Three strategies to scale through B2C eCommerce

COVID-19 and its impacts on society forced companies, prepared or not, to respond quickly to the crisis and prioritize business continuity.

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For essential stores (supermarkets, pharmacies and household goods), every day was like Black Friday, as consumers bought many other essential products. For non-essentials (clothing, home furnishings and shopping malls), it was the opposite. When stores were closed, it became a drastic race to save cash. Orders were cancelled and projects were halted.

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To continue operations, the pandemic led more companies to venture into the digital world. With physical outlets compromised, companies must enter the online channel to, at the very least, maintain cash flow to mitigate the effects of this unprecedented crisis. Considering this, Crossborderit (CBIT) created 3 key recommendations to scale through B2C eCommerce.

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Plan big, start small, always plan again

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Before starting the digital journey, you need to do a good analysis to know your customer journey and the online marketplace. It is incorrect to assume that the customer in the physical world would be the same as the online customer. After planning, many companies are tempted to include all the technologies to offer "the best and most complete experience possible", but we already know that this is a mistake, since very large projects generate budgets and delays and end up delivering something that would already be obsolete.

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That is why the strategy is always to start small, with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), where it offers a minimum of functionality to meet the most immediate needs of the customer. The online world is very dynamic, so it is not possible to create an eCommerce business and leave it as is for 1 or 2 years. Consider adopting a culture of constant testing, learning and evolution with agile methods to gain relevance.

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Know and mitigate risks

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The online world has risks that the physical world does not and vice versa. Therefore, it is important to be clear on how to mitigate them.

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Security:

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Hackers prefer eCommerce sites because they handle personal information data. In parallel, protection laws are emerging around the world.

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Inverse Costs:

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Many companies err by thinking only about the sales flow and end up ignoring the reverse flow when the customer returns a product. This reverse flow, if not well thought out and controlled, can generate high costs and turn your operation red in a short time.

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Fraud:

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Like the data problem, fraud in the online world is riskier than in the physical world. This is because fraudsters benefit from the ease of anonymity and automation to scale their operations.

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Make the right partnerships

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Take care to establish the right partnerships for building and operating the eCommerce business. From the platform used for eCommerce to the logistics fulfillment partners, who may not deliver on their promise of landed, negatively affect the customer experience and generate a flood of complaints.

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And finally, the execution of the strategy must have the commitment and corporate governance on an ongoing basis and make a retrospective evolution on a weekly basis, to avoid not achieving the objectives.

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Scaling through B2C eCommerce is possible. This will create a ripple effect that will transform the way the industry operates, creating opportunities to better serve customers and design more agile, resilient and sustainable businesses.

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Damon Baca

Co-Founder

Crossborderit (CBIT)

www.crossborderit.com/IOSS