The growth of digital transformation for retail businesses has been accelerating unprecedentedly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more people are looking to shop for their daily conveniences or outfits online. This is unlikely to peak anytime soon due to a number of different reasons which include the convenience of being able to order from anywhere, the selection of products are vast and easy to search for, and the extensive recommendations and reviews of the products which influence customer behavior. 

With a growing number of consumers flocking to online websites, more businesses are hopping on the Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) trend to take advantage of the potential sales opportunity and grow their digital retail sales. But without a proper management system, most businesses have trouble in managing their sales process due to an increase in the number of orders online which leads to unorganized inventory management. In addition to doing your market research, when starting an E-Commerce business you will need to determine the platform and design of your website before you start selling.

By using the ERP system Odoo, setting up your E-Commerce couldn’t be any more organized. Odoo’s E-Commerce app can help you easily set up a website with a variety of great designs to choose and customize from. Odoo can also boost your sales by handling your marketing aspects such as upselling and cross selling. With the easy-to-use E-Commerce app that Odoo provides, you will be able to set up and grow your business successfully. 

What are the challenges faced when setting up an E-Commerce Business?

1. Attracting customers

With so many businesses selling products online, consumers have a wide variety of options to choose from. The question is how will customers choose your product among the thousands of products that are being sold online? What makes your product and service stand out among others? The online E-Commerce business will keep on growing so businesses will have to start thinking of ways to stay on top of the game. 

2. Customer experience 

When customers open through your E-Commerce website, they expect to navigate through your website easily. Placing more elements in a website such as a lot of pop ups, bells, and whistles will drive away customers and close sales. Customers expect the online experience to be just as good or even better than shopping at a physical store.

3. Keeping existing customers

Finding a new customer is a lot more difficult than keeping an existing one. Companies that do not take advantage of their existing customers are often unable to grow their business smoothly. Without rewarding your existing customers, they won’t feel appreciated and will start shopping at other places that offer more appealing prices and rewards.

4. Managing payments

Keeping track of all your payment transactions is crucial for your business to run smoothly. Without allowing your customers multiple payment methods, they will often feel disappointed in the lack of options since they could only pay using a certain method. Some customers will also want to see their invoice before paying, this would be difficult if a company has set up their invoice and sends it to customers for every purchase manually. 

5. Quick shipment 

Although there are many advantages in starting an E-Commerce business, it has its disadvantages as well. One of the disadvantages of E-Commerce is that shipment will take a couple of days compared to in a physical location where you can instantly get the product. Many customers want to receive a product quickly when they urgently need it, however with E-Commerce there is a risk of shipment delay. 

Solution to those challenges?

1. Attracting customers Recommend suggested products and alternatives that the customer might like to keep them engaged with your content and gain more exposure on the different products you sell.

2. To enhance customer experience, you will need to create a website for your products which will take a few steps. First, you will need to design your website in a clear and simple way while taking advantage of color combinations. Don’t write long paragraphs that customers won’t read. Instead, make your products scannable and text key information. Another key point is to allow customers to navigate through your information and easily click on a product to shop and pay for. This means that the products should also be readily available in the inventory. 

3. You can keep in touch with a customer through email, SMS, and many more to let them know wherever there are new products, sales promotions, and special coupons for loyal customers. With these rewards being shown to existing customers, you will keep them from shopping from competitor stores and stick with your store.

4. Websites that have an integration with an accounting system can easily manage their payments online. This includes allowing for multiple payments as well as having an automatic invoicing that can be previewed or sent to the customer.

5. Although shipping time may be a disadvantage in an E-Commerce business, companies have been trying to combat this by allowing options for customers to choose their shipping method on their website. An option for a faster delivery time such as delivering on the same day is available for some businesses. 

How to set up your E-Commerce in Odoo? 

Setting up your E-Commerce store can easily be done with Odoo’s E-Commerce application. With Odoo’s E-Commerce app, your business will have full integration with other Odoo apps such as the Website, Sales, Inventory, and Accounting app. With a fully integrated solution, you will be able to solve almost all of the challenges that you face with your E-Commerce business. 

1. In addition to getting your customers interested in your business by recommending products and alternatives to make them spend more time browsing your website, you will also maximize your revenue for your business. Odoo’s E-Commerce offers an upselling and cross selling option that your business needs to increase your revenue. You can suggest alternative products, accessory products, and optional products. To learn more about this, click here. 

2. With a website app integrated to the E-Commerce app in Odoo, you can easily set up a website and customize pages and themes that fit your company’s style. With a wide variety of themes and colors to choose from and Odoo’s recommended color combination and pleasing designs, you do not need to be a designer to create a professional website design. 

Your customer’s experience matters. They will also want a simple checkout process for the products that are in stock. The POS app is compatible with Odoo’s E-Commerce app. All processes of checkout and stock availability are made easy. Even if you have another application to sell your products from, not just on your website, you do not need to separate your stocks for the two platforms. 

3. Since the POS app integrated with the E-Commerce app, you can keep in touch with your customers through the loyalty and promotion programs. Your campaign can also be set up through the Email Marketing app of Odoo so that sending an email, an sms, or even a newsletter is super easy. For more information on Odoo’s POS system click here. 

4. Online payments are fully integrated into Odoo as well. Your customer will be able to view and print their invoices if needed. The accounting team can immediately keep track of any transactions being made as well. When customers pay online using their preferred payment method, they will be redirected to a ‘Thank you’ page on your website, indicating to your customer’s that their payment transaction was successful. 

5. Odoo offers a multitude of shipping methods based on the country your business is running from. You and your customers will be able to track packages directly from Odoo and also speed up your order fulfillment process. 

Customized E-Commerce for Reseller Portal
IZI has also customized the Odoo E-Commerce specifically for registered customers, or more specifically resellers. This is an option for companies who want to have a portal that is only for Resellers to view and order the products with different prices than the prices shown for regular customers. The process is similar to the process that regular customers go through, the registered customers could add and remove products from the cart and checkout. The system will then create a sales order and the sales team can confirm the sales order. 

Conclusion/Bottom Line
With an expanding E-Commerce market all around the world, companies are looking for ways to build a successful E-Commerce business that many audiences will be interested in. Having Odoo to manage your online business will help your business grow. By integrating multiple Odoo apps to its own E-Commerce app, you will be able to manage your website, sales, inventory, marketing, and accounting all within one system seamlessly. Therefore, let’s learn how to attract your customers with your professional and easy-to-use website and increase your revenue with Odoo E-Commerce.