Simple Strategies to Make Your E-commerce Site More Agile
Approximately 20% of new businesses fail within the first year, and nearly half of those that survive dissolve within the first five years.
So, how can you avoid becoming a statistic while also ensuring the success of your online store?
Because each organization is unique, there is no simple answer or one-size-fits-all solution for achieving long-term growth.
Not to mention, scaling an e-commerce business is challenging. Thankfully, there are a broad range of tools available to assist even the smallest stores in making the right impression. However, scaling your company to its full potential is a different story.
What’s the secret?
Agile development, derived from the Agile Manifesto, is a software development process created to replace traditional methods. It allows for unpredictability by enabling updates to be done continually while the consumer has access to several product versions delivered early and often.
You can get a head start by applying agile principles. For instance, open communication, a culture that fosters innovation and collaboration, and the use of appropriate technology are all essential components in ensuring that your e-commerce company remains adaptable as it grows. Hence, I’m going to discuss applying agile principles towards scaling your e-commerce store.
In the digital age, what does it mean to be agile?
Improving your day-to-day operations and project execution can result in significant improvements. You can also utilize agile principles in every e-commerce department, including accounting, marketing, and operations.
Incorporating agile principles may also augment a mobile-centric strategy, departmental operations, project management, and product development processes. Further, in today's fast-paced and highly dynamic online retail climate, employing an agile approach may boost employee engagement and other organizational practices while also reducing communication and relationship-building obstacles, which are constant issues in any business.
How do you apply Agile principles?
When prediction-based activity appears to be less strategies, agile business strategies perform best in unpredictable conditions. To help you understand this approach, consider the following sentence: Agile may be used in business to manage organizational changes, just as software developers can use it to address project needs and requirements changes. In addition, meeting unforeseen demands improves company efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Also, agile business strategies have spread across numerous industries, helping organizations save significant amounts of money while maintaining current clients in a highly competitive market. Hence, business agility, as opposed to traditional bureaucracy, results in rapid decision-making.
Below are the 12 Agile principles and how you can put them into practice with your e-commerce site:
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. (Employ a continuous feedback cycle for your e-commerce products).
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage. (Adjust e-commerce plans based on actionable insight).
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. (Make sure your team is always on the same page regarding progress).
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. (Focus on the bigger picture of product launches).
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. (Consistent product demos).
Working software is the primary measure of progress. (Test rapidly).
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. (Encourage open communication).
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. (Ongoing addition of new features).
Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential. (Use experimentation to validate your product ideas).
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Considering the principles above, try using the most cost-effective e-commerce pricing plan you can implement.
While selecting an optimal price plan for your e-commerce site is critical, it is also easier said than done.
To illustrate, if your pricing is too high, you risk alienating potential customers. If your price is too low, you risk losing money. Both are incompatible with an agile e-commerce marketing strategy.
So, how do you pick the right pricing strategy for your organization?
Here are some pointers:
Examine the many pricing strategies already in use: Understanding various pricing schemes is critical. Also, learn more about the distinction between a value-based strategy and a cost-plus strategy.
Determine your typical spending patterns: Keeping track of your outgoing expenses is critical to ensure that your pricing structure does not result in a loss. You must monitor all the money that leaves your business account each month, from website maintenance to production and marketing costs.
Consider your rivals within your respective niche: Examine your competitors' prices to understand better the price range in which your customers may operate. Reduce your price as needed to attract more customers. On the other hand, you could even charge a little extra if you offer something your competitors don't.
If you want to assess how much your e-commerce site can make, check out my associated post here:
Enhance your communication channels
When you create your e-commerce site, you may regularly assess and alter every area of the operation to ensure its success. However, as your online store expands, you discover you can't do it all. The days of wrapping and completing purchases at your kitchen table are long gone. If you want to keep focused on the big picture, you'll need a dedicated team to oversee day-to-day operations.
The first strategy is to avoid the formation of organizational hierarchies. When CEOs and other management activities sift every bit of information, critical information and signals may be overlooked.
However, the open line of communication will ensure that team members from all departments—from inventory and logistics to digital marketing and customer service—understand and work together to achieve common goals.
Make a positive contribution to your team
Your e-commerce company as a whole should alter and adapt to the changing attitudes and problem-solving behaviors of business team members. Rapid integration inside the organization creates an environment that encourages people to adapt to change efficiently and sensitively.
Why is this vital?
Well, only when your e-commerce business is lucrative and efficient, can it satisfy the growing demands of your customers. Thus, it’s vital to promote customer-centric practices while developing a cost-effective road map of processes to follow and maintain.
Businesses face obstacles and complications at several levels inside departments that use existing or upgraded project management systems, much like they do while developing software. The process of developing a product is filled with potential and unforeseen roadblocks. Due to the pervasiveness of these types of issues, you can only offer the most effective responses if you can access further evidence for insightful interpretation.
So, ensure each employee and team member helps your company become more agile by communicating with clients at various stages or levels, receiving comments and perspectives, and resolving issues more quickly.
Examine your approach to tech stacks and updates
The right tools and platforms are essential to your e-commerce company's success since they assist in establishing and sustaining long-distance connections with manufacturers, sellers, and new customers. Thanks to SMS, stakeholders, partners, and suppliers can communicate at any time. Also, SaaS apps enable employees throughout the world to collaborate in real-time on product launches or another project.
On the other hand, excessive dependence on technology may be dangerous. Highly complex tool or system implementation risks overloading your workers, delaying information, and reducing productivity, all of which might hamper your company's development. By adopting multi-functional platforms that interface with legacy and other systems and effectively training your people, you can avoid many of the challenges associated with functional—but often confusing—tech stacks.
Integrate an inventory management app
What exactly is an inventory app?
In a nutshell, online inventory management tools allow you to keep track of, organize, and manage your inventory in several locations in real-time. They also provide data you can access using a web browser or a mobile device.
Inventory management is critical to the success of e-commerce. You'll need to keep track of your inventory, including what you've purchased and what has to be restocked.
Fortunately, inventory management apps do help you maintain order consistency and avoid discrepancies. The last thing you want is a lot of unsatisfied customers who ordered a product that was out of stock.
If you haven’t integrated an inventory app yet, here are a few to check out:
On Shelf
Cin7
ShipBob
Trade Gecko
Inventory Now
Katana Manufacturing ERP
SimpleSync
Shopventory
If your inventory platform is embedded with a route delivery app, customers may be alerted when their orders are sent. They can also track their shipments. Use this is part of your overall strategy for ensuring that your customers are engaged consistently.
Retain your versatility by becoming more agile
As your e-commerce site expands, keep the "startup mode" that you developed in the early stages. This is, of course, easier said than done. Nonetheless, by maintaining open lines of communication, creating a collaborative work environment, and utilizing appropriate technology, your e-commerce store will have a better chance of reaching its full potential.