When you have an online business, you’ve got a lot to keep up with: a whole roster of clients and their details to keep secure on a server, a 24/7 customer complaint line that can build up when you’ve got service form after form to get through, and orders to keep track of day in and day out until they reach the customer on the other side of the world. You can see there’s a lot there a physical business won’t have to deal with on a regular basis!
So all in all, it’s hard to run an online business, especially if you’re doing it alone. But it’s a worthy feat filled with risk and reward that is attractive to a lot of people in the corporate world. And if you’re considering becoming one of those people, here’s a couple of the hardest parts you’ll have to cope with.
Running an online business won’t be as easy as you think, but you can always prepare yourself well for the numerous difficulties in a virtual marketplace.
Delivery Can Be Unreliable
No matter the amount of shipping containers you have to your name, there’s no guarantee you’re always going to have the room to send out all the items you need to at once, and there’s no guarantee your products are going to have a safe trip. And that’s something that can really hurt a business, and why any reliable online retailer is going to clearly label their refunds and returns policy.
But you can package up these parcels as best you can, and make sure the delivery times are always kept to a minimum to make sure a customer’s item is never too long in transit. Of course a deal like this can be hard to cut with couriers and other services, but it’s going to be worth it considering the amount of money you’ll save in having to send out replacement products. Make sure you’re investing your shipping costs properly.
You Can’t Always Be Available
When you’re running a business that seems to be available 24/7, seeing as the face of it is on the internet, with a flashy homepage to draw customers in, the customers expect you to be just as available whenever they want you. This is different to a more traditional business, with opening and closing times for them to shop by; it’s why a lot of negative reviews can seemingly come out of nowhere.
People can be impatient, and there’s not a lot you can do to fix this. But you can make your phone line and customer service chat hours clearly labelled and available to anyone who scours your homepage. When you do this, you’re not going to get any errant calls out of hours, and you’re going to get far less aggro from customers who expected you to answer their query at 9 o’clock at night.
If you’ve got an online company, congratulations on all your hard work; here’s to easier business!
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