While it is true that the e-commerce sector is dominated by just a few household names, that does not mean that their reputation management should slack off. The internet is a lot like High School in that it is largely popularity based. This means that if you are going to make it in the e-commerce industry, you are going to have to make a name for yourself. This is the reason that online reputation management is so important for this industry. In this article, we are going to discuss the key factors that will come into play when you are trying to advance your e-commerce business.
Your Competition
In any business venture, it is smart to know who your competition is. Each industry has its giants. However, in the e-commerce industry, you are not only going to be competing with those giants but the giants in the e-commerce industry. You will be competing with the likes of Amazon, eBay, Asda, John Lewis, and AO.com. While Amazon does garner over 50% of the online business, the others are not to be overlooked. If you are going to make it in the e-commerce industry, you are going to have to have to develop a plan of attack to deal with these big companies. Remember, they are probably going to be able to get better prices than you because of the volume they deal with. This means that undercutting them on price is not going to be good enough. Additionally, most of them offer free shipping so that isn’t going to be a selling point either.
Reputation Management
While industry giants like Amazon do have great customer reviews, a lot of the sellers do not. This is because they tend to send you the cheapest possible product for the maximum price. Amazon does not have access to everything that they sell. There are some niche products that you can target and sell using their platform. Keep in mind that you will be competing with other sellers of that product. This is where the price and shipping will matter. If you are offering the same product at a reduced rate or provide free shipping, you will likely get the sale. However, you have to go above and beyond that. You need to have as much feedback on your product as possible.
Providing your customers with a platform, other than Amazon, to rate and review your product will do wonders for your reputation management. You will effectively have multiple platforms in which your customers are able to get in contact with you. The more places that you can have positive reviews, the better. When potential customers are looking to buy from someone, the majority of them do an online search for the product or the supplier first. We have heard anywhere from 61 – 87% of customers. All that you need to know is that you will be checked on prior to the customer making the purchase. Therefore, you can judge your reputation by the number of sales you are getting.
Keep in mind, when you first start, you have no reputation. It is very important to get these first few sales right. If you fail to do so, you are going to have to look for another line of products. The customers will simply not buy from you anymore. In the past when we have purchased a product, we have noticed that the seller will make an attempt to get in contact with us. They are generally asking for a review or information on how the product was. Sometimes they were great products and other times they were duds. When we were in contact with the seller, we told them how we felt. If the product was not up to par, they would often offer to send a replacement. We took them up on the offer on several occasions. This proved to be the right thing to do. Not only did we get a superior product, but they gained loyalty from us as well.
Branding
Anyone that tells you that branding does not matter anymore does not know what they are talking about. Now, more than ever before, branding matters. When you put your brand on something, you have to make sure that it is the best that it can possibly be. The reason for this is that in this digital age, your reputation can be taken out in the blink of an eye. When you are not one of the major players in an industry, this can be the difference between staying in business and going out of business.
Long-Term
e-Commerce businesses are quite unique. Since they rarely handle the products they are selling, this makes for a strange transaction. There is no way that they can verify the quality prior to the shipping of the product. This means you are going to have to ask your customers to have a lot of trust you are going to do right by them. To make sure that you are sending your customers a decent product, we suggest that you ship one or two to yourself, to begin with. This will give you a general idea of what product you will be shipping to your customers. Plan on being in this for the long run. If you think too short term, then you will find yourself not caring about what product is sent to a customer. While this may prove to make a little money at the start, you will soon be out of business. Remember, it takes 20 years to make a good name for yourself in business, but only 5 minutes to destroy it.
Conclusion
When you are dealing with anything on the internet, you need to keep in mind that your reputation is on the line. At any moment, during any transaction, your name could go downhill. The best way to combat this is to make sure that you are giving your customers more than they asked for. This will see your online reputation soar. Who knows, maybe you are the next creator of an Amazon-like company.