No more excuses – Time to sell online

Accepting online payments boost MSMEs

I bet you already do it and love it. You love shopping at Amazon and other online retailers. You love flipping out your card and paying for stuff with a few clicks. You love being able to search for what you bought in the past and reorder in no time.

If you love it, so will your customers. Except, you don’t offer your customers online shopping. If you are not selling online, you are missing out. Missing out on a growing e-commerce market.

E-commerce involves many transactions, including business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer, or consumer-to-business. In addition to physical products and services, e-commerce is also excellent for digital goods.

You already know that offering online shopping has tremendous benefits:

• Lower costs: reduce the expenses of running a business, such as rent, utilities, staff, inventory, and marketing. It can also lower customer prices by eliminating intermediaries and increasing competition.

• 24/7 availability: businesses can sell their products and services anytime and anywhere without being limited by store hours or locations. Customers can also shop conveniently and access a broader range of products and services online.

• Global reach: expand your market and customer base by reaching new regions and countries. Customers can also benefit from accessing products and services from different parts of the world and comparing prices and quality.

• Customer data: collect and analyse customer data, such as preferences, behaviour, feedback, and loyalty. This can help businesses improve their products, services, marketing, and customer experience. Customers can also receive personalised recommendations and offers based on their data.

• Scalability: grow and scale your operations quickly and easily by adding new products, services, features, or channels. Customers can also enjoy more variety and innovation from e-commerce businesses.

Yet still, you’re on the fence with excuses.

I has a chat with (l-r) Gail Whylie, Senior Manager, Global Transaction Banking at Scotiabank, Stacey Hines, Founder of The Femme Powered Academy and Lititia Myers-Gray, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, ECHE Limited at the Scotiabank Women Initiative (SWI) Webinar on “e-Commerce 101… Scale your business, spark your profits!”

Excuse #1: “E-commerce is too hard.”

E-commerce is no longer new. It has evolved, and it’s easier than you think. At its most basic, you need a payment gateway to accept payments into your bank account. This used to be complicated. Not anymore.

While at the recent Scotiabank Women Initiative (SWI) Webinar on “e-Commerce 101… Scale your business, spark your profits!” Scotiabank Senior Manager, Global Transaction Banking Gail Whylie told me that multiple gateways are now available for business at every scale.

MSMEs can accept debit and credit card payments from local and global customers with the best-suited gateway. Gateways can be deployed via social media or on a dedicated website (which I recommend all businesses should have). The gateway can do all the heavy lifting. As the business owner, you see the cash in your local account without any long wait.

Additionally, many gateways offer seamless integration with multiple popular accounting and shipping platforms like QuickBooks and Shopify.

Excuse #2: “E-commerce is too expensive.”

Yes, there are fees. Typically, there is a one-time set-up charge, a fixed transaction fee and a percentage fee. In many cases, these fees compare favourably to operating expenses like additional staff, rent and electricity, and cash management costs, to name but a few.

Your brick-and-mortar store probably can’t operate 24/7; your online store can. Unlike your physical store, your online store can scale up in a few clicks. And it makes it easy to track inventory.

As The Femme Powered Academy founder Stacey Hines pointed out, it is a matter of opportunity cost. We should strive to leverage tools and resources that improve the bottom line and our well-being. A business is not sustainable if the business owner is burnt out. Business efficiencies can be parlayed into work-life balance for long-term benefits.

Excuse #3: “E-commerce is not secure.”

A trusted guide like the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of ECHE Limited, Lititia Myers-Gray, can make the transition into e-commerce easier. Implementing the right tools can mitigate exposure to financial fraud, malware, bots, social engineering attacks, spam, DoS and DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, and e-skimming.

You don’t need an in-house IT person. A professional consultant on contract can help you choose a secure e-commerce platform and use a secure hosting provider. You must get an SSL certificate, install security plugins and anti-malware software and schedule regular site updates. Cyber insurance is recommended too.

Or you could work with your bank to get a gateway link suitable for social media.

Excuse #4: “Shipping costs are too expensive.”

Be it around the corner, across the island or overseas, shipping costs are a genuine concern, not a roadblock. There are several ways that MSMEs can rationalise their delivery costs, from partnering with an established delivery company, working with a shipping consolidator or storing goods in select overseas markets.

Case study: Gem’s Beauty Parlor

Situation Analysis

AI representation of Gem at her salon

Gem is a sought-after beautician with a five-year-old hair salon in rural St Andrew. She, and her staff of two, see customers all day long. In addition to her expertise as a stylist, Gem’s unique selling point (USP) is a fantastic daily hair moisturiser she formulated and mixed by hand.

Recently, her teenage daughter posted a video of Gem creating a fancy hairstyle. Since the video went viral, Gem has been inundated with requests to learn how to recreate the style at home.

She wishes she could spend more time with customers. Unfortunately, she is busy taking calls to book appointments, receiving cash and card payments, writing receipts and doing paperwork.

Recommendation

Using e-commerce solutions, Gem can:

• Automate her appointment process, have customers pay online and automatically receive a receipt to save her time (services)

• Sell bottles of her amazing daily hair moisturiser to customers in and around the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA) while using a local delivery service (goods)

• Sell subscriptions to her how-to videos online (digital products)

Take the plunge

Indeed, there are risks, yet in many cases, the rewards are more significant. Consider your options carefully and follow these tips.

• Identify what product or service you want to sell online and ensure a high demand and margin for it in Jamaica. Review your business model and ensure that you have a wholistic strategy to cater to the needs of your customers, especially those online.

• Choose an e-commerce platform that suits your needs and budget. You can consult with a reputable advisor or contact: swijamaica@scotiabank.com.

• Make sure your website is user-friendly, secure, and optimised for mobile devices. You can use tools like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento to design and manage your online store.

• Promote your online store through social media, email marketing, SEO, and paid ads. You can also partner with local influencers, bloggers, or media outlets to increase your brand awareness and credibility.

• Provide excellent customer service and support. You can use chatbots, live chat, email, or phone to communicate with your customers and answer their queries. You can also offer free shipping, discounts, loyalty programs, or refunds to encourage repeat purchases and referrals.

• Comply with the local laws and regulations regarding taxes, customs, data protection and security, and consumer rights. ECHE Limited is an excellent resource for this.

• Invest in yourself and do some courses to improve your knowledge about e-commerce and technology. Many courses are being offered online for female entrepreneurs.

• Infuse your business with work/life balance practices to ensure personal and professional sustainability. Call Stacey for help on this.

• Always seek advice from experts in the area.

Growth is within your reach, Good luck!