The eCommerce environment is rapidly changing and attaining eCommerce success might cause some businesses grief. One of the best ways to succeed in this setting is having intelligent systems or ways of working so that your business will be better set up to meet the changing requirements of customers, markets, and technology. To achieve eCommerce success, your business should build for the needs of the company, customers, and future. Strengthen the way you do business online with market-leading practices and vendor management tools.
Workflow and automation in eCommerce
eCommerce is hosted and driven by technology. Business process management software handles your day-to-day tasks in a web environment. For tasks beyond its capability, you need robust and responsive workflows managed by people. Software efficiencies can help your business, your staff, suppliers and customers.
For example, how well does your software let you onboard new inventory stock, suppliers and partners into your business? eCommerce relies on quality vendors and strong relationships. Ensure your enterprise performance management software has an effective onboarding system. This is readily automated, including template contracts and automatic workflow assignment for financial and legal teams for review.
Workflow design
Whether you’re in the B2B or B2C space, develop your workflow blueprint around at least these ideas:
Accountability
As the workflow foundation, you need to know who is doing what, at which step in the process, when each task starts and ends, and what the overall goal is. This is particularly important the more that your eCommerce business relies on automation; managing your inventory stock according to a set of rules can improve your overall inventory management, but it’s still essential that someone owns that process and has an interest in making it work well.
Outcomes
Know your key performance indicators (KPIs). Selecting the right measures are integral to measuring your eCommerce success or challenge points over time.
Collect and validate
To implement those ideas, you will need to have a way of capturing useful data from your business. Make sure you have check points for validating the data you have so that it is accurate and aligns with your KPIs.
Evaluate and change
Data drives insights into accountability and outcomes and on your market. Those insights will be reflected in outcomes and provide guidance on invaluable ways to improve how you do business. Equip your business to act on that information.
When do workflows matter?
Here are three common situations where a workflow makes an impact:
New product
Your business needs to be prepared before launching a new product online. Research your proposed product and the probable online competition to get a viable niche. Know who will source and/or provide essential product information (weight, dimensions, images, pricing). Understand the product lifecycle from manufacturer to end user.
Content refresh
Online platforms need current and up-to-date information about your enterprise and inventory stock. Put in place a framework to quality check, compile, and push updates onto your retailer’s and/or product-hosting websites. Be strategic and align these updates with new product rollouts, sales goals, and KPIs.
Content requests
Customers or retailers occasionally request product content. Devise a workflow that is capable of delivering punctual, tailored, and quality content. Develop a wrap-around process to support individuals in your business that frequently handle these queries. Template the stakeholder’s method of requesting product content. Know who in the business can source general categories of answers. Host a ‘self-service’ or FAQ section to deflect common, high-volume queries that have been answered before.
