For everything to work out in your e-commerce strategy, you need to take into account many points. Find out where to start and which way to go to take your physical store to the virtual one.
Online retail continues to grow and has room for more. E-commerces and marketplaces are sales channels with a worldwide reach, attributing great power to each brand. And, not to miss the chance to quote Peter Parker’s great proverb, “with great power comes great responsibility”… and opportunities, it’s worth adding. To get everything right on this journey, you need a map so you don’t get lost on the way to bring your physical store to the virtual one. That’s what you’ll have from now on.
Step 1: Plan
According to the study led by Neotrust, the Brazilian e-commerce grew 26.9% in 2021 (compared to 2020), earning no less than BRL 161 billion – and the trend is to continue growing. In other words, we already have an audience that is fluent in online shopping . Any slip-up can put everything at risk before your sales even begin.
Start by researching what is the adherence of your product
and public to e-commerce. Find out who your competitors are and their online strategies, and then calculate how much you will need to invest to have a virtual store running smoothly and competence.
Don’t have a CNPJ yet? This can limit your performance. Without CNPJ, you will not be able to issue invoices or close contracts to supply companies.
Study the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and have an accountant to be in charge of tax and civil matters. By the way, when it comes to taxes, things can get quite complex, since each location has its own ways of calculating these payments.
It sounds like a lot – and it is. Nobody here wants you to underestimate the hassle it takes, but planning and executing the right way can change the life of your business.
+First steps to open a company and have your business on the internet
Step 2 : Operational capacity
The first question to ask is: what is the operational capacity of my business? When we talk about operational capacity, understand how to meet the demand online , manage the individuals and legal entities involved, manage orders and inventory, pack, collect, deliver, exchange, respond to tax inquiries, and keep the physical business moving at the same time. Map everything possible.
Step 3: E-commerce platform
Still operational, we have the operation and structuring the e-commerce itself, which involves good photographs and product descriptions, pricing and Information Technology (IT) management , for example.
To create and manage a virtual store it will be necessary to choose you will find the complete solution for creating and management of your e-commerce. Our tools are intuitive and uncomplicated, you can count on hosting and domain resources, digital marketing tools and many others that will help you bring your physical store to the virtual one. In addition, you can count on our support and experience of more than 20 years of experience in the field. Yes, when we got here it was all bush.
Hosting your store on a good server guarantees the success of your online strategy!
CHECK IT OUT
Step 4: Contracting payment options
Try to have secure and specialized options for the payment of orders. The payment gateways can be integrated into your store to automate purchase records and issuance of invoices. Companies like Vindi is a good example of a payment method provider. There are also options such as bank slip, transfers and Pix. Study the rates of each company, the payment methods for those who buy and how the financial management will be carried out.
Step 5: Online service
Your virtual store will be a communication channel and, of course, it will also be a place to resolve queries from those who want buy, who has already bought, who wants to exchange and who wants to complain.
Most people are used to answering their questions in chats (embedded on the site or through applications such as WhatApp Business) or via the social media message box, such as Instagram’s Direct Message (DM). These channels must have transparent information about opening hours and average response time. But remember that the emergency service considerably increases the chances of the person buying from you.
Who will be responsible for the service via chat you need to write correctly, know how to reproduce the brand’s “tone of voice” – formal or informal, for example – and have a lot of empathy. This is one of the key points in communication – in a service and in life.
Some tools allow automating the answers to frequently asked questions, which is very interesting for a pre-service, but something that needs to be performed with great competence. Test as many suppliers as necessary until you decide on one.
Step 6: Always up-to-date inventory information
Leave a item available for sale without it being in stock can give a gigantic headache. Imagine promising to deliver a product in 2 business days without it even existing. And since it is about online sales , imagine that there are several units of this product. There’s no negotiation here: stock and online item availability need to be precisely synchronized. Issue invoices and attach them to orders as quickly as possible to avoid errors.
Step 7: Pack and unpack
This is one of the points where your brand can make a difference in the customer experience. In addition to the packaging being technically capable of guaranteeing the integrity of the product , it will be necessary to think about the sensory experience of the person who will receive the order. This is a very smart way to materialize for those who bought from you. Personalized scented box, a handwritten or signed message, a protective bag for the product, a card with a discount for the next purchase… Make this experience “Instagrammable” and see your brand win a well-deserved spontaneous disclosure. The details show excellence.
Important: before you start packing, check the invoice again. Check with the delivery person how this document should be placed in the package and how the sender and recipient data should be arranged.
