The modern era is one characterized by increasingly advanced technology, and that has provided businesses with a wide variety of useful new tools when it comes to commerce. Most specifically, e commerce is on the rise, so much so that it has become a staple among many industries. E commerce comes with its own fair share of challenges, however, and you’ll need to know what you’re doing if you want to make the most of the latest and greatest e commerce strategies. Here’s what you need to know.
IoT Devices
The Internet of Things is a fairly well known term, but it’s not always clear exactly what it means and, more importantly, how it can help businesses excel. IoT devices take numerous forms, from smartphones to wifi vending machines and everything in between. The underlying principle is connectivity. Smartphones are particularly potent IoT devices in that they allow users to access a wide variety of services on the go, and this forms the basis of the app revolution. Creating an app for your customers is one of the most impactful steps you can take to increase your sales figures, because it gives your customers constant, mobile access to your business.
Perhaps more importantly, IoT design is really good for creating a network of things, so to speak. IoT devices of all sorts can easily be connected to one another, as well as a hub device, in order to give business owners a comprehensive overview of operations in real time and from a remote location, should the need arise. This means that your e commerce operations and your on site operations can be monitored remotely, and the same can be said of remote control functionality when and where it applies. In the same vein, this also makes it incredibly easy to keep business statistics up to date and accurate, because, for example, sales made through your app can be fed into the same database as your on site sales figures, each of which can be automated. Subsequently, this information can be arranged chronologically, and these records are easily accessible at any time and from any place.
Blockchain
Data is a major concern for businesses on multiple fronts. The collection and analysis of data helps to create more effective business plans, but that data is also the primary target of countless hackers looking to disrupt businesses in order to turn a profit. This means that new data solutions are often necessary, and blockchain is quickly taking over as one of the most effective and popular methods of protecting data. Essentially, a blockchain is a type of database, and it prioritizes the creation of a ready only “chain” of information. The way this works is that when data is submitted to the blockchain, it becomes a static “block” that can’t be edited or removed. This means that information can be added, but it can’t be tampered with after the fact. The practical application of this is that it is a safe way to create permanent, comprehensive records of things like sales figures and finances, and it is theoretically immune to the negative influence of hackers. It’s also an essential part of the cryptocurrency infrastructure.
Alternative Payment Methods
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are a strange beast. Because of their novelty, they aren’t widely accepted by vendors, but this is slowly changing. The primary reason for the increasing faith in cryptocurrencies is fairly simple; they provide anonymity when shopping online. This is a point of contention, but it’s hard to argue that that anonymity isn’t a useful way for consumers to protect themselves from the hackers waiting around every corner to steal their personal data and, potentially, their identities. On the flip side, PayPal serves as a sort of alternative to traditional banking, and it also has ramifications when it comes to online shopping. Primarily, it enables users to transfer money more easily. It gives users the ability to move money into and out of their bank accounts, and it allows people to send money to each other without the need for writing checks or making withdrawals and subsequent cash exchanges.
These alternative ways to engage with online commerce are fairly new, but PayPal in particular is fairly widely represented. Because of this, any successful e commerce company will need to provide the ability for customers to pay with PayPal. The principle behind this is simple; giving consumers more ways to pay and, more importantly, more convenient payment options, will increase the number of sales you make. Inversely, every roadblock that occurs throughout the process of shopping online represents a chance that a given shopper will simply give up and take their business elsewhere. The same is true of cryptocurrency, albeit to a lesser extent. The problem with cryptocurrency is its fuzzy legal status, something that can be hard to overlook.
Remote Employees
Remote work is a fairly novel concept, but it’s one that is immediately enticing to many. In fact, that appeal is well founded, because the numbers show that remote positions make workers happier and save companies money. The beauty of this is that there are a wide variety of positions that can be performed remotely, and clerical positions are a fairly universal example of this. This means that your payroll department can be made up of remote employees, for example. This is particularly beneficial for companies that provide exclusively e commerce services. That means that you can reduce your on site staff to only yourself, meaning that you can outright skip out on paying for office space until your business is more established. At that point, your biggest single expense is not an office, but simply the warehouse needed to store goods until they can be sold.
E commerce is an immensely powerful tool for many businesses. However, any tool is only as good as its user, and e commerce represents a new set of skills you’ll need to learn. These tips can help you get started off on the right foot in order to create a successful, lasting business.