In today’s Business scenario, having an online presence is a thumb rule for all businesses to expand beyond geographical boundaries. An online presence refers to the creation of a robust website from where the customers can purchase the company’s products.

Many businesses are doing pretty well without having an online presence, but you must think of the increase in the volume sales that your company can achieve with online market penetration. There are different types and variations of e-commerce systems. Some sell products that are tangible such as apparels, electronics, and other goods, while the others sell services like airplane tickets, consultant service or even data Management service. So, the complexity of an e-commerce system is heavily reliant on the kind of business and system’s role in it.

Here are a few essential components of an electronic business:

Database Management:  

If you want to run a successful online business, you must concentrate on database management systems and its three major elements. They are the real-time system, the OODBMS (object-oriented database management system), and the overall management. There is a dramatic increase in the business behaviors over the internet, and it makes it crucial to managing the information overload. The bigger the e-commerce business, the studier the database must be to handle data related to product, customer, and transactions. How can such massive amount of information be stored and managed?

A full-form functional management system is required for it. The system will both collect as well as organize this information. The system is widely known as DBMS (Database Management System). More detailed information on database management system can be found on remoteDba.com. Database management companies offer infrastructure management solutions for the database along with integrated remote administration of the same to the e-commerce players.

SCM & Suppliers:

The electronic commerce market is not just huge but highly competitive. It takes a lot to come up with a brilliant idea, drive much traffic to the website and make maximum sale conversions. Despite that, nothing can fall into place if you fail to plan out how to place the products and offer timely delivery of products with a price that the market would pay. In the business spectrum, even when the online presence did not matter, the suppliers had a significant role. However, today suppliers and a well-planned supply chain management system can act as a demi-god in running a successful online business. In an e-commerce scenario, the role of suppliers is not restricted to providing the right merchandise to the retailer but also take the stocks burden off their shoulders.

Warehouse Operation management:

It is just the basic. Where do you store a product once it is shipped? It would be in a warehouse, right? The product is off to this magical place called the warehouse after the retailers have made a deal with suppliers. It is here that online retailers pick the product from, package them and further get them ready for delivery. However, the process is not as simple as it sounds initially. Most e-commerce biggies choose to go ahead with third-party logistics supplier to outsource their fulfillment operation. The number of product orders being huge, a company needs to employ a considerable number of people who will be accountable for handling that entire inventory. When you plan to have an in-house warehouse operation, make sure you have a defined warehouse management system, secured workforce and orders and temporary workforce to fulfill orders on holidays.

Shipping and return policies:

For the orders to be packed and delivered to the real-world destinations, warehouse management as well as excellent shipping services are required. Unless you are swimming in a pool of capital, it is best to employ an outsourced shipping service like DHL or FedEx after negotiating the shipping cost as per market standards. It is crucial to integrate the contracted shipping providers system with yours to achieve a smooth streamline of packaging and delivery.

Now, coming to the return policy, if ever a customer is not satisfied with what he or she has purchased, the package will be returned. Being an e-commerce player, you need to handle the return policy well. To pick up the return package from the delivery address, you may team up with the contracted shipping provider, but all the reimbursement and return-related communication have to be handled by your online store.

CRM Software and Policies:

Forget thinking about selling your products. When starting an e-commerce business, one of your first considerations must be to figure out how you will treat your customers as a result of which they will keep coming back to purchase from your website. Now, this is precisely where CRM or customer relationship management comes into play. Typically used for describing a software, this term has a broader perspective of demonstrating policies that you will adapt to handle interactions between your customer and yourself. The approach of customer relationship management must always be customer-centric as the very term suggests. A well-maintained CRM includes the recommendation of the best-suited products that is only possible through the timely understanding of a customer’s buying pattern. Because your motive here is to understand the customers, you must record their interests, purchases as well as preferred channels to offer them the best.

Marketing through Loyalty Programs:

An e-commerce business needs to introduce some form of a loyalty program to win customers over. You may ask why. Today, in the e-commerce market, players are always battling with customer loyalty issues. Thus, marketing measures like rewarding purchases, social media rewards or even social media shopping must be adopted by online retailers as a part of their loyalty programs.

Marketing related information is in abundance when it comes to e-commerce. Thus, the myth and the assumption has been formed in many that good marketing strategy, a shopping catalog, technology and a sprinkle of luck is all that is required to build an e-commerce system. However, inevitably it takes a lot more. Marketing is only the peak of an iceberg, and if you want a successful e-commerce business, you need to delve into to the depths of the most vital aspects of e-commerce business that needs your attention.

Author Bio:

Sujain Thomas is a Business Blogger. She is an expert in dealing and communicating topics that are related to the online business scenario. She recommends remoteDba.com. Her pieces offer relatable facts about the modern business world and its nitty-gritty.

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