How To Transition Your ECommerce Operations Strategy For Remote Work With Minimal Disruption 🧩
Before 2020, most businesses never considered the possibility of working remotely. However, the pandemic made in-person work impossible for many of us. Surprisingly, many companies actually found that their productivity wasn’t negatively impacted by remote work. In some cases, it even increased because of an effective transformation of eCommerce operations strategy.
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Saying that, however, recently companies are beginning to report dips in productivity. A series of lockdowns and harsh restrictions on people’s movements and civil liberties are creating wide-scale mental health issues let alone technical and operational challenges. Unfortunately, not everyone has figured out how to transition smoothly.
In this article, we’ll be discussing how to adapt or create an eCommerce operations strategy to prepare your business for a long-term or permanent remote working setup. First, we introduce you to existing hybrid workforces. Next, we show you how to develop your eCommerce operations strategy as well as pricing programs. These two elements will surely help your business transition to remote work.
At Taylor Wells, we believe that if you have a well-planned eCommerce operations strategy, you can switch to remote work with minimal disruption. By the end, you’ll have gained insights into how to thrive with high productivity and profitability despite changing workplace arrangements.
eCommerce Operations Strategy: Transitioning to Remote Work and Developing Pricing Programs
Before getting into the topic, consider whether the nature of your business will allow working remotely. Even if some aspects of your business transactions need to be done in person, a portion of your workforce can still work remotely. This is what we call hybrid workforces.
Hybrid Workforces
Hybrid workforces are now being considered the future of post-pandemic work life. In other words, part of your office works on-site and the rest will work remotely. For most companies where people need to interact directly with customers or colleagues, this is the most feasible scenario. Research has shown that 64% of companies plan to adopt this setup, and 33% have already permanently achieved this.
What about productivity?
Many companies were hesitant at the beginning. But as time has passed, surveys actually show that productivity increases when employees are allowed to work from home. However, productivity can only be achieved through proper support and structure.
Examples Of Remote-working Companies and their eCommerce Operations Strategy
If you are one of the companies still hesitant about whether or not a hybrid or remote working environment can be successful, fear not. We’ve combined a list of examples of well-known and successful companies that you might not have known are actually handled remotely.
1. WordPress
Yes, believe it or not, the platform responsible for many of the blogs you read has a hybrid workforce. To illustrate, their nearly 200-strong group of employees are almost entirely working from home. Only about 10 employees have remained working in their San Francisco office.
Co-founder Matt Mullenweg calls themselves “location-agnostic,” favouring talented hires all over the world rather than limiting their pool to one city. This works for them because they’re provided with a structure and great company culture. Those who want to work outside of their homes get reimbursed for co-working space fees.
2. Twitter and Square
Following the pandemic and its effects, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey declared that employees could continue working from home permanently. Dorsey also followed up by including his other company, Square, into the mix.
Dorsey said that his employees should work wherever they felt most comfortable and productive. What started as a COVID-19 precaution turned out to be a transformation for Twitter and Square. This ultimately led to a boost in company efficiency.
3. Shopify
Shopify has also declared that its office-centric set-up was over. The Canada-based eCommerce company said they will be digital from now on. CEO Tobi Lutke admitted they didn’t have everything figured out, but that change is what they thrive on, and that they would continue to live up to that standard.
4. Dell
Dell, a global computer tech powerhouse, decided several years ago to create a remote working program. As a result, they were ahead of their time, opting to aim for a 50% remote working team by 2020. They enrolled eligible employees in a worldwide flexible work program called Connected Workplace.
Hybrid working environments are now an integral part of Dell’s business strategy. Workers credit the company’s trust and leadership for the program’s success. Because of this, Covalence EthicalQuote named Dell one of the Most Ethical Multinational Companies in the World.
eCommerce Operations Strategy: What You Need to Do for a Successful Transition to Remote Working
Now let’s proceed to the highlight of this article. Many experts believe that there’s no going back to the “normalcy” we once knew. What this means is that it’s time to take these changes seriously and commit to restructuring businesses permanently. What would you need if you were to shift your operations to a remote setup? Below are some essentials you’ll need to transition your eCommerce operations strategy for a hybrid workforce.
1. Commit yourself and extend that attitude to your team.
The first thing you need to do is to commit. Now is not the time for temporary solutions. Therefore, company leaders will need to take their time to plan out how to apply this restructuring.
Numbers have shown that having part or most of your workforce operate from home can actually benefit your company. However, this won’t happen unless your employees see that you commit to making the transition successful.
2. Promote a culture of connectedness.
The main things your employees will start to miss are the daily interactions with each other. It’s easy to begin feeling disconnected, so make sure to plan out ways to remedy this.
Some tactics include regularly scheduled catch-up meetings online, virtual team-building sessions, or more opportunities to collaborate. A simple weekly check-in or chat about their weekend, hobbies, health, family, or workload can help them feel engaged.
Similarly, send perks or incentives to employees when possible. Simple things that they would’ve gotten in-person like gift baskets, merchandise, or free samples. This can help your employees feel aligned and maintain company social relationships. Don’t be afraid to get creative – experiment and see what they respond to the most!
3. Invest in technology.
Another crucial aspect to consider before sending your workers off to work-from-home is investing in technology. Permanent remote work will require your employees to have technology that makes their work possible. Remember, don’t require your employees to shoulder the cost!
You’ll need to factor this into your budget when you plan out your eCommerce operations strategy.
Consider how often it’s used and how to keep data and other information secure. Likewise, have a plan for servicing if anything goes wrong or needs checking. Lastly, make sure you hash out any issues surrounding compliance.
4. Develop a feasible operational structure.
Structuring your eCommerce operations strategy properly for a hybrid workforce is absolutely essential for success.
To do this, start by asking your business:
- Which teams are essential to have in the office, and on what days?
- What teams need to be in the office on the same days for meetings?
- What meetings are absolutely essential to conduct face to face? Why?
This will give you a better idea of which of your employees can work from home without interfering with productivity or operations. These questions will help you start building a structure for your eCommerce operations strategy.
eCommerce Operations Strategy: 5 Steps in Developing Pricing Strategies and Programs
Pricing strategy is multidimensional and therefore should adapt to competitive market environments. Here are 5 approaches to developing pricing strategies and programs:
1. In pricing development, consider price as something that can help your brand’s positioning targets.
Occasionally, the organisation faces intense competition or is functioning at full capacity. Consequently, the pricing would be set by how they intend to position their brand in the market.
2. Understand that there is a distinct demand for a product or service at every price point.
Graph the demand curve concerning the price to assess price sensitivity. This demand curve can be generated by reviewing past data and conducting pricing experiments. Afterwards, determine what customers are willing to pay or conduct market research. Additionally, you can also directly ask the customer.
3. Pay careful attention to your cost management procedures.
Create a balance between variable and fixed costs. On average, when production levels rise, the cost per unit falls due to the learning curve effect that comes with experience.
Activity-based costing is gaining popularity for effectively allocating costs, which aids in profit estimation. Target costing is another method of costing. Companies use target costing to determine a price and profit level. Following that, they focus on cost to retain profitability.
4. Keep track of your competitor’s actions.
Businesses must pay close attention to what their competitors are doing in terms of price, cost, and sales promotions. Furthermore, businesses must be aware of how much the competitors’ prices can fluctuate compared to their prices.
5. The final pricing is set by taking into account the customer’s judgment of the product’s value.
The final pricing is obtained by determining consumer perceptions of quality and product. Moreover, the final pricing is also impacted by the positioning in the marketing and communication strategy.
The price must be adjusted to reflect elements such as geographic region, market segment, and financial environment. Accordingly, firms should maintain pricing flexibility and adapt to market circumstances. Remember, do not react to price changes from competitors mindlessly, but instead concentrate on researching the causal factors.
3 Advantages of an Effective eCommerce Operations Strategy
We believe that it is critical to make your eCommerce operations strategy as clear and detailed as possible. Why? That’s because a thorough action plan increases the possibility that you will be capable of keeping customers satisfied. And as a consequence, drive your success.
A strong eCommerce operations strategy does not emerge from thin air. Of course, meeting your business requirements and your customers’ demands involves careful planning and implementation. Hence, we think that taking a rigorous approach to eCommerce operations will enhance your firm in various ways.
1. A thorough eCommerce operations strategy offers growth prospects.
It’s not surprising that a retail trader’s primary priority is business expansion. Thus, developing a comprehensive eCommerce operation procedure and strategy is critical to assisting your brand’s success. Consequently, increased sales volume and excellent order processing mean you may scale your eCommerce business to meet rising consumer demand and progress into an omnichannel approach to better serve your customers.
2. A competent eCommerce operations strategy leads to better results in all areas of your organisation.
Consider your eCommerce activities to be a shifting labyrinth. In this case, a single decision to go in a certain direction has a detrimental impact on the whole strategy. Nonetheless, an eCommerce operations strategy that handles every facet of warehousing and distribution operations leads to seamless execution processes and higher productivity.
3. Enhancing eCommerce operations strategy strengthens customer engagement.
Always keep in mind that customers are the reason your brand is still thriving. And as you know, order mistakes, lengthy delivery time, and poor assembling will not win over customers. A properly specified eCommerce operations strategy contributes significantly to a perfect purchasing experience. Items that come on schedule and as promised build consumer loyalty and make them more likely to choose your eCommerce platform over rivals.
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Bottomline
In conclusion, if you haven’t previously considered switching to a partial or full remote workforce, now is the time. Don’t worry, you can start small. Focus on your eCommerce operations strategy. Go through the questions listed above to figure out who can start working remotely. Provide support along the way, and listen to suggestions openly. You’ll see surprising results in how efficient your company could become.
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Are you a business in need of help to align your pricing strategy, people and operations to deliver an immediate impact on profit?
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You can also email us at team@taylorwells.com.au if you have any further questions.
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