Pivoting To Online Sales Is Essential For 2021
As the COVID pandemic continues it is essential that businesses continue to pivot to online sales for 2021. As people continue to stay home to follow local guidelines or for their health and safety, having access to online shopping is crucial. Shifting from a traditional brick and mortar business to offering online sales can be intimidating, but here are a few reasons for pivoting to online sales in 2021 as well as some tips to help ensure your success.
According to Digital Commerce 360 estimates, consumers spent $861.12 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2020, up an incredible 44.0% year over year. This figure represents the highest annual U.S. ecommerce growth in at least two decades. More and more people are shopping online and so it is absolutely essential that your business pivots to online sales in 2021 if you haven’t already done so.
Once you’ve decided to pivot to online sales it’s time to determine the best course of action for making this happen. You will need to decide how customers can access your products online and how you will fulfill online orders. Will your customers access your products through a sales platform you build yourself or will they access your products through a third-party vendor? Both of these options come with advantages and disadvantages so the choice really comes down to the needs and capacity of your individual business. Additionally, you’ll need to decide if all of your products will be available online or if only some, perhaps top-selling products, will be available online. Again, this choice comes with a variety of advantages and disadvantages, so you’ll need to determine what is best for you, and your product.
After you have settled on what you will be selling online and where it will be offered online you can determine how you will fulfill these online orders. Will you be packaging and shipping orders in-house or will you outsource this step of the process? Much like the decisions made regarding where to sell products, there are advantages and disadvantages, unique to your business, to both of these options. It would be prudent to think through your current staffing capacity to determine if you will be able to handle fulfillment and shipping in-house or if you would be better served outsourcing this particular task.
With online shopping expected to continue to increase in the upcoming year, pivoting to online sales is essential to ensure a successful year. Having the option to shop online with you gives your customers a reason to remain loyal instead of purchasing from your competitor.
