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2020 changed the way that product-based businesses needed to work. Whether the change impacted a traditionally bricks-and-mortar retailer looking for opportunities to undo the damage of lockdowns, a distributor seeing increased pressure to embrace technology, or a manufacturer looking to pivot, many players in each of these industries turned to ecommerce to keep the money flowing in.
As always, the holiday season left retailers scrambling to keep up. Even in the midst of a pandemic, lockdowns, and recession, money flowed in, beating the -1.4 percent month to month sales projection and resulting in 2.9 percent more sales than December 2019 and a 4.0 percent over Q4 2019.
It’s hard to imagine that ecommerce has existed for more than a quarter century. Though initial forays into buying and selling online relied on complicated processes only available to those well-versed in early 90s internet technology, ecommerce has evolved to provide shoppers with an easier-than-ever buying experience.
The key to preparing your retail business for the holidays is to start doing so right after the holidays end. Well, it’s likely that you did that—but plans change when a global pandemic hits. Supply chains changed. Your business probably had to shut down for at least a month. And now that you’re ramping back up, you’re doing so with fewer customers allowed in your business.
Times have changed. Whether you’re reading this in the midst of the pandemic or after everything has gone back to normal, you know that the way businesses operate has evolved, and success relies on your ability to be adaptable. But the times have been changing for a while now—and not just because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Over the past decade, everything from manufacturing processes to the way goods are purchased has changed, and it pays to stay ahead.
Attention. Interest. Decision. Action. If you run an eCommerce site, you already know how hard it is to get a customer through these phases.
Drop shipping is an important part of the supply chain process for eCommerce businesses. The retailer does not need to have a product in its inventory. Instead, they can transfer customer orders to another retailer, the manufacturer or wholesaler, which then ships the order directly to its destination.
Cloud-based ERP solutions are being adapted by organizations in all industries — the opportunities they provide to improve efficiencies and in turn increase profits are undeniable.
ERP and eCommerce are two very different platforms with unique utilities and architectures. Integrating them, however, can improve business functions throughout the organization, adding benefits to the business in the areas of Sales, Marketing, IT, Operational and Customer Services.
When you entered the ecommerce world, it’s likely you had relatively straightforward expectations of what would happen. You’d launch a site, list your products, and start selling.