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Achieving 2019 Holiday Success

Tag: ecommerce

Achieving 2019 Holiday Success

Shipping, Packaging, and Fulfillment Guidelines for E-commerce Brands

Achieving 2019 Holiday Success

Holiday season is an important time segment for any business and e-commerce businesses are no exception. While holiday season means high demand for products and services, it also means shorter turnaround time, pressure on logistics facilities and time crunch. In order to survive holiday season and prosper without breaking a sweat, it is vital that businesses prepare themselves well in advance for the potential issue. Luckily, it is fairly simple to draw up some strategies to cope well with the holiday season rush. Here are some of the tips to get you prepared.

Start Early and Plan Well: The key to perform well during the holiday season is to start planning as soon as possible. You can start by reviewing your previous year holiday season performance. Such review will allow you to identify the bottlenecks and issues you faced previously. Consequently, you can make allowance for such issues and look for ways to resolve them. You can also take forward looking approach where you try to anticipate the likely issue you may have to encounter in the current season. Ideally, you should combine both the approaches to identify the maximum number of issues in advance and try to resolve them.

Pay Attention to Back End and Front End: while it may seem obvious to pay attention to front end and provide attractive website layout to your customers, it is equally important to be diligent about the backend as well. Front end preparations may include giving festive makeover to your website, offering discounts, offering convenient product discovery and hassle free checkout. However, all these facilities may be in vain if your backend is not designed to withstand the pressure. On the backend, you need to ensure that your logistic collaborations are well in place and are scaled properly. You should also pay attention to packing the material appropriately so that your customers receive the goods in proper condition. During the festive season, customers may require their items in the least possible time, so be prepared to beat the rush.

Stock up for Fulfillment Nirvana: smooth fulfillment is an important facet of your holiday season sales strategy. Fulfillment encompasses a large number of activities including packaging, shipping, tracking and ultimately delivering the goods. It is absolutely important that the orders are processed in correct manner i.e. the right type of goods go to the right address. The packing of the items should also be done appropriately to preserve their quality and integrity. Also make sure that you are able to deliver the items on time, despite the holiday rush. For all these things, you need to have enough items in your stock all the time. If you think your in house capacity may not be able to handle the pressure, you may think about outsourcing a part or all of your fulfillment requirements. Outsourcing may seem expensive but may recoup its costs through enhanced goodwill and customer satisfaction.

Take Holistic Approach: beating the holiday rush will require you to take holistic approach. You should be able to view the strategy as a whole. Starting with your website, make sure that you provide enough bandwidth to withstand the pressure on server. The customers are likely to abandon their shopping if your website is not able to load quickly or the checkout process is not smooth. Also, you should keep your discount and promotional strategies simple. It will not only keep the customers enticed but will also reduce pressure on your resources. Simpler the policies, faster and more efficient will be the execution process. While you prepare for ensuring the timely delivery of goods, you should also be prepared for consequent returns. Keep your return policies simple and clear to avoid bottlenecks. While liberal return policies may help you in boosting your sales, you should also properly monitor the returns to ensure that there are no frauds involved.

You should be able to glide through your holiday season if you have prepared in advance. However, even the best formed strategies are tested during these times, so you should always provide for contingencies to happen. You may encounter pleasant yet testing situations such as stock outs on account of bumper demand, so be prepared for such exigencies.

PayTabs and Payoneer join hands to fortify payments

PayTabs and Payoneer join hands to fortify payments

A strategic partnership between PayTabs, the award winning, B2B payment service provider and Payoneer, the leading omni-platform for digital growth, aims to let extend to thousands of global merchants and small businesses in India with additional benefits in international payment transactions.

International Payments:
Cross-border payments have become mainstream with the advancement of digital payment technologies and the growth in e-commerce. It has emerged as one of the most prominent metrics to gauge the success of an online business. It is imperative for a business to ensure that their cross-border payments are handled securely and efficiently. PayTabs aims to provide such services to merchants in the MENA region and will enable Payoneer merchants to process payments globally with their e-commerce solutions.

According to World Pay’s Global Payment Report, e-commerce is expected to surpass $4.6 trillion globally by 2022. ‘Whatever we buy, whenever we buy, however we buy, the global consumer economy has become a Now Economy’, quotes the report. Proper management of cross border transactions ensure that the lag time between the payment of money by customers and the receipt of funds by the business is substantially reduced. Such management of funds ensures that the business remains liquid and chances of a cash crunch are minimized.

Payoneer: Pioneer in Cross-Border Payment Segment
Payoneer is a leading digital payment platform empowering business around the world to grow globally. Payoneer’s digital platform streamlines global commerce for millions of small businesses, marketplaces and enterprises from 200 countries and territories. Payoneer delivers a suite of services that includes cross-border payments, working capital, tax solutions and risk management to millions of customers including leading brands.
Leveraging on its global operations and banking infrastructure, Payoneer offers customer an easy and secure cross border payments solution. Payoneer supports over 150 currencies and delivers seamless commerce to customers at competitive rates.

PayTabs & Payoneer Collaboration
The tie-up is designed to create synergies by combining the expertise of two market leaders. These include merchants being able to enjoy direct deposit of funds into their business accounts, thus ensuring faster settlement turnaround for merchants. Owing to the elimination of intermediary banks, merchants will also be able to benefit from lower forex markup and charges so they can take advantage of more cost-effective settlements. PayTabs will also enable Payoneer merchants to process payments globally with its B2B e-commerce solutions. Small and medium businesses and service providers selling goods or services through their own websites to customers abroad will now have a seamless way to collect and move payments. For example, an e-tailer or service provider selling through his their own website to a customer cross border, will get an integrated product — a payment gateway — and settlement framework that would seamlessly settle funds into their local bank account. This is expected to especially benefit merchants, such as those providing education services through e-learning platforms or those which offer ayurvedic products or clothing and fashion accessories on their websites, to collect payments from individual customers overseas without having to worry about setting up a payments gateway, which is a costly and cumbersome process.

Whether you are looking to expand your business to new countries or are planning on tying up with new platforms, Payoneer and PayTabs are here to assist in your endeavors.

What Does the PayTabs Payment Platform Mean for Your Business?

What Does the PayTabs Payment Platform Mean for Your Business?

Online payment gateways are vital for the smooth functioning of e-commerce companies. Without this service, e-businesses would not be able to able to accept and process payments from their clients, thus jeopardizing the growth of their operations. It is highly crucial that internet businesses pick their payment gateway providers with utmost care as any snag in such services may cause massive losses to not only the business itself but also to its clients. With PayTabs, you can ensure that you get the best services at just the right price. Following are some of the ways in which PayTabs can help you in boosting your business efficiency.

Integrated Services: PayTabs offers a one-stop solution for your payment processing requirements. Its system is highly adaptive so as to ensure that you are able to customize the operations to meet your requirements. The service can be easily integrated with your website and provides seamless offerings. The system allows you to accept payments in 168 different currencies, making it highly recommended for businesses with cross-border operations. It also comes with a smart dashboard so you can manage different parts of your online business from one centralized place. This dashboard will help you in achieving efficiency as now you can take a quick glance at your different business operations in one place.

Safe and Fast: While deciding on an online payment system, it is important to ensure that it provides encrypted and secured payment processing. This is because online payments involve the exchange of highly sensitive information including bank details, credit card numbers and private identification details. PayTabs is PCI DSS certified, which means that the system provides secure processing services. The system also has anti-fraud measures in place so that you can carry on your business without worrying about falling for scams etc. Owing to its transparent operations, PayTabs has emerged as one of the most reliable online payment processing systems around.

Scalable: Businesses do not remain static, and rather evolve over a period of time. The mark of a good online payment system is one that can grow with your business, with minimal disruption in the operations. The PayTabs system is mainly designed for small and medium enterprises and so is ideally suitable for startups and budding businesses. However, it is also flexible enough to accommodate your requirements when your enterprise has grown to the next level. PayTabs offers straightforward payment systems which makes the transaction process simple and convenient for your clients.

Economical: Online payment processing systems are currently in the growth stage and are being equipped with new features every day. While it is important that your payment processor provides state of the art and modern services, it is also vital to keep the cost factor in mind. Different payment gateways offer different kind of fee plans. PayTabs aims to provide the best possible services at the optimal costs to its clients and therefore offers customizable payment plans. The fees paid to PayTabs covers a wide range of expenses such as set up fees, recurring fees and support fees. The pricing of PayTabs is entirely transparent so that you know beforehand how much you need to pay. With PayTabs, you can avoid facing hidden and surprise charges.

Value Added Services: While the main task of an online payment gateway is to process payments, but these providers may also offer a host of allied services. PayTabs strives to provide a holistic experience to its clients and thus offers different promotional schemes frequently. The payment system collaborates with a wide range of merchants and businesses so as to offer a wide array of value added services to its clients. Such value added services vary from discounted pricing to specialized outreach programs. Your business can benefit immensely from these professionally designed targeted services. With PayTabs, you not only provide the best services to your clients but also grow your business using unparalleled offers provided by the payment gateway.

PayTabs has grown exponentially in a short period of time. With its wide reach and customer centric business model, PayTabs has carved a niche for itself in a highly competitive market. You can also make your business grow with the help of PayTabs and its specialized bouquet of services.

5 Online Mobile Shopping Best Practices to Improve Customer Experience

5 Online Mobile Shopping Best Practices to Improve Customer Experience

Mobile internet has disrupted e-commerce segment as more and more people are now shopping on their phones and tablets. This change has brought about several new opportunities as well as challenges. In order to ensure that your clients get the best services whether they access your website on a desktop or on their mobile phones, you should pay attention to the factors illustrated below.

  1. Intuitive Design: The design of the website should be in sync with the device and the platform to be used. While many businesses choose to design one type of website for all types of mobile devices, you may decide to have different designs for mobile phones and tablets. While the latter option may incur higher expenses, it will also provide better experience to the customers. An ideal e-commerce website should also avoid unnecessary menu and buttons to keep the interface simple. The navigation system of the website should be intuitive so that the visitors remain interested and complete the transaction. The process should also be as short as possible, with minimal number of clicks involved. The main idea is to seal the deal before the visitor lose their interest and move away from the website.

 

  1. Choose Your Content Carefully: Mobile devices such as phones and tablets have limited screen real estate. Therefore, it is highly important to use this carefully. You should prioritize and carefully choose the content to be presented on the mobile website. Apart from the choice of the content, the presentation of the data is also of importance. The most essential information needs to be presented in the most prominent manner so as to facilitate the process of decision making of the visitor. For example, instead of cramming a large number of items on the homepage, carefully select the products and services to be featured there so as not to overwhelm the visitors. Further, you should also make judicious use of pictures as they tend to convey the information in a more direct manner.

 

  1. Involve the Visitors: Incorporating suggestions from the visitors is an ideal way to make a customer centric website. This step may also be helpful in personalizing the website as per the requirements of customers. For this purpose, it is important to design the in-app message the right way so that the visitors immediately identify with the content of the website. This will also help the organization in brain storming about their target market and identifying this market’s distinctive features. Another important step in this direction is to incorporate customers’ testimonials and reviews on the website. This feature will help other prospective customers in making informed decisions. Also, the visitors should be encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions about the website and its content.

 

  1. Value-Added Features: designing an attractive website is important but it is also important to make it more customer friendly with the help of other value-added services and features. The website should be optimized in such a way that it uploads on the device in a fast manner. Slow uploading may impact the customer experience negatively. Apart from faster loading, the website may also incorporate other features such as live chat facility, which may help in resolving customer issues in a prompt manner. It is also advisable to design an appropriate FAQ page or section so that the visitors are able to troubleshoot on their own.

 

  1. Evaluate and Improve: Mobile website development is not a one-off process. It needs to be continuously evaluated and improved upon. You can use different metrics to evaluate the efficacy of your website. There are several analytical tools which may help you in measuring various features such as customer retention, app usage, and the number of downloads. It is also advisable to carefully track app reviews and ratings so as to take appropriate remedial actions. You should collect data with regard to average visit length and frequency as well. Continuous learning and tweaking are the key to providing the best services to visitors.

 

As the competition in mobile segment grows, it is becoming highly important for the businesses to make their presence felt through the use of mobile websites and apps. The judicious use of these tools may help you grow your business exponentially.

How to Increase Alternative Checkout Options

How to Increase Alternative Checkout Options

For an e-commerce company, offering attractive checkout options to the customers is one of the most challenging tasks. Providing alternative checkout options may help a business in achieving a higher checkout process conversion rate, which is one of the most important metrics for gauging its efficiency. Another advantage associated with providing alternative checkout options is that it helps in controlling the rate of shopping cart abandonment by the customers. Further, smoother checkout process also provides an inducement to the customer to make a repeat purchase with the business.

Following are the main ways online businesses may provide a friction-less checkout experience to their clients and improve their business efficiency.

  • Make Sign Up Optional: It may seem tempting to make sign up necessary for checking out since it can provide you with valuable data but this requirement may put a serious dent in the conversion rate. Instead of making sign up mandatory, make it optional but with some incentive attached to it. For example, you can convey to the customers that the sign up may make the process faster. Another option is to let the customers sign in with alternative accounts such as Facebook or Twitter. This type of checkout can be customized so that the business may harvest the data from the customers’ social media accounts after receiving due permissions.

 

  • Simplify the Process: If you are not convinced about the idea of checkout process sans sign up then you may focus on simplifying the whole procedure. There are several tricks to make it easier and faster for your clients to complete their sign-up process so that they can check out in a smoother manner. You can use simple tools such as making use of Google Autofill which can complete various data fields in a jiffy. You should also ensure that the checkout procedure is simple and is not unduly complicated with a number of steps involved. With each additional step, the likelihood of the client abandoning their shopping cart increases exponentially.

 

  • Use Perpetual Shopping Cart System: There are several ways you can motivate the customers to complete their checkout process. Allow them the freedom to check out for each item separately or to club them together in a cart and then to check out for the entire order. Different eCommerce businesses may adopt different strategies in this regard, mainly depending upon their business and organizational structure. Perpetual shopping cart system is one such technique where checkout page is preserved perpetually if the process is not completed. So, when the customer visits your website next time, they may be tempted to eventually complete their shopping experience.

 

  • Work with Your Payment Processing Partner: If you run your online payment in collaboration with processing partners then it makes sense to receive expert advice from them. PayTabs can help you in simplifying your payment process and introducing alternative payment options for your clients. As an eCommerce operator, you should ensure that you collaborate with those payment processors who are at the helm of technological innovation. PayTabs is such a payment processor as it deploys latest technologies for making the entire process smoother and hassle free. Thus, eCommerce business owners can bring about exponential improvement in their performance and efficiency by collaborating with

 

  • Optimize the Checkout Process: There is no one single way to provide the best services to all your clients. Further, the checkout process also depends on the way your eCommerce business and website are designed. Based on these factors, you may decide to let your customers enjoy a faster checkout with express purchase of individual products, instead of making them collect these items in a shopping cart. At the checkout stage, you may further entice the clients by offering them freebies in the form of discounts, cheaper shipping rates or even free shipping. Discounts may be designed in such a way so that you can tempt the customers to make more purchases to earn higher discounts.

 

With the above methods to improve your checkout page experience, you can bring substantial improvement in your conversion rate and overall efficiency. While most of the measures are internal to any business, external factors such as tying up with the right kind of payment processor may also have magnifying impact on your bottom line.