The content of this blog post stems from an interview with the CEO and founder of Cybertegic, James Hsieh, wherein he talks about how ecommerce businesses can cut costs during an economical crisis without compromising profit.
With economical hardships still looming, it is inevitable that ecommerce businesses will have to tighten their belts and cut costs. However, cutting costs does not, and should not equate to letting any established ecommerce website run on its own.
While one may think that an already-profitable ecommerce website is capable of running on its own, he or she is mistaken. Even a profitable ecommerce website needs constant and consistent work because once the work stops the competition gets a higher leverage on beating you out of the ballgame.
Do not assume that your ecommerce website will be able to stand on its own. Tighten belts, but tighten them diligently.
James Hsieh gave two tips on how to beat your competition hand in hand by controlling costs.
Control your marketing cost. Internet marketing is the perfect solution to make any ecommerce website stand out amidst the competition. Hence, the marketing costs are always the largest portion of an ecommerce website’s spending. Of course, you absolutely cannot do without internet marketing. To effectively control the marketing cost, you have to make sure that all marketing efforts are tracked, and the performance is measured using a web analytic system like Omniture, Google Analytics, or other popular systems.
Take for example you have allocated a marketing budget of $10,000. You have to make sure that it is carefully controlled so that you are actually generating more sales and profit than the money that you have invested. You cannot spend your marketing money without knowing the actual returns otherwise you end up squandering your investment. Control means that your spending is generating more sales for you.
Some internet marketing methods businesses can use to lower marketing expenditures are search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing and social media. If your ecommerce website is fully optimized and is getting good traffic, then there is no need to pay for advertising in search engines or pay per click. Email marketing, on the other hand, is affordable and easy to execute. Send emails to your existing customers because the chances of getting existing customers to return for another purchase is higher than finding new customers who will actually buy. Additionally, with the surging popularity of social media marketing, setting up accounts on social networking sites is free and easy.
Take good care of your customers. Everybody is trying to save money. The buying behavior all over the world is slowing down. During this period of economical recession, it is much more difficult to try to get new customers rather than having your existing customers come back for another purchase.
Customers are the lifeblood of your ecommerce store. Offer good promotional deals and steals to keep your customers coming back and offer the best service that you can give. Keep them happy and entertained and work on not losing them to competition.
Spend wisely, know where and when to control your spending, and take good care of the customers that you already have. While there will always be tough times ahead, tough times are the avenues to greater opportunities.Image Source