Twenty Twenty Two Is Like Twenty Twenty Too

By: Sam Kon



COVID-19 was a real game-changer for many businesses, especially those that traditionally relied only on offline channels and foot traffic. For many, establishing online channels was a “nice-to-have”, but the past two years had proven the online channels were an essential-to-have.

The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted supply chains, caused inflation, and changed how we all worked. Although, currently, everything offline is in a constant state of flux, online remains where the action is.

In the first part of this article, I will share some of my recent observations on how to boost your revenues online.


How Business Operations Impact Online Sales?

During Single’s Day in 2021, a company engaged with a celebrity, Jordan Chan, to promote a branded product via a live stream. Due to an operational error, the product link was not inserted during the live stream, which brought in the traffic but no sales conversion. Upon realising, the live stream session ended prematurely, and they could not schedule a different session with the celebrity. Not only did the brand that hired the company face abysmal sales, but it also suffered a loss for the sales opportunity on the largest e-commerce sale of the year, all because of a silly operational error by the company.


This could have been easily prevented if the sales and operations had been more aligned. In our experience, a sales strategy should be complemented with an entire operations and execution plan detailing how to convert traffic to sales. This should include the technical know-how and using a soft launch to tease out such kinks.


The Key Points to Your Operations and Execution Plan

  • A call to action 
  • A checkout interface
  • Platform management
  • Warehouse coordination


If you are one of the offline business owners venturing into online digital platforms, hiring a consultant can be a good idea for long-term success.


The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the majority of the companies around the world, including those which are not heavily impacted, to re-evaluate their operations, trim off the fats, simplify operation flow, and streamline processes. Therefore, it is critical to the business to ensure efficiency and continuity from their point of sale to endpoint; fulfilment.


Operations will constantly be faced with obstacles. Tulchinsky of WordQuant said, “obstacles are nothing more than information”. At Beyond Infinity Consultancy (BIC), we often get approached by companies who want to consult on operational issues. We have always found various solutions for them through our MaxOps training sessions. Each business's ability to tackle the dynamic online environment will be unique to its business personnel and infrastructure. We recommend adopting the SAM (Simply, Amplify and Multiply) for every business. Once a business simplifies its processes, it will amplify productivity and multiply sales.


We Are Already Online, but We Do Not See Many Results

“When it comes to e-commerce, you cannot just focus on duplicating what is available offline and copy and paste it onto an online sale channel. It is very much a whole new business.”

Many businesses immediately lean towards marketing which does not necessarily translate to sales. KOLs, digital marketing, hashtags are all the buzzes; but fizzles out without a Blueprint.


In BIC, We Help Our Clients to Draft Their Blueprint

A good Blueprint should consist of the following:

  • SEO optimisation
  • How to match the right sales strategy to your product
  • Annual sales revenue execution plan
  • Pricing strategies for campaigns
  • How to leverage on Hero products

How Can We Get Ahead of the Competition?

Last year, an international client requested our expertise and assistance to create new online channels for their sales. Retailers and distributors had shut down because of the restrictions placed in each country during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they decided that they needed to expand their online channels in their operating markets simultaneously, i.e. Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and more. The BIC worked with them from Day 0 in setting their Blueprint with a firm foundation for all their online channels. Then, we guided them to iron out their operational processes to operate smoothly. 

Results did not happen overnight. With time, BIC helped them craft clear messages for the targeted audience, brainstormed promotional activities that resonate with online consumers, and provided advice to gain operational efficiencies. But most important of all, we helped our client to achieve results faster with the right methods. The entire process involves constantly being in tune with what is happening within the market and being innovative in adapting.
So do not be disheartened when results have not fallen through. Instead, we suggest you do a simple SWOT analysis on your current online business, and you will be amazed at what you can uncover and identify critical areas for improvement.

Having a great operational and execution plan for your business is vital to ensure a smooth transition throughout the big sales and any transactions.

E-commerce for 2022 is going to be a challenging year for any business. Have your businesses adapted? Or are you one of the “hopefuls”, wishing that it will be “normal” soon? Being hopeful will only burn you through your reserves. Please wake up and start adapting. Any normality that returns will be battered. It is time for you to develop a business Blueprint and operations framework to move forward from where you are now. Watch this space for part two of the article.

About the Author


   
Sam Kon is an e-commerce consultant from Beyond Infinity Consultancy (BIC). He is also a certified e-commerce trainer by Alibaba Business School and Taobao University; Enabling and empowering businesses to boost their revenue by going from offline to online (O2O).