How to manage an online store

If you have decided to create an online store, you must be ready for the management role. You will make your online store successful if you control various business processes and understand their essence. This article will tell you how to manage your online store and which processes you need to control.

If you have decided to create an online store, you must be ready for the management role. You will make your online store successful if you control various business processes and understand their essence. This article will tell you how to manage your online store and which processes you need to control.

Site Administration

One of the main tasks of the owner is to create a comfortable environment for visitors to the online store. A good website should have a pleasant design, easy navigation and functions covering all customer needs. Part of these parameters depends on the choice of platform for online shopping. For example, Cartum offers more than 100 ready-made designs. It allows the entrepreneur to find the perfect look for his site.

The store owner should take full advantage of the platform's technical capabilities. Including different payment and delivery methods will give customers variability in their purchases. Creating text pages with helpful information will improve customer service. Adding banners will help focus visitors' attention on the relevant things.

It is essential to create a user-friendly website structure that allows you to navigate quickly and easily to the desired sections of the online store. To do this, the owner must implement a product catalog in which the range is divided into categories. It is important to add as many helpful filters as possible for a quick search for the right products and fill descriptions and characteristics of goods with the most relevant information.

Working with clients

A high level of customer service is no less essential for the success of an online store than the quality of goods. In addition to fast processing of orders and polite communication, the store owner should keep a customer database. It is necessary to collect information about customers, which will help to serve them better in the future. For example, by knowing the history of orders, you can make more relevant offers to customers.

Using a CRM system is essential for effective customer service. A CRM automates many business processes, maintains a complete customer base, saves communication history, and more. If you're not using an accounting system for whatever reason, you should fix that. A CRM will noticeably improve the quality of your work and help improve customer service.

Marketing activities

At any stage of the business's existence, one of the primary activities of a seller is to promote the online store. The business owner must invest in advertising and look for ways to attract or retain customers. The business depends on promotion. Without advertising, the store will not be able to reach new customer audiences and increase its sales.

You do not have to use all kinds of advertising for quality promotion — it is enough to find a few sales channels that are the most effective for you. For example, through your website, the marketplace, Google Shopping, and add targeted advertising. For convenience, you will need an online store marketing strategy — it will help to streamline your business promotion.

Maintaining reports

The online store needs reporting to evaluate its work, promotion efficiency and better interaction with customers. According to different metrics, you can understand how your actions bring results and whether you need to make changes. For example, to find a drop in traffic or to see that the cost of orders is too high and that a particular type of advertising is not suitable for you. Google Analytics is the most valuable piece of information about the performance of your online store. By generating the necessary reports using this tool, you'll always know what's happening with your business.

Employee hiring

Along with the business expansion, it is increasingly difficult for the owner to cope with the online store alone. Gradually, you will have to hire employees to help in the work because the quality of customer service depends on it. At a minimum, you will need a manager responsible for processing and collecting orders. He will take over some of the routine work, and you will have more time for strategic business development.

For tax accounting, hire an outsourced accountant. It doesn't make sense for a regular online store to keep an accountant on staff, so it's better to save money. Also, on outsourcing, you can hire a specialist in advertising and promoting the online store. There is no universal specialist engaged in all promotion channels at once. The services of marketing agencies are not cheap, so before renting, decide on a priority area. Perhaps it will be contextual advertising such as Google Ads, SEO, or something else.

Organizing through contractors can yield great results. For example, we know a client of Cartum who has a staff of only five people, and most of the tasks are performed by specialists in outsourcing. At the same time, the store sells more than 50 thousand products a month and has distributors in different countries. The business owner does not even control the work of the whole team. She synchronized all the processes at first, and then the staff worked on trust.

Conclusion

An online store is a complex structure that requires competent management from the business owner. You have to go into all the processes that take place in the store and control them. Having complete control over the online store, you will be able to respond to any challenges and gradually evolve. In the future, some of the responsibilities can be transferred to others and move from solving minor issues to more global ones.