Profitable Automations For Ecommerce Businesses
In my previous article “7 Profitable Automations for ECommerce Businesses” I discussed some of the most profitable ecommerce business models. This article introduces some additional profitable areas. In particular, I’m looking at ways to automate certain parts or steps in the process of customer service and order tracking. Typically, these steps are the most time consuming or difficult to automate. In most cases it’s not possible to automate all of these steps but a combination of different solutions can definitely reduce the effort required to keep your business on track. Let’s look at a few examples below.
Order Fulfillment Centers – This is probably one of the most popular methods of ecommerce businesses. The reason for this is that the entire process of shipping an order to the customer is already automated. An example of this is a fulfillment company that places your orders for you. They’ll typically provide loading and pick up of orders until your order is completely received and approved. Once your order is received, they’ll place your order with your shipper of choice. The only part of this process that you’ll have to do is log in to your account and check any parcels that need to be shipped.
Drop Shipping – Using drop ship providers can reduce the total cost of your products by allowing you to sell items that you don’t yet own. You’ll want to find a provider that offers reliable and high quality products to drop ship. Once an order is placed, your drop shipper will ship directly from their own inventory. This can greatly reduce the expenses associated with having to hold on to product stock.
Email Marketing – If you are unfamiliar with this process it is where you send customers an email of marketing information related to the products you’re selling. This method can be very profitable, if you’ve got an opt in list. In order to build this list, you need to follow up with the email recipients until they are willing to purchase something. If you haven’t built an email list you may have to pay for this opportunity.
Selling Products Online – Many people are already familiar with this type of method but may not know it is a profitable method. Basically you have affiliate stores where you sell other people’s products. This can be very profitable because other people will pay you a commission if they make a sale. It is recommended you research the products you plan to sell so you don’t end up selling items that are unlikely to sell.
Affiliate Marketing – This is probably the most well known and most profitable methods available to an ecommerce business owner. With affiliate programs, you simply send traffic to a merchant’s website and when a sale is made you get a percentage of the purchase. Affiliate marketing can be an extremely effective way to generate income from your online business if you do it correctly.
There are many other profitable methods you can use to start making money with your website, such as PPC or Pay Per Click advertising. These methods are quite effective at generating sales but can be costly because of the amount of traffic you must advertise with. If you don’t have many resources available, this can be a very expensive method to pursue.
You can also take advantage of some very profitable products on the internet today. Many people are starting to buy these niche products because they are hot and profitable. You may be able to identify some of these products by doing some research on the internet. Identifying the most profitable niches and products is very important for an ecommerce business. It can make the difference between making a great living running an online business and simply losing out.
