to serve as a receipt. You can provide an estimate of the shipping and delivery dates if possible. Furthermore, apologies for inconvenience and offers should also be included in this backorder email. Update order status Although the particular update status depends on the customer, business, and product, there are default emails you can use for this. You don’t have to create a complex series of backorder emails. Notify order shipping status Although you might have a “thank you” email sent with a tracking number, especially if your store has a good management tool integrated into it. You can set a shipping order status email to ensure your customers their product is being delivered. Guidelines, resources for using products You can provide an email that offers additional information about the product, how to use and enjoy every benefit of the product. This can serve as an incentive as the customers would want to wait to try out everything they have read in the email. Ask for reviews Here, you can create email workflows to ask for reviews and suggestions on dealing with backorders. You can also suggest how they would want to be served or their challenges in waiting for their ordered product.
Steps to build your eCommerce return policy
An eCommerce return policy is essential for any eCommerce store as it covers rules as to what can be returned or exchanged by a customer. It serves as a guideline for customers regarding what product can be returned if their order has any issue. Typically, most eCommerce return policies include the supported products to return, the return window, acceptable return, and how to return the product. In setting up an eCommerce return policy, there are essential steps or things that should be included because they can help boost your sales. When navigating through your brand in the ever-competitive world of online retailing, some things might slip through your eyes. Most times, your return policy is one of such things. To help you build your return policy as a new eCommerce online retailer, here are the essential steps to follow to have a comprehensive eCommerce return policy. Determine which product can be returned/exchanged Your return policy should have a list of items that can be exchanged or returned. Here, you have to specify the particular products a customer can return or not. For instance, after delivery, consumable items shouldn’t be returned whereas physical products that have been opened and used shouldn’t be returned. Determine return time window While customers can return any product, there must be a timeframe when it should be done. Understandably, customers can return the product between 30, 60, or 90 days. However, this return time window will depend on the product category. For instance, you cannot return a phone you purchase after 30 days because you might have used it the wrong way. Setting a clear timeframe for your return policy prevents further issues. Determine return conditions Ensure to enlighten your customers to understand the details of the return policy and the process involved. With this, the return process can be handled quickly and effectively. Furthermore, set clear guidelines on the process and how the item can be returned. For example, clothing retailers usually require returned products to have attached tags. Determine how a customer can initiate a return Here, you give customers how they will contact you if they want to initiate a return. Most eCommerce store allows customers to initiate a return through phone call and email. Additionally, you can also include a chatbot or other means of communication that is easier for customers. Be simple, straightforward, and careful with vocabulary When writing your eCommerce return policy, use clear language that anyone can understand, notwithstanding their academic level. Frequently, consumers face complications when trying to return a product because of the choice of words used in the return policy. Write in a conversational and friendly tone that instills peace of mind when a customer wants to return a product. Particularly, avoid using a commanding tone with “must”, “have to”.eCommerce return policy Make your policy easy to find Besides communicating your return policy in a friendly and straightforward manner, you need to make it easy to find. You won’t want your customers to go through the stress of finding your return policy. There are several places you can place the return policy, such as in carts, within product pages, as a static header or footer on your website, and at the checkout page. Automate return process Handling eCommerce returns involves many repetitive tasks. Analyzing which steps to automate can save time for both your staff and customers. Moreover, you can only integrate workflow automation with a clear return policy and planned steps for various different scenarios.
The Key to Successful Supplier Relationship Management on BigCommerce
BigCommerce, a leading e-commerce platform, provides various tools and features that can significantly enhance how businesses manage their supplier relationships. This article explores the fundamentals of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) on BigCommerce, strategies for effective supplier management, and best practices to ensure that your supplier relationships are productive and beneficial. Understanding the Basics of Supplier Relationship Management on BigCommerce Key Components of Supplier Relationship Management How BigCommerce Supports Supplier Relationship Management Strategies for Effective Supplier Relationship Management Building Strong Partnerships Effective Communication and Collaboration Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Best Practices for Optimizing Supplier Relationships Continuous Improvement and Adaptation Negotiating Better Deals Managing Risk in Supplier Relationships Atom8 & BackOrder – Solutions for Supplier Relationship Management on BigCommerce Atom8 and BigCommerce BackOrder, created by GritGlobal, are two powerful solutions that can enhance your supplier relationship management on BigCommerce: Building Strong Partnerships Atom8’s Workflow Automation: Atom8’s automation capabilities streamline processes related to supplier management. By automating routine tasks such as order approvals and inventory updates, Atom8 helps build trust with suppliers through consistent and reliable interactions. This consistency fosters stronger, more dependable partnerships in supplier relationship management. BackOrder’s Inventory Alerts: BackOrder provides real-time inventory alerts, ensuring that suppliers are promptly informed about stock levels and potential issues. By keeping suppliers updated about inventory needs and order statuses, BackOrder helps in managing expectations and building a collaborative relationship. Effective Communication and Collaboration Atom8’s Integration with Communication Tools: Atom8 integrates seamlessly with communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. This integration allows for real-time communication and collaboration with suppliers directly from within your BigCommerce environment. You can manage conversations, share updates, and address issues promptly in supplier relationship management. BackOrder’s Supplier Portal: BackOrder’s supplier portal feature provides a centralized platform where suppliers can access order details, inventory levels, and performance data. This transparency facilitates better communication and collaboration, as suppliers have immediate access to relevant information and can respond quickly to updates. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Atom8’s Performance Metrics Automation: Atom8 automates the collection and reporting of key performance metrics related to supplier performance. By integrating with BigCommerce’s data, Atom8 provides detailed performance dashboards that track metrics such as order accuracy, delivery times, and fulfillment rates, facilitating effective evaluation. BackOrder’s Real-Time Performance Tracking: BackOrder offers real-time tracking of supplier performance metrics related to inventory and order fulfillment. By providing up-to-date data on how suppliers are meeting their commitments, BackOrder helps you monitor performance and make informed decisions based on current information. Conclusion Tools like Atom8 and BackOrder further enhance your supplier relationship management capabilities, offering solutions to streamline processes and improve efficiency. Embracing these practices and tools will help you build a robust supply chain that supports your e-commerce goals and fosters long-term growth. Contact us for more.
Drive eCommerce upsell with automation
Do you think eCommerce is a better way of doing business today? Is eCommerce cheaper and better compared to offline shopping? Honestly, no everyone will agree to these questions because eCommerce is not different from our offline world. The only thing that makes eCommerce groundbreaking is the fact that you can stay anywhere and buy anything. Like offline stores, eCommerce companies apply various techniques to increase their sales and revenue; some of these include price anchoring, bundling, upselling, and cross-selling. To drive sales, most business owners use automation in their online store along with other strategies. In this write-up, we will look at how you can drive eCommerce upsell with automation. What is upselling? Upselling is a technique where you provide your customers the opportunity to upgrade to a product they already bought or get a more expensive version of the product to maximize their purchase. The main reason is for a customer to spend more than they intended to spend on your store. While many think this technique is spammy or unethical, it is allowed in the eCommerce industry. The secret to upselling a product is to offer a product, which adds value and improves your customer’s well-being. In other words, the product should have something that customers value. How to drive eCommerce upsell with automation Segment your customers by behavior The first step is to segment your customers using various criteria. With automation, you can segment them based on their behavior, repeated purchases, first-time purchase, or specific category. For instance, a customer who loves buying a particular product can use the upsell technique to suggest the benefit of opting for a higher product. Furthermore, segmenting your customer behavior allows you to understand them better when it comes to suggesting newer products. Send emails to nurture new customers You need to nurture new customers through email. Here, you should ensure to begin with a personalized greeting and show the product they previously purchased. Furthermore, provide recommendations or an enticement to upsell to a more expensive or newer product. While doing this, ensure to get feedback from your customer about which product they would like to see. Moreover, the email should contain means of reaching back to your store peradventure they need any assistance. Some customers might feel caged in; therefore, provide an opt-out option. Create loyalty program At times, you need to create a loyalty program or free shipping program that allows you to ship items. Over 89% of customers believe that free shipping is a huge incentive to shopping more. Here, you can remind the customers to spend more or buy particular products to qualify for free shipping. Personalize recommendations and highlight past purchases Recommendations work better if you personalize them when sending them to your customers. A recent study shows that more than 76% of online shoppers will buy from a retailer if they know their previous purchase history or get a recommendation based on that history. Furthermore, when making a recommendation, address them by their name. Choose the right automation app Find out which features you need from an automation tool by analyzing your eCommerce upsell plans. There are various types of automation app in the market, hence the option to use a number of apps for different purposes or one comprehensive workflow automation. If you are looking for BigCommerce automation or Shopify automation, don’t forget to give our apps a try!
