Techniques for adjusting your business to keep up with the digital world and make a profit on eCommerce

 

Techniques for adjusting your business to keep up with the digital world and make a profit on eCommerce

I want to sell products in the online world to be successful. What should I do? In the crisis-era where the old business has stopped

 

  

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Marketing in the digital age Differences before and after COVID-19 

Let's call it a different story. Before Covid-19, we were still a lot of analogs. Half the people of the country are still used to doing the same business. But when there is covid-19 All sectors are raising their level to go online. When the rules change So people's behaviors change accordingly. When people's behaviors change What followed was that the business had to change.

So if you are doing business Your first focus is E-Marketing. make people want After that is to draw people into our channel, which is E-Commerce, whether it's Facebook, a website, or maybe a chat channel. Now it will run through the system. payment occurred delivery occurred

 

When a business has people buying, selling, and paying What will our business be like? We have to come back to E-Business whether our business has adapted itself to digital or not. Do you have accounting software? People management software or customer management software And when we change from ordinary business to E-Business, the efficiency will be much more effective. But I have to admit that some groups haven't come in yet. because I really don't know how to proceed. This problem mostly occurs with very mature entrepreneurs. which he can't really adjust This is one of the weaknesses that prevent some people from adjusting themselves to this change.

Adaptable business But still not sure in which direction to choose. How should I plan a framework?

The first point is to look at who our customers are. Has the customer behavior changed today? Because this will tell what strategy we should go next. for example, In the past, you sold high heels in Siam. But now that people don't walk in Siam anymore because it's closed, we have to see where female customers go to buy shoes now, must they sell on Instagram, Facebook? When does the customer change? We have to adjust according to the customers as well.

 

The question is, what framework will it be? We have to take the demand first. How has the behavior of our customers changed? Then the gap of the problem that he has becomes our strategy. whether it is a sales channel How we reach our customers How to buy after-sales service data storage Maintaining relationships to lead to repeat purchases, etc.

 

Doing business today is Number Oriented, meaning everything can be numbered. Must start from setting who our target audience is. How many sales will we have? Where will online sales come from? How much budget do you need to advertise online? Everything must be set with the target audience. And then these numbers will show that this is the direction we're going in. 

 

I want to change, but I can't adapt How to start counting one?

The first is to have a drive for yourself that 'I have to do it, especially the older business owners like Ahia Apache, who like to say, 'Ouch, I'm old, I'm not going to change. You have to adjust your mindset. and be prepared for the changes that will occur What has never been done has to be. because when there is pressure Everything will come by itself 

 

There are many options in this era of digital transformation. like someone who owns a small factory From the past, may have to rely on the brand, sap, or various transmission lines. But now you don't have to The sales channel in this era has changed from the original. You may have a team that sells products directly to consumers. or meet consumers online

 

When the factory sells directly to the consumer Originally having to provide GP (Gross Profit) to agents, he can now cut that out. And that part of the expenses will immediately become profit. Even if you lower the price of the product to be cheaper but may even earn more profits

 

But if you really can't figure it out don't know what to do I would say that knowledge really is at your fingertips. Anything you want to know, go look it up on YouTube, it will tell you everything clearly. Do not have to pay for any courses, some people aged 40-50 will say that they are not. Now it can't be done, even a 3-4-year-old child can do it. You too can learn. Gotta start with admitting that I'm ready. And I want to learn those things.

 

Don't look at the problems you face as obstacles, because they are actually opportunities. 

Don't think business model transformation is a problem, it's actually an opportunity, because your competitors may sell the same channels, pay GP must share profits with each channel. But ours doesn't have to We can produce and sell directly.

 

When we have products and services, we need to prepare sales channels. Currently, there are many online channels. which can be divided into 3 main channels

 

1. Social Commerce or social media such as Facebook, Instagram

2. Marketplace such as Lazada, Shopee, JD

3. Owned Channel is our own channel such as website

The question is, which channel is the best? The ideal answer for SMEs is to start with selling on social media first. Because opening a shop on Facebook on Instagram has no cost. Now that the shop on social media has been opened. The product has been inserted. The next question is how to attract people to buy?

 

The first and easiest way without having to pay for a boosted post at all is Live Commerce. no acquaintance Who will come to buy? What you should do is get started with communities like Facebook Groups.

 

If selling high heels You have to know who your target audience is. If you want to sell this stuff, which group should you go to? Maybe a group of office workers Beauty and fashion groups. Try to choose a room that allows you to sell things. Which live in a group will have an advantage over going live on your own page because there are many people in the group And the people in it are also our target audience.

Chat Commerce, the heart of the online business

Chatting with customers is the heart of commerce in this era. Whether it's a LINE or Facebook Messenger channel because when comparing Chat Commerce with all the E-Commerce channels I've ever done, we find that Chat Commerce is the best way to close sales.

 

With 100 people coming into Chat Commerce, we will be able to close sales by 20-30%. It's more than having customers come to see each product by themselves and then decide. But the chat is about wanting to know anything. There are all answers. Therefore, closing sales via chat is better than selling all channels.  

 

In addition, we have to come back to see if our product photos are worth buying or not. Here, content marketing is very important. You have to see the picture and immediately want to buy it. 

 

After everything is ready, we can start to fully compress marketing. Whether using Facebook Ads, we can choose the target audience that we want. Or another way is Influencer Marketing, hiring this person to talk about our products. let him review Let these groups of people speak for us. 

 

How to properly calculate online marketing costs

good marketing budget I think the lower the better. But it's low and has to be effective too. We need to know how to optimize (Optimize) to make our ads more effective. is to pay the same But get more sales, such as advertising on social media narrow target audience selection But being more precise can help. From the beginning, we may sow money to buy the number of customers. Now, maybe try to market to new customers sometime. 

 

Find new customers and not neglect old customers.

Marketing is divided into two parts: marketing to create new customers and marketing to retain old customers. Marketing to create new customers is to place advertisements so that people who have never met us before can see our products. and when he's done shopping We're going to have his database, Facebook, chat, phone numbers, email addresses, and that's where we're going to get into the marketing of retention, which is called retention marketing

Old customers, they have already experienced with us. already paid us Therefore, repeat purchases will not be difficult. But new customers will have to take time to decide. Here, many SMEs tend to neglect. So today you need to start collecting customer data. If you sell high heels, every 6 months you probably have a new one. Try shooting it back to the same person. When he saw it, he might click to buy it, not thinking too much because he had already bought it. This is to keep old customers making repeat purchases. by using existing marketing tools 

Factors That Will Make E-Commerce Successful 

The first thing that I attach great importance to is the products and services you sell. If you sell generic products that are easily available in the market, all you need to work hard is marketing. to try to reach as many people as possible But if your products and services are different Your marketing will be lighter. You don't have to promote a lot. The difference will give you an advantage. 

 

But if we sell products like others, I recommend Service Differentiation. is to make a difference in service Suppose a customer normally buys 1 pair of shoes during COVID-19 at a time, we may make a difference by letting customers buy as many pairs as possible. But if you don't like it, you can return it. We only charge the pair you choose. This is the same thing. But we have different services. This is the adjustment of the Business Model.

 

When there is a difference, you have to look at marketing as well. The average market figure is 5-10% of sales, but it's not fixed. It depends on margin as well. You have to make sure you have enough margin and then maybe share some to make a marketing budget.

 

Case studies of E-Commerce that can transform a successful business during times of crisis.  

Let me give you an example of a customer using my payment system. In the past, they sold products using an agent system. But when the COVID-19 crisis The sales channel has also changed. So he chose to use LINE Official Account and started using advertising media to attract customers. And there is still communication regularly. Try to keep sending messages to customers. When the customer receives the message, there is a very interesting promotion. So people stick to his brand. more repeat purchases

 

as well as changing the payment method as well From the past, when paying in cash, 0% installments are available or there is a service to collect money on delivery. and do not forget to focus on the old customers Make old customers buy more repeats. As a result, sales from the original were a few thousand baht per day. increased to 3-4 million baht per day from changing channels change the way you sell change payment method 

 

and when his business began to grow more From the past, there must be a team pack that can't start anymore. Because the daily sales volume is about 400-500 orders, he doesn't want to add more people. So he used the method to put the stuff in the warehouse that he rented. When the order came, he sent it to the warehouse. There he has a Fulfillment service with dozens of people waiting to pack everything. when pushing this burden away He took more time to focus on marketing.

 

Some people do business online. As the business grows, it hires more and more people. Until one day the business was too big. It turns out that your problem is not a business. But it's a people problem. So it's important to try to keep your business small and lean. You should focus on the core of your business: sales. Marketing gets people to buy you. Anything else that is unrelated is left to others to do. 

 

Advice for SMEs who are currently facing a crisis  

Every crisis has an opportunity. For those who view the crisis as a crisis, You may not be able to see through enough. My advice is 'The answer lies in the customer'. You may have to sit and talk to the customer a lot. How have you bought our products? This crisis that happened How do you buy our products? What advice do you have?

 

various knowledge it already exists It's ready for you to pick up and use immediately online. But how to use it, when to use it, with whom? 'The answer lies with the customer'. Talk to customers a lot. Then you will get strategies that can be used to adjust your business to survive. 

 

Don't tell me you're old, you can't, that's hard, impossible, these words can be cut out of your head.

 

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Credits

 

The Host Muhammad Majid