adminOne of those questions that pop up frequently when talking about online business is “What Is Online Business Systems?”
In every business online or offline, you need to implement a way to attract customers to your place of business and have rules and systems around that. Your marketing strategy is an important part of your business systems. This also includes the rules around placing of designs of adverts and advertising or social media platforms, as well as word of mouth strategies that you may choose to incorporate in your business.
In an example of what is online business systems, consider that in a traditional brick and mortar retail store there are no orders taken. A customer just needs to walk in, choose a product, queue up and pay for their product at the cashier. Likewise as an online business you need a way to be able to take orders and take payments successfully hence what systems you have in place matter. The products or service that you are offering must be shipped to the customers in as short a time as possible without inconveniencing the waiting customer. Orders therefore must be handled in an interactive manner via online forms and following good online business guidelines. In order to do this efficiently you then need to have good online business systems in place.
- What is online business systems is a question that you need to ask when dealing with issues of security online. Security systems need to be handled sensitively for the consumer, therefore careful research and considerations have to be taken before choosing for example, your online payment processing company like for example Paypal. It is a business imperative and priority that e-commerce transactions take place through secure electronic connections and special merchant accounts for accepting all the payments coming into your business.
- When a customer has made payments, delivery of the products must also take place securely and speedily. In a physical store, this is simply a matter of the items being put in a bag and the customer walks out happily with his purchases. However, in the world of online business this is a little more complicated. Requirements for online businesses are such that shipping and transportation are comparable to catalogued and mail order businesses. It is easier to outsource this to a logistics business which specializes in transporting goods, because they are well-equipped and resourced to process orders and ship them more timeously. This helps you to limit your liability in terms of delivery, to some extent; especially if your online business has grown to big commercial levels like E- bay, Amazon or Alibaba to name a few of the big online businesses.
- E-commerce, just like any traditional commercial transactions must have systems in place for accepting returns in case of breakages, or unsatisfactory products. They need a way to handle warranty claims if they are a part of selling the product. In traditional businesses, customers just bring the product back and get their refund or exchange for another product or maybe take the product to the store for warranty repairs. Since there is no physical store in the online business process, shipping arrangements must be done for accepting returns and handling the warranty service. Customer service and support are also a must have when doing business online or offline. Customer service in the ‘digital business world, can be handled through indirect means such as email, sms or telephone services.
The digital revolution has changed a lot of ways in which companies do business and the e-commerce revolution has made necessary new business systems for conducting business online.
Factors which influence your online business systems are:
Empowerment
As the digital world dictates in all things online, the customer should be in charge of his experience. The age-old statement and rule that the customer is always right still comes into play. This is very useful because self-service by your customers, will help your business by reducing your costs of operations as you don’t need too many employees. Customers will also enjoy the value of serving themselves and the control they have over their experience with your company if you have the important requirements for online business in place.
Personalisation
Information and personalisation are key attributes of a good marketing business strategy on a digital platform. If you can collect and build as much customer intelligence or information on your website, the better you will be able to personalize it for specific customers. This is one crucial reason why you need to answer for your chosen business – what is online business systems? You can achieve personalisation on a website by putting a cookie in the user’s cookie file or requiring them to log into your website every time they visit the site. I shall discuss cookies more in another article.
Directness
Being direct means getting from A to B without taking any detours or diverting attention to something else. Being direct in an online business means, connecting the customer directly to the information, tools or products they need, or that they are searching for. Try to avoid any irritating questions and other time-wasting hurdles. Your goal should always be to get your customer to make the decision to buy from your website as quickly as possible.
Time and Speed
The classic saying that ‘Time is money’ could not be more appropriate regarding online business customers. Human beings use the internet for many reasons and goals, but the most popular reason quoted in surveys is, ‘to save time so I can have more time to do things that can bring me more money.’ Every e- commerce business will advertise their website as a time saving platform to their clients. Taking this into consideration, an e-commerce shop for example, has one of its main selling points as, to save the customer time. From getting into a car, going to the required shop and saving on fuel and time at the gas station, while at the same time not struggling with small kids, thereby saving more time to do the shopping.
>Time for online businesses impacts on the speed with which consumers can find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
> Your website would need small size files and photographs and graphics so that the pages can download faster.
> Your online business would need powerful modern hardware with high speed reliable internet connections for your web server.
I am sure this will help to shed more light on the question of what is online business systems, and how can I structure successful online business principles for my business.
I hope you got some light reading this article. Wish you all the best in your business.
To Your Success…
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