As a result of the situation in the country, we are facing a period of economic slowdown, where low levels of sales and production have already been observed and expected. This undoubtedly affects a large number of companies, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which have fewer resources to get around the periods of less activity. It also creates a considerable level of uncertainty in SME entrepreneurs about the sustainability and future of their companies.
To mitigate this, an interesting alternative to evaluate by entrepreneurs is the e-commerce or sale of products or services through digital channels. A company can sell online through its own website, known as a virtual store, or using some marketplace platform that allows you to upload the product offering to sites managed by third-party companies, which meet with offers of others, very similar to what would be a virtual supermarket. These channels are very comfortable for customers, as they do not have to scroll to buy and also work 24 hours 7 days a week. On the other hand, they can mean significant cost efficiency for the company, as it is not necessary to manage a physical store.
In our experience in COMPITE we have seen companies that have had to close stores because they have been victimized or close to pockets of violence in the current context of social crisis that the country is experiencing, have managed to reverse their situation by creating stores execution of digital marketing campaigns.
There are e-commerce platforms that allow a company to create its own online store and manage its product offering, purchase orders, payments among other options. They are available in free or paid versions, the most popular being: Shopify, Bigcommerce, Woo Commerce, Presta Shop and Phoenician. The best known marketplace sites in Chile are: Mercado Libre, Falabella Marketplace, Yapo, Linio and Mercado Ripley, Facebook Marketplace and Groupon.
The recipe for good e-commerce is that it has good positioning, that the use is very friendly so that customers do not get lost when buying. Make it fast and load photos and information very fast so you don’t have a bounce. Have the automation to process electronic orders and ballots automatically and have a support team that helps with the doubts, problems and escalations that a customer might have during their shopping experience.
However, the main challenge facing companies today is to get around this stage of less activity without losing future resilience, mitigating as much as possible losses in sales and production capacity, without evaporating the assets of the owners, to the rather than taking care of employment and staff productivity and safety. This requires being creative and for owners and executives to learn about the opportunities that new technologies give their organizations.
The content poured into this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
