Business

The Complete Guide to Multi-Channel eCommerce Management

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One of the biggest advantages of being a business owner in 2021 is the ability to market your product or service to anyone in the world, with the click of a few buttons. Considering how many platforms are out there, designed to display your content and spread your brand, often for free, taking advantage of all these platforms should be a no-brainer. Developing a multi-channel e-commerce plan to diversify, expand your reach, boost sales, and broaden your customer base sounds complicated, but with the right planning, management, and tools, your brand stands a real chance of domination!  Let’s explore a few multi-channel e-commerce management techniques proven to keep your business visible and busy.

Multichannel Inventory Tools

Imagine your product is available on 5 different sites. Sounds great!  Except, poor management of your channels isn’t a great excuse when angry customers wonder why their order was rejected due to lack of inventory. Ensure your stock and pricing are accurate on each site. Even with orders flooding in from all your various platforms, poor inventory management will leave both orders and customers unfulfilled, leading to complaints and bad reviews, cancellations, or even termination of your e-commerce accounts. Deploying a multi-channel software for product listings can streamline the process of ensuring the correct information is available on every channel. Some multi-channel product listing software integrates with search engines, online marketplaces, social media and marketing platforms – a valuable tool for seamless transfer of information between suppliers, merchants, channels and happy customers.

Data Entry Tools

The amount of data involved in order management is staggering. Customers input addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and credit card information before purchasing your product. Losing any one of these elements will result in confusion and angry customers, and loss of a valuable tool for turning customer data and behaviour into future sales.  Deploying third-party solutions like warehouse shipping software, to categorize and store customer data, generate tracking numbers and delivery labels, and manage order customization, can take the pressure off one area of the business, allowing you to focus on maintaining other, more dicey areas.

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Inventory Order Management Tools

Inventory management is a complex process on the best of days, making it important to link all your stock, on all different e-commerce channels, to a single inventory. Many businesses of all sizes rely on inventory order management tools like Cloud Commerce Pro to handle their multi-channel orders. Deploying an inventory management solution will centralize management of shipping, CRM, stock and warehousing – putting the entire process on a single screen and simplifying both online and traditional call-in orders.

Customer Support Tools

Nothing is more frustrating to consumers than poor customer service, or no customer service at all. Businesses with an online presence need online customer support. 90% of American consumers will decline to do business with a company with poor customer service. A successful multi-channel e-commerce business will have customer support for phone, email, social media, and live-chat – in short, for every situation and for every customer. Many customer issues or questions can be answered using AI support tools, an easy way to head off easy inquiries and weed out those in need of a more personal touch. Deploying the right customer support tools can make the difference between complaints and bad reviews drowning your business, or pleased and informed customers who trust your brand.

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Feedback Tools

Reviews of a product, service or company are easy to find, and customers read them all. Nothing will attract the eye of a customer faster than a one-star or poor online review. Even with a great product, if any element falls through the cracks (shipping, inventory or customer service), your customer will be left with a bad taste in their mouth for your company. Feedback software targets the right customers for review requests, focusing on those who received their shipment on time, have previously provided positive feedback or rated your products highly, and have never reached out for support or issues.

The name of the e-commerce game is streamlining the contact, order, shipping and support processes, to free up employees for more productive tasks and troubleshooting more complex issues. Deploying the right software to manage this process will please customers, take the pressure off employees, and get your product into the hands of consumers fast and painlessly.