Today’s customers have high demands when it comes to online shopping. They want to have a seamless shopping experience from the time they start browsing the online retailer’s products all the way to checkout and receiving their order. They want to get value-added services (VAS) that can improve their experience and make them feel they get the best deal. In reality, online retailers have a hard time providing the best experience to customers browsing their online stores. As a result, these potential customers leave the site without hitting the checkout button. Furthermore, online retailers have a tough time cross-selling and up-selling to their customers due to a lack of perceived additional value by these customers. It takes special sales skills to turn cross-selling and up-sell prospects into paying customers.
Moreover, the e-commerce domain is very competitive, with hundreds of online shops vying for the attention of customers; if they cannot find a retailer’s online shop, they will spend their money elsewhere. Even having superior products or offering better deals and promotions than the competitors will not help.
That’s where BPO comes into play. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) allows online merchants to reallocate their precious time and resources to core competencies by outsourcing business processes such as sales, business development, prospecting, etc. An expert sales team will be able to analyze your customers’ behaviors and preferences and build a solid sales funnel. Understanding what customers are looking for in a product or service provider, such an expert team will formulate ideal customer profiles (buying personas) and create the online sales pitch. Using such outsourced market analysts allows smaller online retailers to get a competitive edge in certain areas compared to the large e-commerce giants since they will be better at determining what motivates customers.
Enlisting an outsourcing company like Prosperio.io has multiple benefits.
- Focusing on Core Activities
Running a successful e-commerce enterprise involves an increased workload regarding non-core functions. As the business grows, the online retailer needs to outsource these non-core functions to a PBO provider to keep focusing on primary business activities, such as funding, forging strategic partnerships, and production.
- Increasing Efficiency
Since the outsourced e-commerce partner has specialists available who are experts in their respective fields (business development, sales, prospecting, building sales funnels, preventing customer churn, etc.), they will apply already-established and well-defined operational processes and policies. This will guarantee better efficiency and speed-to-market when running an existing e-commerce site or launching a new one.
- Savings Costs
When outsourcing e-commerce business processes, the online retailer will enjoy cost savings, especially regarding their operational and capital costs. They will be able to optimize their Capex/Opex-related expenditures while safeguarding their revenue per employee. When using a BPO provider, costs associated with an in-house team (e.g., salary, training, benefits, and recruiting and replacement) will be replaced by fixed monthly fees that can be scaled up or down according to needs.
- Reducing Risks
When outsourcing e-commerce operations, an online retailer also outsources and reduces its liability and associated risks. The expert team of the PBO provider will know from experience how to provide best practices solutions to prevent and solve issues.
- Scaling Up and Down
E-commerce is a highly dynamic domain with major business growth spurts. Allocating recourses, such as hiring more sales staff, can be a financial strain on the business. To maintain financial flexibility, scaling up and down by enlisting the services of the outsourced partner on an as-need basis. For instance, the BPO provider can arrange additional sales support to meet urgent demands.
- Fueling Innovation
As mentioned above, e-commerce is a very dynamic, ever-changing sector with continuously evolving consumer behaviors and advancements in technology. Brands can leverage the partnership with a technology provider to stay updated with the latest changes. Such a partner will use the best practices in the industry to ensure the competition benchmark.
- Getting and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage
Finally, outsourcing PBO will help an e-commerce company to strengthen its brand and its competitive advantage in the market. As mentioned above, going for outsourcing specific e-commerce services will allow an online retailer to focus better on its core business, boost productivity, and manage internal resources more efficiently.
To conclude, in the dynamic e-commerce market subject to evolving consumer preferences, changing regulations, and new technologies, online retailers and brands need to implement connected and experience-driven commerce strategies. Engaging the services of a BPO provider that will act as a partner to help managing non-core business operations and management, will allow an e-commerce company to focus on its core business to increase its market share.
Interested in finding out more? Contact us at info@prosperio.io. We will be happy to discuss your recruitment needs.
