To succeed in any online business, companies have to focus on key factors such as accuracy, customer satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness. As online stores have to handle all essential day-to-day tasks such as order processing, inventory management, shipment tracking, competitors’ price monitoring, email / live chat customer support, product data entry, and so on, many eCommerce companies are now opting to outsource their back-office operations to improve work quality and enhance business growth. Professional BPO companies can help online retailers improve their business efficiency and customer satisfaction effectively.
Outsourcing eCommerce tasks helps to:
- save valuable time
- reach new markets
- attract more customers
- streamline sales
- avoid any time zone barriers
Certain tasks that can be outsourced include the following.
Accounting and Bookkeeping
Online businesses may have to deal with high volumes of transactions per day. Entering accounts payable invoices, tracking vendor payments, generating relevant disbursement reports, reconciliation of credit cards and bank accounts, monthly financial reporting, etc. are time-consuming. Professional BPO companies providing accounting support are knowledgeable and efficient in assisting with accounting, tax and financial duties in the eCommerce business. These experts can help in handling account reconciliation, ledger maintenance, payroll processing, payable or receivable account management and preparation of financial statements.
Ecommerce product data entry
eCommerce involves handling huge amounts of data. It is important that the product data is accurate and displayed in the right order with images to persuade customers to buy them. Any incorrect data uploaded to the site may result in losing a sale as well as a customer. Online product entry services provided by professional data entry companies include diverse services such as – product categorizing, adding/removing product information, catalogue entry and management, updating product information, image resizing, and tagging and enhancement.
Online order management
The order management system aims at getting a product into a customer’s hands as efficiently as possible. Efficient management of online orders helps manage and fulfilling online orders. This includes everything – order routing, printing shipping labels, tracking shipping orders, following up on any delayed shipments, checking returns and managing subscriptions. Outsourcing the order processing and management tasks can efficiently gain customer satisfaction. The smoother and faster the flow, the more orders the company is able to process. Document scanning companies can organize and store all of the orders and inventory in one place digitally, making it easy to access all data in one place. Many companies are also relying on order management software for accurate and profitable order management.
Inventory management
Proper inventory management is important to succeed in any online business. Organizing eCommerce inventory operations involves observing stock status on a daily or weekly basis and measuring the amount, location, pricing, and mix of products available for the particular business. Back office specialists providing inventory support services can easily manage your inventory details, track inventory levels and stockouts, and regularly update availability status. Well-organized and systematic inventory management helps in serving customers better and thus increase customer satisfaction. Cloud-based inventory management software also features low stock notifications and real-time stock reporting.
Email / Chat Customer Support
Ecommerce customer service refers to helping customers with everything, from making online purchase decisions to resolving issues. Answering customers’ valuable queries, and accepting their feedback or suggestions allows businesses to increase conversion rates, and keep customers satisfied. Businesses must provide proper support to their consumers to ensure ongoing business relationships. BPO companies can provide speedy round-the-clock email or live chat customer support to reduce shopping cart abandonment.
Digital marketing
It is important for eCommerce sites to implement new digital marketing strategies to present products and services to potential customers. Ranging from content marketing to link building and social media marketing, there are several SEO campaigns that can improve the online presence of eCommerce stores. By outsourcing the task, companies can focus more on core sales tasks.
Online retailing can be challenging because it requires specialized skills and resources to be successful in the industry. Back office outsourcing companies can provide the support needed to cover the back-office operations essential to online stores.