Due to the immense impact of COVID-19 since mid-February till now, e-commerce outsourcing services have made a drastic development for companies that are newly-adopting e-commerce, witnessing a remarkable revenue increase compared to the same period last year, as reported by ACI Worldwide. With worldwide consumers in quarantine, shopping for goods, services and entertainment online has urged many firms and enterprises to resort to e-commerce as a method of retaining their revenue loss during the worldwide crisis. Successful e-commerce outsourcing demands a high degree of trust in the provider, unambiguous service standards that are proactively managed and monitored, and a detailed assessment of risk and design implementation of business continuity plans.
The effect of COVID-19 on E-Commerce
Since many cities went under lockdown and social distancing measures became the new norm, a considerable number of consumers resorted to online shopping. The average daily downloads for popular digital e-commerce web apps have surged since February 2020, as reported by Apptopia. The crowd mentality and shopping behaviors are changing, from the drop-off in brick-and-mortar shopping to the increase of bulk-buying and online shopping, as a survey by Engine found that people are spending on average 10-30% more online.
Due to COVID-19, changes in revenue across both traditional and e-commerce industries took place. Both big and small businesses have to adapt and be flexible to meet changing needs. While the coronavirus is affecting every business, some particular industries were able to see an increase in their revenue.
Why Now is the Time to Outsource Your E-Commerce Operations?
Saving Money & Increasing Revenue
Revenue increase and money-saving are two of the biggest motivators for transferring on-site company tasks to another. Outsourcing your e-commerce operations, like accounting, web development, technical support, administration, marketing, and even shipping, cuts your costs and, as a result, increases your revenue. Outsourcing allows you to launch projects faster without needing to spend money on hiring more employees. Employees require a full salary, benefits, taxes, and time to train, which is 10 times harder now due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Outsourcing cuts right through this process and gives you immediate access to qualified candidates and agencies from around the globe.
Less Effort & More Productivity
When outsourcing extra tasks, your employees can save on time, focusing more on the tasks they were initially hired to do efficiently—boosting their productivity and morale results in more sales and more satisfied customers.
On the one hand, e-commerce outsourcing providers’ volume of business allows them to offer high-end technology partners, shippers, carriers, and packaging suppliers. On the other hand, single enterprises are unlikely to have access to the best rates for web servers, fraud protection, payment processing, web developers, tax solutions, warehousing, packaging, and shipping.
Some of the significant strengths of e-commerce outsourcing companies are e-commerce conversion, global localization, managing subscriptions, product fulfillment, and other tricky details of global e-commerce.
Focusing on The Core
Outsourcing gives you more time on a silver platter! As a business owner, you can concentrate on customer research, development, outreach, and growing your brand’s influence. The largest part of your time in a day spent on developing your product is what every business owner is after. Deciding to outsource repetitive tasks, social media, and omni-channel management allows you to refocus your energy and prioritize tasks. It can get quite frustrating that even though you have a great product, it’s not as profitable as it should.
E-commerce fulfillment requires significant investments in infrastructure (warehouses, packaging and labeling equipment, etc.), and it also demands expertise in managing inventory, supply chain, orders, returns, and customer service. Deciding to outsource your e-commerce allows your business to keep its eyes on the prize, while your full-service partner manages the complexities of e-commerce for you.
Keep Ahead of Technology
Winning at e-commerce now requires substantial investments in technology and IT staffing since the internet, social media, and global trade, and their influence on businesses are on the rise. A wise alternative for companies that are not ready to march into this battle is e-commerce outsourcing.
For example, when it comes to generating real results and increasing your revenue, using the latest SEO, SEM, and Social Media tools and the newest marketing techniques for each country to attract a wide range of customers requires profound market expertise.
Another point to illustrate the importance of technology when it comes to e-commerce is accepting payments from customers in their local currencies using their preferred payment methods. Hiring an e-commerce outsourcing partner that’s up-to-date with the latest technologies and tools used in various and multiple industries eventually works to your advantage.
Expanding Your Business
Your company’s growth and expansion is on the horizon when relying on professional experts in the business. Since outsourcing helps you increase your revenue, boost your productivity, and focus on core business functions, it’s inevitable that you can quickly ramp up new projects and absorb new volumes. Outsourcing not only ensures having staffing flexibility, as it might take weeks or months to hire and train employees, but it also results in more revenue and a higher return on an investment after taking on more projects and expanding your business.
Staying Competitive
Outsourcing your e-commerce operations means you’ll be more efficient at managing orders, maintaining a well-oiled supply chain, and rapidly fixing problems when they inevitably arise, like what happened with the COVID-19 outbreak. Your business needs to innovate in order to maintain its competitive edge. To do so, you need to pay more attention to your competitive advantages.
In the end, deciding to partner with a well-known e-commerce outsourcing service provider is the intelligent move most enterprises and companies are now making. With people isolated, staying home, resorting to e-shopping, businesses reserving their place in the online market are in the move toward increased revenue, and a higher return on investment. Centro grasps this golden opportunity to help retailers plan their business workflows with flexibility in executing processes that guarantee successful and competitive results.
