Running an eCommerce business is undoubtedly not an easy task! You need to be extra vigilant and always stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies to keep growing. Furthermore, you have to keep a thorough track of the costs and expenditure that goes on in the business. At the back of your mind, you are always concerned about how you can improve your business and also reduce costs at the same time. To make the process easier for you, here are a few tricks to your you started with eliminating additional expenses.
Start With Popular Payment Options
Customers prefer an excellent variety of payment options when shopping online. But for starters, observe which payment option is performing the best with your buyers and provide that more than others. Payment modes can be a game-changer. If you can, conduct a short survey with your buyers to find out which payment option do they prefer most. As your orders increase, the payment fee you pay to your payment gateway provider also increases. Therefore, having a higher number of payment options would mean increased costs owing to the payment fees.
Opt For Courier Aggregators
Shipping eats up a large chunk of your eCommerce budget. To make sure you ship on a budget, sign up with courier aggregators like Shiprocket. With advanced features like Bulk shipping, courier recommendation, etc., Shiprocket leads the Indian logistics market with over 25000 sellers on board. The best part is, you get to ship at rates starting at Rs. 27/500g. Moreover, you can also choose from 15+ courier partners. You save a good amount on shipping & freight costs, COD charges, etc.
Optimize Organic Marketing
We understand the advent of paid marketing and the boost it brings to your business. But, organic marketing can contribute equally well if you do it properly. Focus on channels like SEO to improve your ranking on search engines and bring more traffic to your website. On the website, make sure your images and content are optimized to retain a new customer and appropriately engage with them. Paying attention to social media channels like Facebook and Instagram as can also offer an enormous scope toward remarketing your products to your target audience. Conduct a comprehensive analysis and find out which channel is used most by your target audience and strategize accordingly.
Minimize Packaging
If you overpack your products, you automatically add to operations costs. Packaging optimization can play a major role in deciding upon a design and size that is ideal for your products. Conceptualizing these minute details will help eliminate an ample amount of costs from your expenditures and prove to be useful in reducing costs.
Formulate A Clear And Transparent Return Policy
Returns can be a menace for any eCommerce business. They lead to an increase in expenses, and you need to invest more time and resources to handle them. It is ideal if you work to reduce them. One way you can do so is by formulating a transparent return policy and highlighting it on your website. This will make the process and conditions clear to your buyers, and you can avoid any unnecessary return orders.
Work On Customer Service
Tackling unhappy customers or buyers who come with specific queries is an excruciating task. If not appropriately addressed, you can lose out on customers, and that can be a significant loss for your business. Getting a new customer on board is a much more expensive task as compared to retaining an existing customer. Sturdy customer support that can handle concerns and eradicate them effectively is a bonus for your business. This will not only help you keep customers but also help reduce return orders, which can help you save on several additional costs.
Streamline Inventory Management
Inventory management is key to successful order fulfillment. If you do not manage your inventory correctly and maintain stock with sales, you can end up losing orders or have plenty of extras that you eventually cannot sell. Therefore, get in place an inventory management software where you can streamline your order fulfillment process from procuring products to shipping them. Through this, you save on unused inventory, can forecast sales, and order additional products depending on the sales and ongoing trends.
Conclusion
Operational costs can never be eliminated from your business and at no point should you worry about doing that. Spot tiny loopholes and figure how you can cut additional costs to make sure your business stays afloat with a blend of effective strategy and efficient cost management.
