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Within eCommerce, having a well-defined step by step in creating a store is very important. But if you are very clear about the foundations of the business, we can guarantee the success of the business. An important point is the product or products that you are going to sell, you must understand well their place in terms of supply and demand, but that is not enough if you are not clear about the technology that can help you, operational management, customer service. Even money management can be the end of your business.
For this; Ver?nica Ostos, Co-founder and CEO of E-scrow , helps us understand the six fundamental pillars to implement a successful eCommerce: from the business definition to the financial plan.
Interview with Ver?nica Ostos, Co-founder and CEO of E-scrow
E-Scrow is a personalized fulfillment service for eCommerce, that is, it is an ally that helps you from the moment your customer clicks on one of your products and it reaches their hands at home.
Something that we have worked a lot on and it has cost us a lot to develop is how to easily visualize, and in a single sheet, the six things that you must take into account for your eCommerce to work. It doesn't matter if you are an entrepreneur with a small eCommerce or a large company that wants to implement its online sales.
The first is the definition of the business model , that is, defining whether you are going to do B2B , B2C , D2C , C2C , because you have to know the origin of the supply of your product. It doesn't matter if you buy from a manufacturer, an authorized distributor, or a wholesaler, you have to know how many intermediaries the product's profit margin has so that it can be competitive in an online sale. If you are not clear about where your product comes from and where you are going to place it, you will hardly be able to establish a price that allows you to stay alive in this market.
I lasted 25 years in the video game industry, which led me to create a Telegram Number Data video game eCommerce. In this industry specifically, there is the manufacturer (called developer), an official distributor and all the others who want to sell that product. The problem is that when they do not define whether the manufacturer is also going to sell directly like you, the business model begins to get complicated, because even if you want to be a B2C, there is a B2C before you and if you do not take care of the prices, you are left with a low level of competition.
First of all, there is a mistake that many entrepreneurs make, which is to create their own platform, because they are programmers or have someone they know who is a programmer. By taking this path, what we believe we are saving due to our programming knowledge, we are losing in competitiveness with other sellers who have other types of platforms that offer greater security to the client and in the commercial transaction. I do not advise self-development.
Before choosing a digital platform, you have to take into account what the needs of your business are and whether it works for me or not.
If your transaction is very basic, that is, uploading an inventory, putting up a catalog, selling, collecting and delivering, you can use SaaS ( Software as a Service), such as Shopify, PrestaShop, Tienda Nube. These are very good, easy to use and apply, however, if in addition to selling you want to send emails to customers, want to make reminders, make recommendations of other items that customers can buy, there are APIs or integrations, which have a cost that you must include in your price.
The next platform is open source , such as VTEX or Magento, what you are looking for is to start an eCommerce, but scale brutally. These types of platforms have very high licensing costs and require a specialized technical team to manage them, which is why they are expensive.
Finally, we find two types of marketplace : the pure marketplace and the retail marketplace. The pure marketplaces are Amazon, Mercado Libre, eBay, where sales commissions are expensive, but they have great customer reliability, great traffic, and you can take away many worries.
Retail marketplaces are, for example, Liverpool, that is, a physical store, which has a .com and a marketplace. Although this option is not bad, we must take into account that there are some limitations, because Liverpool will first sell its products or on its own page and then give visibility to the sellers.
At this point we have broken down all the topics and tasks we do on a daily basis. First, we find inventory management , which is very important to know what method to use to control it, because sometimes the platforms do not control it as you need and you must integrate a WMS or perhaps an ERP.
Then there is fullfilment logistics , where the essential thing is to deliver correctly and with the client's expectations. If my value promise is that I deliver in 24 hours, I must deliver in 24 hours no matter what. You must define whether you yourself manage the warehouse, logistics, last mile suppliers or ask a third party for help.
The management of the electronic commerce platform has to do with ensuring that the server does not go down, that the traffic is correct, that there is security , that the client feels confident that they are not going to be scammed, not only by cloning the card but that they are not selling you something that does not exist.
Customer service is also essential . You have to serve the customer and answer everything they ask you when they ask you. If you cannot attend 24 hours a day, you have to say so and the customer will know that first thing the next day you will be able to assist them and solve their problem.
Customer service on social networks: 11 keys to what to do… and what not to do
Lastly, we have regulatory compliance . We should not leave this aside, because although it is boring, it is what helps us grow and become a responsible, formal and appetizing eCommerce for investors.
YouTube video player
At E-scrow we have a golden rule: the important thing about digital marketing is to reach the entire ideal audience and generate databases to retain customers and generate repurchases. If everything you do in marketing doesn't achieve those results, you're just wasting money.
What is the first thing you should do? Increase your conversion rate , but this is so difficult to measure. For example, in the case of video games, the conversion is between 2 and 4%, that is, of every 100 people who visit the page, 2 or 4 will buy. Imagine the level of traffic you need to sell 5 thousand units. You have to take into account that your marketing is an investment , not an expense, and it has a purpose. How many do I want to buy from me?
Another point is to create a community related to your product. The community, the content, and you must micro-segment your campaigns are important. You cannot run campaigns aimed at all women between 12 and 50 years old. You have to find the audience that really consumes your product and this is another point to consider when choosing the platform, because if you choose a marketplace, it is difficult for you to have access to that community. You must choose if you want the trust and huge traffic of the marketplace or you want a specific community.
Every claim must be resolved and if it cannot be resolved, at least it must be explained why. When people complain, they want an explanation and you have the obligation to give it to them.
You must make rules and a process to answer the questions, because depending on whether you are an entrepreneur or a very large company, the policies change. But something that remains is that for every public question you must give a public response, for every immediate response you must set a time. If you can't answer at 3:00 AM, tell him that he will have his answer at 9:00 the next day and stick to it.
You should always have frequent responses , which will help customers stay calm while contacting you. If you have a WhatsApp, try to be human, because automating everything also makes you feel unimportant.
The importance of communication to enhance brand presence, with Edgar Rodr?guez (AMCO)
I put the financial plan to the end, because it is the one that breaks your dreams. You come very excited with your idea, you make the financial plan and you say, “this is impossible to do or by making some changes, it is possible.”
The first thing is to define your public prices. To give an example, if you want to sell socks for 100 pesos per pair, you must know the competition, know what type of socks they sell or for how much, because this information can cause your price to vary. You have to decide, my competition sells a pair of socks for 60 pesos, so either I go for 60 pesos or if they are really worth the 100 pesos, because they are going to be exclusive.
On the other hand, you must project your sales . Even if you don't know how much you are going to sell because you are just starting out or if you make physical sales and say, I think I can go for 6% online, you must make a projection of how much I am going to sell, how long it will take to sell, how much you have. what to buy to sell and how much you already have before buying.
For example, the video game industry sells 60% of its sales in two months. So you are making a similar plan that you don't fulfill and the last two months of the year arrive and the world comes crashing down on you with a lot of sales, you don't have enough inventory or you couldn't buy because you don't have the correct financing.
It is very important to see how cash flow works . If you think that in March you are going to need 100 thousand pesos, you cannot wait until March to see what you are going to do, you have to see it in January, in February, before you run out. And whether you ask your mother, the bank or a fintech, lending money is a process that does not take 24 hours. Study if I am going to sell 100 units, I must have at least 120 in my inventory and if I am going to sell them in January, I must buy them in December and if I am going to buy them in December and I need money, I have to request it in October. Finally, you must project an income statement and visualize if you are going to earn or lose money.
The podcast was born as part of the marketing strategy. E-scrow is a very new company, we started in August of last year with the facilities and in January we started. The objective of the podcast is to talk about e-commerce and these six pillars through experts or leading people in the industry who explain how they are really applied, used and that it is necessary to take them into account, because otherwise your eCommerce will not work. .
Precisely, our value promise is that together and with our experience, we make the customer have a very happy, very happy purchasing experience from the first click to the delivery of the merchandise to their home. Make you feel that the entire process was respected, you bought where you wanted to buy, you bought what you wanted to receive, but we need to do it together, because I am a part of your business.
Very little, because we have 10 clients, with whom we have learned a lot about how to fulfill this promise of value, both how to reach the client, how our client is waiting and also fine-tune our technological process.
For this; Ver?nica Ostos, Co-founder and CEO of E-scrow , helps us understand the six fundamental pillars to implement a successful eCommerce: from the business definition to the financial plan.
Interview with Ver?nica Ostos, Co-founder and CEO of E-scrow
E-Scrow is a personalized fulfillment service for eCommerce, that is, it is an ally that helps you from the moment your customer clicks on one of your products and it reaches their hands at home.
Something that we have worked a lot on and it has cost us a lot to develop is how to easily visualize, and in a single sheet, the six things that you must take into account for your eCommerce to work. It doesn't matter if you are an entrepreneur with a small eCommerce or a large company that wants to implement its online sales.
The first is the definition of the business model , that is, defining whether you are going to do B2B , B2C , D2C , C2C , because you have to know the origin of the supply of your product. It doesn't matter if you buy from a manufacturer, an authorized distributor, or a wholesaler, you have to know how many intermediaries the product's profit margin has so that it can be competitive in an online sale. If you are not clear about where your product comes from and where you are going to place it, you will hardly be able to establish a price that allows you to stay alive in this market.
I lasted 25 years in the video game industry, which led me to create a Telegram Number Data video game eCommerce. In this industry specifically, there is the manufacturer (called developer), an official distributor and all the others who want to sell that product. The problem is that when they do not define whether the manufacturer is also going to sell directly like you, the business model begins to get complicated, because even if you want to be a B2C, there is a B2C before you and if you do not take care of the prices, you are left with a low level of competition.
First of all, there is a mistake that many entrepreneurs make, which is to create their own platform, because they are programmers or have someone they know who is a programmer. By taking this path, what we believe we are saving due to our programming knowledge, we are losing in competitiveness with other sellers who have other types of platforms that offer greater security to the client and in the commercial transaction. I do not advise self-development.
Before choosing a digital platform, you have to take into account what the needs of your business are and whether it works for me or not.
If your transaction is very basic, that is, uploading an inventory, putting up a catalog, selling, collecting and delivering, you can use SaaS ( Software as a Service), such as Shopify, PrestaShop, Tienda Nube. These are very good, easy to use and apply, however, if in addition to selling you want to send emails to customers, want to make reminders, make recommendations of other items that customers can buy, there are APIs or integrations, which have a cost that you must include in your price.
The next platform is open source , such as VTEX or Magento, what you are looking for is to start an eCommerce, but scale brutally. These types of platforms have very high licensing costs and require a specialized technical team to manage them, which is why they are expensive.
Finally, we find two types of marketplace : the pure marketplace and the retail marketplace. The pure marketplaces are Amazon, Mercado Libre, eBay, where sales commissions are expensive, but they have great customer reliability, great traffic, and you can take away many worries.
Retail marketplaces are, for example, Liverpool, that is, a physical store, which has a .com and a marketplace. Although this option is not bad, we must take into account that there are some limitations, because Liverpool will first sell its products or on its own page and then give visibility to the sellers.
At this point we have broken down all the topics and tasks we do on a daily basis. First, we find inventory management , which is very important to know what method to use to control it, because sometimes the platforms do not control it as you need and you must integrate a WMS or perhaps an ERP.
Then there is fullfilment logistics , where the essential thing is to deliver correctly and with the client's expectations. If my value promise is that I deliver in 24 hours, I must deliver in 24 hours no matter what. You must define whether you yourself manage the warehouse, logistics, last mile suppliers or ask a third party for help.
The management of the electronic commerce platform has to do with ensuring that the server does not go down, that the traffic is correct, that there is security , that the client feels confident that they are not going to be scammed, not only by cloning the card but that they are not selling you something that does not exist.
Customer service is also essential . You have to serve the customer and answer everything they ask you when they ask you. If you cannot attend 24 hours a day, you have to say so and the customer will know that first thing the next day you will be able to assist them and solve their problem.
Customer service on social networks: 11 keys to what to do… and what not to do
Lastly, we have regulatory compliance . We should not leave this aside, because although it is boring, it is what helps us grow and become a responsible, formal and appetizing eCommerce for investors.
YouTube video player
At E-scrow we have a golden rule: the important thing about digital marketing is to reach the entire ideal audience and generate databases to retain customers and generate repurchases. If everything you do in marketing doesn't achieve those results, you're just wasting money.
What is the first thing you should do? Increase your conversion rate , but this is so difficult to measure. For example, in the case of video games, the conversion is between 2 and 4%, that is, of every 100 people who visit the page, 2 or 4 will buy. Imagine the level of traffic you need to sell 5 thousand units. You have to take into account that your marketing is an investment , not an expense, and it has a purpose. How many do I want to buy from me?
Another point is to create a community related to your product. The community, the content, and you must micro-segment your campaigns are important. You cannot run campaigns aimed at all women between 12 and 50 years old. You have to find the audience that really consumes your product and this is another point to consider when choosing the platform, because if you choose a marketplace, it is difficult for you to have access to that community. You must choose if you want the trust and huge traffic of the marketplace or you want a specific community.
Every claim must be resolved and if it cannot be resolved, at least it must be explained why. When people complain, they want an explanation and you have the obligation to give it to them.
You must make rules and a process to answer the questions, because depending on whether you are an entrepreneur or a very large company, the policies change. But something that remains is that for every public question you must give a public response, for every immediate response you must set a time. If you can't answer at 3:00 AM, tell him that he will have his answer at 9:00 the next day and stick to it.
You should always have frequent responses , which will help customers stay calm while contacting you. If you have a WhatsApp, try to be human, because automating everything also makes you feel unimportant.
The importance of communication to enhance brand presence, with Edgar Rodr?guez (AMCO)
I put the financial plan to the end, because it is the one that breaks your dreams. You come very excited with your idea, you make the financial plan and you say, “this is impossible to do or by making some changes, it is possible.”
The first thing is to define your public prices. To give an example, if you want to sell socks for 100 pesos per pair, you must know the competition, know what type of socks they sell or for how much, because this information can cause your price to vary. You have to decide, my competition sells a pair of socks for 60 pesos, so either I go for 60 pesos or if they are really worth the 100 pesos, because they are going to be exclusive.
On the other hand, you must project your sales . Even if you don't know how much you are going to sell because you are just starting out or if you make physical sales and say, I think I can go for 6% online, you must make a projection of how much I am going to sell, how long it will take to sell, how much you have. what to buy to sell and how much you already have before buying.
For example, the video game industry sells 60% of its sales in two months. So you are making a similar plan that you don't fulfill and the last two months of the year arrive and the world comes crashing down on you with a lot of sales, you don't have enough inventory or you couldn't buy because you don't have the correct financing.
It is very important to see how cash flow works . If you think that in March you are going to need 100 thousand pesos, you cannot wait until March to see what you are going to do, you have to see it in January, in February, before you run out. And whether you ask your mother, the bank or a fintech, lending money is a process that does not take 24 hours. Study if I am going to sell 100 units, I must have at least 120 in my inventory and if I am going to sell them in January, I must buy them in December and if I am going to buy them in December and I need money, I have to request it in October. Finally, you must project an income statement and visualize if you are going to earn or lose money.
The podcast was born as part of the marketing strategy. E-scrow is a very new company, we started in August of last year with the facilities and in January we started. The objective of the podcast is to talk about e-commerce and these six pillars through experts or leading people in the industry who explain how they are really applied, used and that it is necessary to take them into account, because otherwise your eCommerce will not work. .
Precisely, our value promise is that together and with our experience, we make the customer have a very happy, very happy purchasing experience from the first click to the delivery of the merchandise to their home. Make you feel that the entire process was respected, you bought where you wanted to buy, you bought what you wanted to receive, but we need to do it together, because I am a part of your business.
Very little, because we have 10 clients, with whom we have learned a lot about how to fulfill this promise of value, both how to reach the client, how our client is waiting and also fine-tune our technological process.