The global pandemic COVID-19 has uprooted the lives of the people and has disrupted operations of many businesses. Some for good and some for worse. And the eCommerce industry is on the good side of this COVID-19 disease. This is because shoppers are advised to stay at home in the wake of COVID-19. Since the brick-mortar shops have been closed down, it leaves only one option for shoppers to shop on eCommerce stores.
But the sudden spike in orders has put the eCommerce stores into pressure. Also, the disruption of the supply chain and delays in the fulfillment of orders are not helping. New shopping patterns are emerging that show how eCommerce shoppers are behaving online during the COVID-19 pandemic. And eCommerce stores should learn and adapt to these changing scenarios to sustain their growth even in the pandemic like COVID-19.
How to Prepare Your eCommerce Store During Coronavirus?
The COVID-19 has affected the priorities of the people because of the closing down of many businesses and leaving them with little money to spend only on essential items. Sure, that COVID-19 has impacted eCommerce sales and your conduct of business but the situation can still turn around in your favor. This is why we have come up with this guide that explains what strategies you should implement in your eCommerce store. Below we have illustrated the 7 strategies to prepare your online store during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Get in Touch with Your Suppliers and Manufacturers
As the COVID-19 situation is getting worse, your store may or may not have an influx of orders. But either way the manufacturing and supply could become an issue to fulfill the demand created. Therefore, it becomes necessary for you to get in touch with your eCommerce suppliers and manufacturers.
Talk with the right person on the other side and try to know what’s their status at the moment. Is the production of goods in process or not? How the COVID-19 situation has impacted their business operations? Try to get answers to these questions. You cannot control all these things from your end. But what you can do is monitor the whole situation from the ground. Try to understand how it will affect your eCommerce operations.
Expand Your Network with Alternative Suppliers
Due to the increasing threat from COVID-19 globally, transportation is one of the sectors hit badly by it. And due to that, the supply of goods has been stopped. China is an important source for many countries around the world who rely on it for the supply of goods. But as we all know that China is one of the countries badly affected by the virus. However, things have started to go back to normal in many parts of the country.
Still, finding alternative suppliers, you can rely on for the supply of goods, is not a bad option at all. Many countries are feeling strains in the supply of goods due to the disruption of the supply chain. Thus, having a few options you can lean on may help you to mitigate the surge of demand created.
Find What Customers’ Needs are
Many of your ideal customers and other people are working from home, serving as essential workers to fight the situation or laid off from the work. Be whatever the case, they all have some needs and responsibilities to fulfill towards their family. Find out what they are and their biggest concerns.
Once you analyze their situation, you will get an idea to better understand their current needs. Show your readiness to fulfill their needs. Ramp up your inventory if you have to so that you can better support their needs.
Be Ready to Serve Exponential Rise in Orders
In the UK, eCommerce sales are going to double by 20% to 40% due to the COVID-19 situation. Also, eCommerce sales in the US are going to go up dramatically during the COVID-19 situation. Many countries have put down the restrictions that forced many brick mortar retailers to close down their business operations. These restrictions will become more severe in the coming weeks.
This leaves people to get a supply of essential goods from eCommerce stores. Particularly, those elderly people with immunocompromised and others with chronic medical status have the only option to order from eCommerce stores. Because they are advised to stay at home and not go out in any public places. Therefore, the number of orders on eCommerce stores are set to spike exponentially. And you have to prepare your store to serve this exponential rise before the COVID-19 crisis escalates further. Also, maintaining the desired user experience is important when customers visit your eCommerce store. And for that you can use different user experience extensions for Magento eCommerce store.
Find Options to Ship Orders
As we have discussed that there will be a surge in traffic and orders on eCommerce stores in the wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic. This means you also have to find available options to ship those orders. As we speak, Amazon's own in-house delivery network is already disrupted. Other delivery and shipping services are continuing their operations but the shipments are getting delayed due to the lockdowns and restrictions.
Still, you have to make your customers understand that you are doing what you can to deliver their orders as early as possible. Yet there will be issues coming up one after another and you can’t do anything about that. So, don’t promise or guarantee that their shipment will be delivered on time. Add a notification on your website stating the COVID-19 situation and you are doing what you can to deliver orders ASAP.
Ramp up Your Inventory to Fulfill the Influx of Orders
Currently, the COVID-19 hasn’t disrupted the supply chain to that extent. But if the situation continues to get worse, then the time is not far when the global supply chain gets majorly unbalanced. Therefore, you need to take the necessary steps to prepare your store. And one such way to do that is by ramping up the inventory.
To manage your inventory and catalog of products you can use different catalog extensions for Magento 2 stores.
Below are a few steps you should consider.
- Get in touch with suppliers, learn about their capacity to manufacture goods and expected delivery.
- Get in touch with drop shippers, ask about their current level of stock and inventory of items that you want to sell.
- There will be a shortage of goods due to high demand, so stock up your inventory with additional goods to mitigate the surge of orders.
- Expand your supplier base and find alternatives to the items you are selling. Because you can replace those items once they go out of stock.
It is best that you take some action right now. Because the more you wait, the more the situation goes out of your hand.
Be Transparent and Be Reasonable eCommerce owner
The last thing anyone wants is to pay more than what the product is actually worth. So, don’t try to ramp up the prices to take advantage of the situation. Instead what you can do is to be reasonable with prices. Because ramping up prices may help you for a short period but in the long run, you may lose your loyal customers.
Also, it is morally not good for anyone to use the COVID-19 situation in your favor to boost profits out of your eCommerce store. One important thing that you should note is to provide multiple ways of payments to your customers. And for that you can use different payment gateways for Magento stores.
Be optimistic, be positive and be transparent with your customers. Tell them what’s happening and provide reassurance that the situation is going to get better. Help them with anything possible. Communicate with them as a brand and as a human too. Tell them if you are not able to fulfill their orders. Because this way, you are showing them that you are being honest in your conversation.
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, we want to say that no one knows what’s in the future. But we can be ready to face it all together. Now, is the time to make a shift in your eCommerce business operations due to the changing needs of the shoppers in the wake of the COVID-19.
Be optimistic and positive and empathize with your customers as well as your employees. Because with the fast spread of the COVID-19 disease, the fear and panic too are spreading among the people. So, help as much as you can to turn the situation upside down.