The marketplace has expanded in the past decade as the internet became more available and accessible, in view of eCommerce virtual assistants for business growth is required.
People have the option to buy products not only from local stores but also from online stores. Ecommerce is taking ground with many companies trying to compete to get the edge over others.
Ecommerce businessmen know how customers enjoy the advantages of online stores and are trying to expand their technology in retail.
Importance of eCommerce in 2020
This year the world is experiencing a pandemic, of a scale no one has experienced in a very long time. As a result of this, lockdowns and other restrictions have put people and families locked in the confinement of their homes.
Getting essentials and basic necessities has also become a difficult task since local stores are not opening. In such cases, people have to completely rely on online retail to get almost anything.
Thus, the present situation has provided a good opportunity for all online retail companies.
☛ What are eCommerce Virtual Assistants?
Like any business out there, eCommerce requires a lot of manpower, staff, and active participation to keep the business afloat.
There are a lot of areas that need to be taken care of such as the webpage of your online retail shop, product and their details, inventory, prices, payments, shipping, and many more.
You alone cannot do and at the same time, it is quite uneconomic to hire a team to manage each of these areas.
With the help of modern eCommerce development services, that are available now, every virtual assistant company is trying to come up with unique ideas.
Among them, one of the most beneficial inventions is eCommerce virtual assistants. With the help of such technology, you can get all the jobs done without breaking a sweat or hiring staff.
Benefits of eCommerce Virtual Assistants:
There are various ways in which a virtual assistant can help you in your online retail business. Some ways in which it can help are as follows:
☛ Maintaining store website
The first thing that needs to be taken care of is the webpage of your online store. Virtual assistants can help with the eCommerce store development in case you are starting off new.
Using proper technology, it can completely create the store page right from scratch and put everything that is necessary in its place.
If you already have a website the virtual assistant can help you with the eCommerce store design, giving it a new outlook.
The store webpage is what the customer will be seeing. Thus, it has to be attractive and well-optimized.
☛ Manage inventory
Your online store may be responsible for selling a wide variety of items. It is not possible for you to keep track of how many of each of the products you have in stock.
Manually taking care of this is a mammoth task but can be easily managed with the help of some automation. Your virtual assistant will provide eCommerce inventory management in real-time making this tedious task really simple.
Based on the present status of your inventory you will get notified as to which items are out of stock or going to be out of stock.
You can even program your virtual assistant in such a way that it automatically places an order requisition once stock falls below a certain threshold.
☛ Pricing and payments
Items need to be priced right so that customers buy your products with satisfaction while you earn your profit. It must not be too different from the locally available prices.
Offers, discounts, and promotions are also needed to be managed in order to attract more customers and beat competitors. It must be also kept in mind that there are various modes of payment that are available online.
However, people prefer to use the one they are comfortable with. Therefore, your store must be able to accept all forms of payments.
The eCommerce finance manager can tackle all these issues freeing you from all the headaches.
☛ Demand analysis
From time to time, the demand for certain products rises and falls. It somewhat follows a trend that can be difficult for you to understand.
In this pandemic, certain items were more in demand while others lost importance. Thus, adequate research is important to maintain inventory, put up prices, and much more.
Ecommerce virtual assistants can really help you with this. Various technologies are used by the assistant to do eCommerce market research that can unearth valuable data regarding public demand.
This is especially important for products that have a short shelf life as you will know how much of such items you need to keep in your inventory.
☛ Product details and description
The biggest disadvantage of online stores is that customers cannot see or touch the products in real life. They might have queries regarding the products they are looking for which they cannot express.
A virtual assistant can help with eCommerce product management. It will provide adequate high-quality pictures of the product so that people can somewhat have an idea of how it looks. Detailed product description with specifications is what customers really love.
Lastly, the assistant can accept queries through a chat box that either be solved by the assistant itself or can be directed to you.
☛ Accepting orders and shipping
Many people visit online stores and a significant portion of them place orders for one or more products. A hassle-free purchase experience can really improve retail eCommerce sales.
Customers want the stores to save their shipping address and analyze it properly so that the product reaches them as soon as possible.
Ecommerce virtual assistants can easily manage all orders on the website at any given point. It can even save the items on the cart until the customer adds, subtracts, discards, or proceeds to payment.
Ecommerce virtual assistants can easily maintain a huge database of customer accounts without any breach of privacy. It can detect the exact location on the map using the address entered by the customer to speed up delivery while conserving logistics.
☛ Feedback analysis
Reviews and feedback are very important for any eCommerce store. These details help other users to understand what kind of service they are going to expect.
This feedback must be analyzed thoroughly in order to mend issues and provide a better experience in the future.
For all this, you need to have good eCommerce customer service. Hiring an eCommerce virtual assistant can make this process easy.
How to find the right eCommerce Virtual Assistants?
Trending technologies in the software industry have enabled many virtual assistant companies to provide services to eCommerce companies.
You will find many virtual assistant websites online that seem to provide the service you need.
However, here are some things you need to keep in mind before you hire an eCommerce virtual assistant.
☛ The reputation of the company
The first and foremost thing you need to check is the reputation of the company providing eCommerce virtual assistants.
Companies such as the Magento development company have already established its name by providing good quality service. A company gains a reputation through years of providing good quality services and making users happy.
Thus, check for the reputation of the company thoroughly before contacting them.
☛ Services provided
Ecommerce virtual assistant services are numerous in number and not all companies will provide all of them. You should list out what services you mainly need and then check out companies that tick all the boxes.
It all depends on who according to you provides the perfect eCommerce business solutions for your company. It is also important that you do not take more than you need.
The recent trends in the IT industry have made innovations that are lucrative but not that necessary for your company. Falling for it might prove uneconomic in the long run.
☛ Pricing and subscriptions
Pricing is definitely an important factor when choosing the right company. Moreover, these services are rarely a one-time purchase and you would want a periodic subscription for such services.
It will not help your company if the online marketing tasks performed by your virtual assistant suddenly stop. Thus, you need to check out plans and prices offered by the different companies.
Initially, you can go for a short-term plan. If you are satisfied with the services then you can take up a long-term plan as they are more economic.
Conclusion
Ecommerce has gained much importance in the last couple of years. Many people nowadays prefer the ease of ordering items from their couch and receiving it at their doorstep.
With the present pandemic situation, online purchases have surged as it is the only means of getting items in some places.
If you have an eCommerce business then this is your opportunity to make progress.
Take help from companies that provide eCommerce virtual assistants as it can help you with the proper functioning of your online store.
It may seem like a big initially but it will be economic in the long run.
