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Challenges and Opportunities for Ecommerce Businesses during the Economic Crisis

Tag: online business

challenges-and-opportunities-for-ecommerce-businesses-
Mohab Covid19 Resources 0

The current pandemic has dramatically changed the way businesses are functioning, struggling, and surviving. And while the e-commerce segment has been witnessing more demand than ever, owing to lockdowns and social distancing, they are not immune to certain challenges. However, COVID-19 also offers a few opportunities to e-commerce entities. Hence, running an online business during recession will require you to balance customer demand and supply smartly and watch your venture’s bottom-line as well. And all of that needs to be done in an empathetic manner.

So, what are the challenges?

  • During this pandemic, many e-commerce businesses are not being able to deliver with their original efficiency or speed. The reason is that not enough employees are available for this operation. Some online businesses have had to restrict delivery of non-essential products and only focus on essentials.
  • Stocking items that are not very common can become difficult during this crisis. Naturally, e-commerce stores might have to let go of some customers in the process, temporarily.
  • Shipping products can also take time due to lockdowns and local restrictions. Similarly, it might take time for customers to return the products that they don’t want.
  • Since now is the time when many first-timers will flock to online stores, enough customer support needs to be in place to help such shoppers navigate through your website.
Also Read:Startups living in uncertain times?

And here are the solutions and opportunities

As an e-commerce business, you need to remember that your customers are as anxious about the future as you. So, making your digital communications as clear and empathetic as possible is a good move. Your website must also state what you are doing to help the community and adhere to safety regulations. Some other solutions you can offer and opportunities you can make use of are:

  • Contactless delivery should be explored during this crisis, to assure customers that you are doing everything to contain the spread of the virus.
  • Offering essential products like everyday groceries, medical aids and hygiene items at discounted prices is also a good move. You can highlight such products on your webpage as well.
  • Online businesses will need to re-look at their website, layout, navigation system, and checkout process to see if everything is simple and easy to understand, even by those who are new to online shopping.
  • When it comes to examining the recession impact on e-commerce, you must note that many existing and potential customers might be out of jobs, struggling with loans or suffering salary cuts. So, extending payment dates for invoices might be a good idea during this phase. It can help boost their loyalty and establish long-term relationships.
  • If your business is going through a bad patch, if your inventory is low, or if you expect shipping delays, make sure these are clearly mentioned on your website, e-store and social media pages.

Further solutions and opportunities

  • COVID-19 is likely to enhance the prospects of businesses that deal in healthcare products, medicines, digital learning and entertainment products, and edibles and personal care items. Books, hobby kits and household cleaning products will also be in high demand for quite some time to come. Hence, promoting such items is a good idea. However, avoid hard-selling.
  • Offering a smooth and safe payment experience is crucial for an online business, especially during this economic crisis, as people will be more careful about frauds and losing money.Your customers may be reluctant to reveal their card information online due to the fear of scams. However, you can help allay such fears by collaborating with reputed online payment service providers.A reliable and efficient e-commerce payment gateway can offer multiple payment options, support many currencies, ensure a quick checkout and keep sensitive information safe.

All in all, the ongoing pandemic has brought several future opportunities in e-businesses to the forefront. All you have to do is make the most of them by tweaking your business strategy, powering up your online presence, understanding the changing needs of customers, and being empathetic.

Also Read:Transform your eCommerce today with PayTabs!

4 years ago
top-tips-to-become-a-global-retailer
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Information technology has made the world a smaller place indeed. Businesses are now able to expand their horizons beyond national boundaries easily. However, there are still certain roadblocks which may prevent your business from realizing its true cross-border potential. Going global not only allows you to offer your products and services to a larger clientele but also lets you achieve economies of scale. In order to ensure that you undertake this endeavor in the right manner, here are some top tips to help you expand your business globally.

International Currencies and Payments:

As you prepare your business to transact internationally, you should ensure that you are able to transact in foreign currencies. Apart from fulfilling legal requirements, it is also advisable in terms of logistics. You can take the help of dedicated online payment processors, which may get your global financial platform up and ready in a matter of minutes. Reputed online payment processors may provide you with a host of other services as well, such as centralized dashboard for managing your transactions and analytical services. There are several factors you should keep in mind while choosing a payment processing service provider. Apart from having solid reputation in the market, the service provider should also be able to provide cutting-edge technological support and have the ability to accept a wide range of payment methods.

Sort the Legal Issues:

Every business is governed by a set of rules, the law of the land. When you are a domestic company, you only need to comply with the laws and regulations of that country. However, when you expand internationally, you need to ensure that your business does not breach the laws of any country you have customers in. Such rules and regulations may pertain to the form of business, the quality of the goods and services provided and foreign exchange remittances. Various online payment processors have made it easy for businesses to transact in foreign currencies, however, businesses still need to follow the laws and guidelines with regard to foreign currencies. Further, many countries prohibit trade in certain goods and services, and so, make sure you are not flouting any such rule.

Overcome the Cultural Issues:

Different countries not only have different legal environments, but distinct cultural climes as well. Such differences mean that you may have to redesign your marketing message to suit the tastes and traditions of your target markets. You should know your target markets well enough to understand their undertones and nuances. Moreover, you may also need to customize your product descriptions and packaging so that your target market can understand the message correctly and conveniently. You should be extra cautious about ensuring that your products and services are culturally sensitive and do not offend the sensibilities of the local people.

Shipping and Logistics:

The two main challenges related to international sales are the modes and costs of shipping. You can choose land, sea or air shipping of your products, in accordance with your clients’ requirements. While air shipping may be faster and safer, it is also significantly more expensive than other modes. Consequently, you need to reconcile the speed and costs of shipping products. You may also adopt flexible approaches where you ship products based upon the choice made by your clients. You should also ensure that your shipping method and other logistics meet the legal requirements and other stipulations.

Costs and Pricing:

When you start selling your products internationally, you need to calculate your prices for each market separately. This is important to ensure that you adequately cover all your costs. You may also need to adjust your shipping charges accordingly. However, for the ease of the business, it is recommended to average out the costs and employ global pricing for your products. This will help in making your business processes simpler and efficient. However, you may offer different options regarding the mode of shipping etc. to your clients and calculate the final price accordingly.

Global selling may seem like an onerous task in the beginning. However, by following a few guidelines, you can ensure that you make judicious use of your resources. The above tips will help you in covering all the bases and running your business smoothly.

4 years ago
PayTabs
Mohab Partners & Partnerships 0

PayTabs-&-Zid-partner-for-integrated-e-commerce

Running an e-commerce store requires two main components – great online visibility that will attract more customers and secondly, a secure and robust payment system that will ensure that your customers can pay you easily and you can receive online payments from anywhere safely. Finding the right tools to set up your online store and finding the right payment gateway to accept payments are crucial for the success of your business. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about where to find the best of these two services.

In an effort to expand the scope of its services, PayTabs, the leading payment processor operating in the MENA market, has joined hands with Zid, which offers a complete ecosystem to build and operate an online store. Merchants will now be able to access PayTabs’ best-in-class payment offerings and global reach as well as Zid’s e-commerce solutions to enjoy better sales and online visibility.

PayTabs allows businesses to transact in 168 different currencies, helping them to expand their global footprint. It also maintains its market lead by employing cutting edge technologies and forging new alliances.

The Collaboration

This collaboration will allow PayTabs to offer its payment solutions to 4,000 online stores. Zid is focused on offering its services to retail businesses in e-commerce sphere. The service provider currently works with over 2,000 retailers, engaged in over 14 sectors in retail market. The company has developed expertise to provide specialized services to help these businesses with varied requirements. Zid provides an entire ecosystem of services to help a business enter the e-commerce segment and sustain itself.

Zid can help the businesses set up their online stores, without requiring to be familiar with coding and all the other technical stuff. It lets startups build online presence in a simple and straightforward manner. Once done with setting up an online shop, entrepreneurs can focus on forming networks and collaborations. This is yet another area where Zid’s services can be an asset to any organization looking to capture a share of the emerging online market.

The partnership between PayTabs and Zid will ensure that their customers receive a wide range of services under a single platform. With their end to end offerings, the collaboration is designed to provide seamless services to help small businesses kick start their online enterprises and then grow in a sustainable and efficient manner.

About Zid

Zid is an online solution provider which helps businesses in growing their presence online. It helps in a variety of ways with its wide range of services. Zid has completed over 500,000 orders till now while its sales volume has crossed SAR184 million. With over 850 training and consulting hours, Zid has considerable experience dealing with diverse problems and issues faced by the businesses. The firm specializes in providing services and consultancies with regard to online transition of the businesses. It also offers a variety of payment options to help your firm grow internationally by letting you accept the payments in different currencies and in different countries. Further, it also allows its partners to offer cash on delivery payment option to its clients, which is fast becoming one of the most important payment methods for online customers.

As Zid aims to become one-stop solution provider for online businesses, it arranges logistics services for the clients. With its varied collaborations, the clients can pick their preferred delivery partners for achieving efficiency and economy. Further, Zid also aids businesses in managing their inventories with the state of art tools.  Overall, Zid successfully integrates technology and business savvy to allow firms in capturing online market.

4 years ago
PayTabs
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Smart-Ways-to-Protect-Your-Business-Against-Chargebacks

The current pandemic has forced many businesses to go from offline mode to online mode, as social distancing rules and phased lockdowns are still in place. The transition involves a steep learning curve as there are several new elements which businesses need to take care of when they are operating online. Chargeback prevention is one of the most important aspects you need to be careful about. It is one of the most frequent issues an online business needs to deal with. Here are some pointers which can help you navigate through this problem and carry out your business efficiently.

But First, What is a Chargeback?

The simplest explanation of chargebacks is that these are disputed transactions. If a customer raises concerns about the validity of any charges on their credit card, then the merchant is required to reverse the transaction. Such reversal is known as chargeback. While chargebacks are important so that the clients are not saddled with unwarranted payments, such charges can interfere with efficient operations of your business. An online business should try to keep such chargebacks to a minimum and offer relevant features to protect payments. Such charges can not only lead to financial losses but also the wastage of other resources, such as time.

            Also Read:Five Payment Processing Challenges For Small Businesses

Tips to minimize chargebacks

Choose an Online Payment Processor Carefully: Online payments form the backbone of a digital business. Since these payments are carried out by specialized processors, it is important that you partner with reliable service providers. Your processor should possess an impeccable track record. They should also be ahead of the curve when it comes to security of the transactions. You should check whether your processor can deploy the latest anti-scam and anti-phishing software. Online scams are one of the biggest reasons behind chargebacks. By eliminating the risk of frauds, you can also minimize the chances of chargebacks. Such processors can help you in implementing proper chargeback prevention measures.

Choose Appropriate Transaction Descriptor: If you are wondering how to handle chargebacks, this is one tip you should remember. Chargeback requests are generally initiated when a customer is not able to recognize particular charges on their credit card statement. So, ensure that your transactions appear in a familiar name to avoid the risk of accidental chargebacks. Instead of registering with the online payment processor in the name of your parent company, you should register with the trade name, which is the name known to your clients. So, if you are facing frequent chargebacks, you might want to get in touch with your online payment processor to see how you appear in your clients’ credit card statements. In case of any issue, get it fixed to avoid hassles.

            Also Read:These 10 things will help protect your Ecommerce Business against fraud

Build a Rapport with Your Clients: Businesses that build a strong relationship with their clients are less likely to face chargeback requests. One of the most effective ways to do this is by offering prompt customer services. If your customers are able to contact you and get timely resolution of their issues, they will be less inclined to take the drastic step of claiming chargebacks. It is also important that you do not add any unexplained charges on your bills. Transparent billing practices ensure that your clients have proper payment protection. Total honesty will lead to fewer small business chargebacks and a bigger base of loyalists.

Optimize Your Business Processes:Lax business processes may also lead to chargebacks. If your shipping duration is too long, the customers may not receive their products on time and may demand chargeback. Further, goods arriving in damaged conditions or not as per the description may also lead to chargebacks. In order to avoid such hassles, ensure that your business practices are up to the mark. You should maintain a clear line of communication with your clients. It is also a good idea to provide frequent updates about shipping milestones. If there is any problem with the product, it should be rectified accordingly, so that a chargeback is not required.

            Also Read:How to retrieve your money from a not-so friendly fraud

To wrap up, financial discipline is essential for any business, especially when it comes to chargeback prevention. These anomalies should be minimized so that the business can run with maximum efficiency. And by following the simple steps mentioned above and collaborating with reliable online payment processors, you can minimize the risk of chargebacks.

4 years ago
PayTabs
Mohab Covid19 Resources 0

How-to-Prepare-Your-Ecommerce-Business-for-a-Post-COVID-World

It does not come as a surprise that the COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically changed the way online businesses carry out their operations. After all, consumer behavior and buying patterns have altered to suit the effects of the pandemic. So, ecommerce businesses have had to adapt themselves quickly in order to accommodate the changes and to arrest the spread of the virus by implementing safe delivery rules.In order to ensure that your business is in a position to sustain itself and grow in the post-COVID era, here are some handy tips to guide you:

Be Proactive: There have been rapid changes in the business environment on account of the pandemic, as more people have taken to online shopping and focusing on essentials. So, it is important that you take a proactive approach to change your ecommerce business plan and practices, to remain efficient. You need to carry out proper analysis to understand the impact of the outbreak on the demand and supply pattern of your products and services. It is important that you take a 360 degree view of the business operations and pay equal attention to various facets, including supply chain. Therefore, you should be aware of all the changes in your market segment. It is important that you communicate these changes to your teams as well, so that they can modify their procedures.

Invest in Digital Marketing: Wondering how to improve ecommerce business opportunities?Forward-thinking businesses have used the lockdown period to promote their products and services online. They have used the downtime to ensure that their digital marketing strategies work overtime to help their ventures grow. Some best practices include focusing on providing robust digital experience to the customers. Some of the factors which contribute towards such experience are fast loading time for your website, a streamlined ordering process, and smooth online payment options. Furthermore, many companies have also invested in building a robust client base online for generating bump-free revenues in the future.

Diversify: The corona-virus outbreak has also highlighted the need to diversify business practices. When conventional supply chains broke down, many businesses turned to more creative solutions. Instead of relying upon their traditional suppliers, they struck up deals with local suppliers. Similarly, the need to diversify the customer base cannot be ignored too. This means, you have to conduct fresh market research, understand your customer segments better and find out what different buyers want. The pandemic has taught businesses to ensure that they diversify enough to prosper in different circumstances. Such diversification will allow them to use alternatives when their usual processes breakdown.

Review & Analyze: The pandemic and the aftermath have forced many businesses to analyze their business practices closely. While some businesses had to adapt themselves to losses in their sales volumes, other businesses needed to revamp themselves to meet soaring demand. Generally, the latter situation prevailed in sectors which are critical for our day to day lives. However, irrespective of the impact of COVID-19 on their operations, all businesses need to change themselves for the post-COVID world. The lockdown time should be used for reviewing your marketing practices, for analyzing your supply chain, or for tweaking your digital promotion strategies. The main idea is to let your business become dynamic enough for different circumstances.

Embrace Technology: TheCOVID-19 outbreak has clearly shown the importance of technology for businesses. Digital communication has become more necessary than ever, whether you want to educate your customers about safety and hygiene rules, promote essential products, or explain how you are doing your bit to help the society cope with the pandemic. Moreover, businesses are also working on their payment solutions and shifting to online payment modes. Hence, it is important to choose an ecommerce payment gateway that is safe, efficient and supports multiple currencies too. The use of technology can also ensure that businesses are able to remain in touch with their customer base and actually work on enhancing their online presence. The use of tools such as Enterprise Resource Planning platform will further enhance the efficiency of their operations.

To conclude, COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the ways in which ecommerce businesses are functioning. However, by following the above tips, your organization can thrive and become successful during these uncertain times.

4 years ago