Perhaps the best part about online retail is that virtually anybody with an internet connection can do it. Companies like Quickr and OLX already let you sell stuff from the comfort of your living room, and are a great way to get introduced to selling on the online market. If you do graduate to being a full time online seller and start listing your products on an online marketplace, you might need to think a little bit more about expanding your living room business.
Online retail has a lot of moving parts that need to be carefully handled. On the one hand, a close watch is needed on the inventory, on the other hand, the transactions from all your online marketplaces need to be monitored. Not to mention the hassles of logistics, customer service and online presence. As your venture expands and you sell on a wider range of online marketplaces, you would need help to manage all the different aspects of your online retail business. It can be a tough job to pick a right team to do the task, but having a team you can trust is one of the most crucial aspects of growing a business. Here are some tips that you can utilise while selected the right people for the job.
How to Put Together the Right Team for Online Retail
Start Small
As we mentioned before, online retail can be extremely scalable according to your needs. Therefore, there is no need to directly jump into the deep end and having to manage a large group of employees all at once. A better strategy is to hire as you need. This way, you can closely supervise your employees and make sure that everything is on track.
Identify Key Areas of Your Business
An online retail business is made up of many separate but interconnected aspects, like logistics, customer service, marketing, etc. As you grow your business, you might realise that you need help in a particular area of your business. This way, you can regulate the amount of employees according to your needs in that particular area. This will also help you build a mental map of your business, which will be very useful during the times when you want to scale up or down.
Don’t be Afraid to Go Young
While there will be certain positions in your business where you would require experience and expertise, there will be others where enthusiasm and energy would be the qualities that count. Colleges and universities are the best places to find these qualities, so don’t be afraid to invest in young talent. Hiring someone with less or no experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, young talent is comparatively affordable and can be groomed according to future needs.
Avoid Over/Understaffing
Overstaffing and understaffing can both be equally dangerous for your online retail business. By overstaffing, you would lose valuable resources in paying and managing your employees. This, in fact, can lead to a downward spiral where you would hire more employees to manage the already existing ones. If you are in such a situation, take a closer look at your business model and identify those areas where you can cut back. On the other hand, understaffing puts a lot of pressure on you and your employees, who have to spend extra time and resources in finishing the job. Keep a close account of the work quality and quantity of your employees to make sure that they are accomplishing tasks commensurate with their commitment and expertise.
Be Open to Alternative Arrangements
A traditional employer-employee relationship is becoming obsolete in today’s industry scenario. Instead, new forms of arrangement like consulting, contract/commission based work, freelancing and collaboration are emerging to take its place. Through the use of technology, work can be automated and divided in so that it is possible to work on it remotely. Of course, you would need a core team on site to handle the inescapable tasks, but you can delegate other jobs to experts through arrangements that value each other’s time and resources. For example, you can use the expertise of Browntape to automate and handle your multi-channel transactions and inventory management needs. By using alternative ways of working together, you can establish a community of interested and motivated people that you can engage and disengage with according to your needs.
These are some basic tips about choosing the right team for online retail. To know more, get in touch with Browntape. We are India’s leading e-commerce experts, and we are always happy to help!
