Introduction
Setting up your own shop and starting your business with nobody but you or just a few likeminded enthusiasts you call friends to hold your back is a romantic thought but the real-life situations put a lot of challenges on your way that can turn the dreamy vision of everything running smoothly into a nightmare.
There comes a time for every business owner when you have to move forward and scale in order to keep up with customer requirements and the market flow. However, growing your business includes taking on more demanding clients, increasing your productivity, managing more aspects of your operation, even hiring more staff. On the other hand, you can’t risk putting all your money out there and hoping it’s all going to be ok. Scaling your business should be a planned process where your aim is to make your company ready to face larger projects without spending more than you need.
Luckily, there are ways to implement software tools that will help you in your transition period, until you are ready to invest in more advanced solutions.
Chatbots
Imagine running a fast food restaurant with home delivery. Taking in orders while manning the register is not a problem until it becomes one. Dealing with a crowded store and answering the phone is not just challenging, it’s not a good business practice. Your customers could seem patient but they don’t like waiting in line to buy a burger because you have to recite all types of vegan food choices to another customer who wants to order takeaway over the phone. Before you know it, half the people in the store are leaving.Chatbots are a simple and easy solution for taking orders online. Most of these pieces of software work on some kind of AI that you can use to receive orders from customers.
Mobile payments and POS
As your business grows and customer pool becomes wider while the demands become higher you want to do whatever you can to serve more people in less time. Hiring a few more people could sound like a reasonable idea that also benefits the overall economy, however, it is costly. Therefore you want to find alternatives until the next stage your business fully develops and you are able to get some more hands on deck.
Mobile payments and POS terminals allow your customers to pay for your goods and services faster and easier. Sources claim that for each dollar a brick and mortar business makes, 56 cents came through mobile payment option. Providing your customers with a fast and secure payment option increases the quality of your service which is the foundation of good User Experience.
Digital marketing solutions
Growing from a local business to a cross-state or international market means you have to spread the word of your arrival. When it comes to digital content marketing, it appears that emails still run the game. According to some resources, for each dollar invested in email marketing, you get $44 back, which is a huge ROI. In addition, email marketing is not difficult to implement, even easier if you already have a long list of subscribers.
You can let your followers know about special promotions, newly arrived products, changes you think are important to your clients, basically anything you wish to let the people know. However, if the work takes too much time and you can’t dedicate yourself to creating textual content, there are ways to “automate” that process as well. When the deadlines close in, a lot of students decide to hire a genuine essay writing service online that provides custom research papers or custom essay writings. However, agencies like rush my essay and others provide more than just a thesis writing service, they can also craft compelling promotional emails for you.
Inventory management software
Inventory management is essential for your business for multiple reasons like process flow, operation cost, as well as the user experience. One has to keep track of the current state of the inventory, make timely orders to fill in the stock, and update the inventory all the time. Hiring a person to manage your inventory is not the best option because it costs a lot, people make mistakes which can cost, people can’t update your inventory as fast and as accurate as a digital tool would.
There are numerous inventory management software options you can choose from, most of them allow you to link your POS with the inventory and create a real-time inventory management system that can even make orders based on your predefined settings. Just set the lowest limit for every article in your inventory and you can avoid paying extra money for fast deliveries or losing customers because you can’t provide them with the goods they need.
Conclusion
According to some resources, most startups fail because they decide to scale prematurely or without a careful plan. Therefore, make sure to organize your transition process carefully, do not spend too much on scaling unless you are certain your investment is going to turn a profit for you. These tools can help you cut down some of the costs and enhance the quality of your business further, nevertheless, the success of your enterprise is entirely up to you and your ability to come up with unique ideas that people are going to love.
Author Bio:
Lilian works as an editor at assignment writing uk and australianwritings.com. She also work as a writer at Ninja Essays service and essay writing service Essay Mama. She loves shopping and spending time with family.
Ready To Upgrade Your Logistic Solution?
Speak to Floship ecommerce logistic consultant about improving your global support chain today