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E-Commerce Virtual Assistants

You have your e-commerce platform idea and the products that you want to sell. New sellers have the traditional option to organically work on their e-commerce site and build as the brand grows. But that significantly impinges the customer experience while shopping on the site. E-commerce sellers now have a myriad of options to outsource functions or tasks of the business to low-cost efficient specialists known as  virtual assistants , resulting in quicker turnaround and growth in the business. The options can be classified according to important pillars of any e-retail business: Design Website:  Your website is the face of your brand. If the design and feel of the website is unprofessional or generic from free templates, it could turn away the customer from shopping or dampen their experience. Once there is an understanding of who the target market is, websites need to be designed to capture their attention and foster brand recall. The design of your website can be outsourced to virt

Sustainable Packaging & Shipping

  “Major U.S. retailers reported jumps in e-commerce volume in the second and third quarters — some more than 100%. And roughly one-third of U.S. small- to medium-sized businesses reported, as of September that their shipping volume had increased, according to a poll conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Pitney Bowes. ” The pandemic has created havoc in economies across the world. It may seem from the quote above and the market valuations of tech stocks such as Amazon, Alibaba that the e-commerce business is booming, but it has been a mixed bag for the parcel shipping industry. Reports indicate that much of the business in the US has shifted to the two largest delivery companies, FedEx and UPS and they have increased shipping rates, which are being borne by the biggest e-retailers. FedEx and UPS concurrently have been delivering more residential packages than commercial packages during the pandemic. However, due to the large business volume, most delivery companies have had to

What companies are doing different to attract ecommerce customers

The   COVID-19 pandemic situation has led to many consumers coming online and/or increasing their online activities. “U.S. online sales for September increased 43% year over year, reaching $60.4 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. This growth was just above August’s online sales growth, which increased 42% year over year.”   This has been a boon for many companies that have existing e-commerce platforms but this has led to many new e-commerce businesses and traditional companies who do not have e-commerce platforms to jump onboard and expedite their online presence. This is evident by the increase in traffic but drop in conversion rates . What are the innovative ways in which some companies have stood out from the crowd? E-commerce retailers have turned to data analytics to track metrics to see what tactic worked and hasn’t worked in the short run. Some e-commerce busines

What you need to know about Gross Merchandise Value

Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) is defined as the gross sales revenue generated over a period of time by an e-commerce platform before any deduction for fees or commission . It is used to track the growth rate of an e-commerce business since it measures the value of the total merchandise that has been sold through the site for a specific time period, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. Gross Merchandise Value = Number of Goods sold x Price of goods sold This metric is useful for e-commerce businesses that buy and store the merchandise from suppliers and delivers to customers when purchases are made. However, it cannot be used as a standalone metric for all online retail platforms. For e-commerce sites that operate as a Customer-to-Customer (C2C) business, they do not physically manage the goods. The total commissions generated and accrued expenses, such as delivery fees, advertising, return expenses incurred are more important to track for this business model. This is also known as Gro

Challenges for Cross border E-Commerce

Borders are literally non-existent in today’s world where buying and selling between countries has been made so much easy through e-commerce. Technology has transformed and blurred the line that existed earlier in cross border transactions and continuous investment is being made by many e-commerce majors to ensure customer satisfaction and high reach of various products and services. Global e-commerce sales is projected to reach US  $6.5 trillion by 2023 , which will be approximately 22% of total global retail sales. A  study on western Europe , found that cross-border e-commerce accounted for 95 billion of the total e-commerce revenue in 2018 and that cross-border trade made up 22.8% of the total online sales in Europe. More than 2.1 billion shoppers are expected to purchase goods and services online by 2021. E-commerce as a whole has already shifted away from the West and will continue to do so despite the slowdown in the global economy. While most companies who sell online have a

How to Make Correct SKU for Faster Listing

SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is a code tied to a particular product for internal use. Believe me, correct SKU is the very foundation of your store, you cannot mess with this one. These codes allow us to track our stocks and supplies and it helps a lot for listing in e-commerce marketplaces. So, we must make an SKU that can be easily understood and used for faster listing in many kinds of marketplaces. Don't trouble yourself later because you have underestimated this. To get a correct SKU, you only need to apply these 4 simple rules:   1. Only use dot ' . ' or dash ' - ' symbols This way you won't confuse yourself, the audience, or the spreadsheet. Symbols like ' / ' will sometimes cause format problems in your excel. While special symbols like ' @ ' or ' # ' become irrelevant when you use them in making SKU. And of course, don't use space.   2. Use both letter and number  Combine but don't mix when representing the informati

Knowing what sells after COVID-19

It was not the typical back-to-school this year for Anna, an 8th grade student at a private school. Topping her list of academic essentials was a laptop. Her school, like most, switched classes to online using Microsoft Teams to deliver content. Her parents had their dedicated work laptops and considering buying one just for Anna so that she could attend her classes. This is a conundrum that is being faced by many families globally during COVID-19 times. Recently, DigiTimes Research reported that global shipments of laptops and tablets would surge in the second quarter after falling in Q1 due to COVID-19. Notebooks are expected to surge by 40% and tablets by 45% due to remote work and student demands. Gartner, a global IT research and consulting company, surveyed 317 CFO's and business finance leaders and results revealed 74% of respondents expect atleast 5% of their workforce who previously worked in company offices will become permanent work-from-home employees after the pan

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