How to sell online in these times when populations in multiple cities around the world are confined to their homes to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) ? Well, since the general recommendation is not to go out, the way to go is to work from home.
An e-commerce home office is an office for operating and managing an online store that is set up at home. Basically, all you need is a room, a chair, a desk, and a computer with an internet connection for this type of office to function.
In this way, each e-commerce employee can be excused from attending the company's headquarters, since everyone will be able to work from their homes. But how to connect the whole team and keep it focused? Is it possible to continue selling like this?
Discover, then, some technologies that will help you integrate your team and maintain cooperation remotely. Discover platforms and services that allow you to operate your virtual store from anywhere. Get tips for organizing your employees' telecommuting.
Access and read the article " How to sell products online " as well. This way, you'll learn ten ways to work in e-commerce.
HOW TO SELL ONLINE: PLATFORMS AND SERVICES
During quarantine periods like the one we are currently experiencing, the tendency is for people to buy more through e-commerce. In fact, in the first 15 days of March 2020, the increase in online sales was 40%, according to data from the consulting firm Compre e Confie.
While the e-commerce market as a whole takes the lead, you, as a business owner in the sector, need to act with social responsibility . Therefore, at this time it is necessary to restrict the flow of people on the streets, in public transport, and at your company's headquarters. And today, more than ever, there is a way to do this. I'm talking about teleworking via home office.
In this scenario, each individual on your ecommerce team can be reassigned to work from home. In other words, educate your managers and analysts in e-commerce, Digital Marketing, metrics, social networks, E-mail Marketing and sponsored links; salespeople and attendants; programmers and content creators for work via home office.
This is possible because virtually all e-commerce technologies are cloud-based and can be managed remotely and in real time online by multiple people. E-commerce platforms like VTEX and Linx , for example, work this way.
Furthermore, it's possible to connect your company to various product delivery services. The Scape Report 2020 e-commerce map identifies dozens of companies in this sector, many of which can be directly integrated into your e-commerce platform, automating and facilitating the delivery of goods from your online store to multiple regions of Brazil.
remote communication
One of the great difficulties of working from home is to integrate professionals and engage them in specific projects, which have deadlines to start and finish. Currently, however, there are software such as Sabesim and Trello, which allow remote team management.
These remote work softwares make it possible to create and monitor projects, plan and control tasks, carry out collective work, communicate with the team, manage employees and much more, all from a distance.
Access our article “ 5 apps to connect your team and organize work in your e-commerce business ” and discover more opportunities of this kind. Perhaps, in the future, you'll even want to do this more often, since working from home saves on commuting time, reduces stress, improves employees' quality of life, and generates returns, among other advantages.
How to sell online: boost conversions
Once your employees are ready to work from home, you must make your e-commerce gear work as if everyone were in the same office. Then use a good communication app (see previous topic) to integrate and coordinate your team.
Take advantage of online sales tend to grow during quarantine and increase your Digital Marketing budget. If you were forced to close your physical store, then you can transfer the advertising budget from this one to the online one. The idea is that as you advertise more, soon more people will start visiting your sales pages and naturally more conversions will occur.
In Brazil, on average, there is 1 conversion for every 100 unique visitors to a specific sales page on an e-commerce website . Therefore, if you want to make 200 sales in a day, you will have to invest in digital marketing an amount capable of generating approximately 20 unique visitors to that specific sales page during that period.
Finally, remember that you can improve the conversion rate of all pages on your online store. The first step to doing this is to conduct usability tests . This will allow you to discover why your conversion rate is low and create actions to increase it.
TIPS FOR WORKING FROM HOME
Working from home is a difficult task for many people for various reasons. Home space can be too small, neighbors can be noisy, family can be distracting, etc. But for everything there is one or more solutions.
You will be able to create a virtual meeting via WhatsApp or within the aforementioned remote work application and ask your employees to list their difficulties. Then everyone can offer tips to each other. It's a good idea to include a home office professional in this conversation.
Surround the difficulties of each employee. Help them with ideas for work-from-home improvements. Worry about their well-being and they are sure to reciprocate with a performance above expectations.
During the quarantine, provide daily tips for improving productivity at home office for your employees. Educate them so they can perform as well or even better than they do at your company headquarters.
And as a CEO, look at this entire process from day one. See if it is advantageous to invest in telecommuting going forward. Search the web for more tools, technologies and services about this way of working. You could, for example, establish that your employees work from home two or three days a week. If well organized, this can reduce your costs and improve the productivity of your e-commerce.
Access and read the post “ Endomarketing ” as well. Learn how to strengthen your e-commerce business from the inside out.
