Communication channels & their importance in online business

There are various communication channels used by online businesses and these channels are of vital importance in creating and sustaining the business. For an online business, due to the lack of physical presence, it is all the more essential to present a friendly, contactable, open face interaction so that the customer feels comfortable. To gain the trust of your customer, you will need to provide plenty of channels of communication that will replace the feeling of distance caused by doing business online. Remember that you must provide a substitute for face-to-face interaction with your client. The most common channels are listed below.

Email:–

This is the first point of contact for a customer of an online business. It is the most common and easiest way to communicate with your client. When a potential customer is surfing your site and is interested in your product, their first instinct is to email a query. It is of paramount importance that your email is displayed prominently for the least net savvy customer to be able to find it.

Newsletters:–

This is a great way to interact, provide free information and encourage your customer to buy. It works as a great customer service and retention tool, giving the customer the satisfaction of having got that little bit extra from your site. You can include new improvements to your site or product and intelligent content to pull in the customers.

Live Chat:–

This is a novel and effective way to make a sale on your website. It encourages your customers with the idea of being able to communicate immediately and get a response to their queries. It presents your business as one that is proactive and technology savvy. Additionally, it will convert a casual web window shopper into a serious buyer more quickly due to the time he or she will spend on the site. However, be careful with this channel because it implies that someone has to constantly be available at the other end of the wire. If you are only available at certain times, put that time on the site so people know when to come back and do not feel frustrated if they try to chat and find no one there.

Notice boards:–

This is a great one-way channel of communication with your customer. It communicates the important information, such as a change in time or any other message that has to be sent out. It is useful to keep your customers and visitors informed of new developments.

Phone numbers:–

Obviously, there are the good old fashioned communication channels that need to be addressed. A legitimate business, online or otherwise, is expected to have business phone numbers that are listed and contactable. Many of your customers may not be as technology savvy as others, so you need to supply everyone with plenty of alternatives, especially traditional ones, of contacting your business. Since web customers are global, make sure that you specify what time format you follow and indicate the country you are located in.

Modern Trends of Drop Shipping and Wholesaling

Drop shipping refers to the process that enables a retailer to bypass stocking of inventory. A retailer will take customer orders and pass the delivery details to the drop shipper, who carries the stock of goods and who will be responsible for shipping the goods out to the customer. The retailer will pay the drop shipper and in turn receive payment from the customer. The retailer will earn the difference between the wholesale price he pays and the retail price he receives. The retailer may himself be either a retailer or wholesaler of goods – i.e. he may choose to offer this service to bulk customers only or may offer it to all customers.

Drop shipping clearly has its advantages in terms of passing on the cost of carrying inventory onto a third party and low cost of entry into the business. This makes the business of drop shipping a very popular online business. Internet commerce, or E-commerce as it is sometimes called, thrives on easy business ideas, and drop shipping has gained popularity with online businesses in the recent years. With low barriers to entry and instant sales via the Internet, the number of online businesses based on selling items that will be delivered via drop shipping is increasing.

However, a successful retailer will not simply set up shop as soon as he looks up a drop shipping directory. Be sure to plan out your business appropriately. Have a clear understanding of whether your product is in demand and whether a customer is likely to buy that product online. Further, construct a comprehensive business and marketing strategy. Next, for the tips on running a successful drop shipping based online business:

• Be sure to find a reliable drop shipper. Check references and if possible, find one with an affiliation with a business organization such as BBB.

• Find out if your drop shipper has a tracking system and always keep track of the items. Be sure you know how long it will take to deliver the item, or you may face a lot of disappointed or dissatisfied customers. Be especially careful around the holidays, because you know people don’t like their Christmas presents delivered late.

• In case of a snag in delivery, communicate with your buyer at once. Keep customers informed – since online businesses have the advantage of easy access to customer email IDs, this can be instantaneous.

• Start slow and beware of scams.

• Try to find a niche in the market to cater to – this is a great business strategy for most online businesses but works very well for drop shipping business models because your customer may not be able to find the same product elsewhere.

• Build relationships and use more than one drop shipper. This will tide you over in a tight spot and make sure you have access to the most competitive rates.

• Try to ensure that the orders are large enough to leave space for a discount from your drop shipper.

• Make sure you figure out how to handle returns with your drop shipper, especially if your online business has a trial period policy.

• From time to time, do a little test of your drop shipper’s services without informing him. Send yourself something and see what happens.

• Be careful about listing that 100,000 units of the product are available – make sure your drop shipper can service the amount of orders you’re receiving. Remember you are not the only retailer this drop shipper works with.

• Create a mailing list of customers and potential buyers.

• Provide plenty of free, useful, informative content on your site and update regularly.

Planning and starting an online business

You will find that the basics and logic of business remain the same, regardless of whether it is an online business or offline. The difference lies in the fact that, to run an online business successfully, you will need to know the fundamentals of any business and have an understanding of the dynamics that drive web-based businesses. Let’s break this up. To start a business, you will need to have:

• A great business idea
• A solid, realistic business plan, including the financing aspect
• Understand legal issues
• Understand accounting and taxation issues
• Construct a marketing strategy
• Create and maintain a customer base and plan customer service

To start an online business, you will also need to:

• Make sure your business idea works for an online business
• Decide whether or not you need to start a website
• If you do need a website, you will need the technical skill to know how to start, run and manage one
• Understand online marketing and advertising tactics and tools
• Find new and creative ways to drive traffic to your start up online business
• Understand dynamics of customer interaction for an online business

So start with your business idea – try to do a SWOT analysis, i.e. an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that face your concept. Be sure it will work as an online business by thinking – will people buy this product or service online and what value can I offer online that a customer does not get offline? Find out about legal issues surrounding your product or service before starting anything. Determine your start up’s business model – do you want to sell on eBay or start a site or extend your offline store?

Next, come up with a business plan – include all costs, all means of possible financing, how you will achieve the financing, logistics of how to procure the product and how to deliver it, and keep in mind that an online business needs to have realistic projections of future income, just like an offline one. Websites can be expensive to start and maintain. Make sure you really need one and account for the expenditure. Be sure that you find reliable service providers – such as the right web host and pay channels. Consider accounting and tax issues in your analysis and planning phase, so you will be realistic in your projections.

Build a comprehensive marketing strategy – understand the concepts of internet marketing like search engine optimization (SEO), online advertising, and other ways to increase traffic to your website. Finding a great name is important – something short and simple. Further, make a plan that includes effective and efficient customer service and builds a database or mailing list of customers. Remember that this is an ongoing process for any business and in the case of an online business, it is even more crucial to stay ahead of the game. An online business does not have face time with the customer so it’s important to maintain a healthy communication with all customers.

Keep the above pointers in mind and start planning your way to a successful online business.

Who uses eBay and Why

eBay is the number one international market place for all types of products over the Internet. eBay is an online retailer or ‘e-tailer’ that offers people the opportunity to sell and buy goods online. The site charges a commission on sales as well as a charge for listing. eBay typically works through an auction model – i.e. items are auctioned to the highest bidder. The seller can also specify a price below which the item cannot be purchased. You can find almost anything on eBay, and a large proportion of online shoppers know about this website.

eBay is used mostly by small start up businesses, many of which operate from home. There are a number of success stories on eBay, since it enables people to set up a small business and grow it into an online shop. There are actually businesses making millions of dollars, all through their eBay store. The typical success story runs like this: a regular person, just like you and me, looking for a great product, hits on one either on his own or through an eBay search for the hottest items. He finds a source for it and puts it up for auction on eBay. As his sales grow, he sets up a shop on eBay and uses the item listings on eBay to drive traffic to his site. This can be antiques, designer bag replicas, DVDs, almost anything. The market is virtually limitless.

The reason for the popularity of eBay is the convenience and cost savings. You can start from your own home, with absolutely no investment – you don’t even have to give up your day job. Further, due to its wide network, eBay can give your products and your online business much needed visibility for a small cost. The amount of effort and money you would expend on marketing for even an online business, to create awareness for your product, would be much greater. A huge Internet population shops here, so it’s like having your product on display at the biggest department store in the world, except that it would be much easier for a buyer to find it.

Further, people who sell on eBay claim that it is a large, helpful community that will enable you to learn from your peers and grow as an online business owner. There is an eBay University, chat rooms and forums for members to interact and educate themselves through others’ experiences. Also, since you have not invested much, there is room to make mistakes and learn as you grow.

eBay has all the technology in place that helps you to have your own online business, without the hassles and knowledge required to run a site. It is a very user friendly site and makes the buyer’s experience comfortable, which is important for your online business. For instance, eBay has features that allow a buyer to place a maximum bid on an item and automatically monitor the activity on the item till bidding closes. So selling is made that much easier for you on eBay.