Online Sales System: How to Build an Effective One

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

Online selling is gradually becoming a mainstream trend as the number of online shoppers keeps climbing. Building a sensible online sales system that fits your business helps you reach customers better, increase revenue, and cut costs. To help you optimize your business operations, SimERP suggests the most effective ways to build an online system today.

What Is Online Selling?

Online selling is the method of selling directly over the Internet — for example, through a company website, e-commerce marketplaces (Shopee, Lazada, etc.), and social media pages (Facebook, Zalo, Instagram, etc.). Both sellers and buyers use electronic devices such as phones and computers connected to the Internet to carry out the buying, selling, and exchange of goods.

Today, with the development of information technology, many businesses no longer just sell the traditional way — they have also adopted online selling and built an entire online sales system with many different stages, optimizing their business operations.

The Role of an Online Sales System

Reach customers easily

Shopping online is gradually becoming the norm, not only among young people but also among middle-aged customers. All they need to do is open Google or e-commerce sites, type keywords into the search box, and find products that match their needs. So having an online sales system helps us reach them more easily. We can use SEO techniques to push our sales website up the rankings, run ads on Google or Facebook, and list products on e-commerce marketplaces. With these methods, customers will find you.

Improve the customer experience

Having an online sales system lets a business run multi-channel promotional campaigns and reach customers far more easily. When shopping online, customers get a wonderful experience. They don't need to spend time traveling to stores, searching, and choosing. All they need to do is search on a website or e-commerce marketplace, pick their favorite products, add them to the cart, and wait for the seller to deliver to their door. All of that takes just a few minutes — extremely convenient for busy customers.

In addition, when shopping online, customers fill in their details on an order form. The seller can build a database to store customer information and use it to provide better care and improve the shopping experience — for example, sending birthday greetings, discount codes, thank-you messages, or notices about product promotions. That makes buyers love you more and gradually turn into loyal, regular customers.

>> Read more: 5 effective ways to improve the customer experience

Increase profits

Reaching customers more easily, expanding your customer base, and improving their shopping experience will quickly bring you more orders. Another point: online selling avoids rent for physical premises and reduces staff costs, so you can lower product prices. Competitive pricing is an advantage that attracts more customers. As a result, your revenue will grow higher than with traditional selling alone.

Scale the business easily

You can combine multiple online sales channels — selling on your website alongside e-commerce marketplaces, selling via Facebook, Zalo, and so on. That makes it easy to reach more potential customers and add revenue for the business. Online selling also doesn't cost too much and is highly scalable, so you can absolutely develop and expand your business.

Effective Ways to Build an Online Sales System

Build your online sales system across channels

Selling on a website

A website is like a physical store that operates on the Internet. So you must build and design your site to be attractive and user-friendly. You can use dedicated e-commerce platforms such as Magento, Shopify, and Wix to build commercial websites. In addition, websites need various features that make shopping easier for customers: product search, add-to-cart, product categorization, payment methods, and more.

Building a website is not easy, because it demands business acumen and programming knowledge. Business owners should therefore hire website development companies to build their online storefront. They will advise you on the best option for your business and target customers.

When selling on your own website, companies should also apply marketing methods such as SEO or Google and Facebook advertising. Your website will then appear more often in front of potential customers and reach them more easily.

Selling on social media pages

Today, many people use social networks such as Facebook and Instagram to do business. They can post in groups to pull customers in, use Facebook Shops, or livestream to promote and sell products. This approach works well and is widely used by sellers. You need to research your customers thoroughly and understand their psychology. Only then can sellers create suitable, engaging content, polish product images, write video scripts, and post videos or go live.

>> Read more: Building and mapping the online sales process

Build an automated online sales software system

Automated online sales software helps you optimize business operations and cut ineffective steps. Such software includes chatbots, email and message automation, CRM customer management, Facebook ads automation, and more. With these tools, business owners save time and labor while achieving extremely high accuracy, avoiding mistakes and omissions (such as sending the wrong email or landing in spam...).

CRM software in particular lets you fully manage your customer base and customer status, and find ways to gain more customers and develop relationships with them. On the market today there are several CRM solutions that do this, such as SimCRM. SimCRM also helps business owners manage sales, projects, and personnel, so you don't need to look for other service providers. It's fair to say SimCRM is a perfect, comprehensive solution for every company. SimCRM currently offers a free 30-day trial for businesses.

Build an online sales system with agents or collaborators

Building an online sales system with agents or collaborators (CTVs) helps you reach more customers at a moderate, not-too-high cost. However, not every product or service lends itself to an agent/collaborator system. Suitable product categories for this approach include cosmetics, fashion, real estate, home decor, and more.

Collaborators and agents are usually people looking for extra income, such as students, office workers, or mothers. You can post in social media groups and dedicated communities, or run ads to recruit collaborators. These collaborators and agents sell and reach customers both online and even offline to generate more orders.

Still, building a collaborator system is no small feat. What you need is the ability to manage the collaborator team, train selling skills, and build a professional, trustworthy image. In addition, salary and bonus policies must be very rigorous, avoiding cases where people who sell a lot earn little and become discouraged from continuing. For capable collaborators, you must find ways to retain them — compensation, engagement activities with the business, and contract terms.

Affiliate marketing

This is a relatively new selling method in the world today, and it is gradually becoming a trend. Businesses hire KOLs, influencers, or even celebrities and famous brands in the industry, as well as news outlets, to publish content about them on social platforms. These people introduce and review products, thereby attracting many potential customers.

The special thing about this method is that you only pay them a percentage commission based on the products sold. This reduces your risk of losing money when products don't sell.

Most importantly, businesses need to understand who their potential customers are and the characteristics of the products they sell, then choose suitable marketers. These marketers will help you put your product images in front of the customers you want.

Things to Keep in Mind When Building an Online Sales System

Reach customers sensibly

Selling online means reaching customers on the Internet, which makes it easy to gain more potential customers. There are many methods businesses commonly use today: running ads, posting on social pages and in groups, SEO optimization, and more. But remember: whichever method you use, you need to research and understand your customers thoroughly to choose the best approach.

Care for each customer individually

Throughout the sales process, you must care for customers attentively — even after the purchase. Check in with them, find out what confuses them about the product, offer the best options, and reply as fast as possible. You can also give them discount codes or complimentary products as a thank-you, or send birthday wishes and appreciation messages... Customers will feel cared for and speak highly of your store and business.

>> Read more: A professional customer care process — before and after the sale

Manage your online sales system tightly

Beyond building the system, sellers need to manage their sales system tightly to avoid risky situations for the business. Using business management software is an optimal option for every company, as such software integrates comprehensive management functions. SimERP is one such solution. Beyond supporting customer relationships, it also helps you manage other areas such as sales, HR, and projects.

Conclusion

Having an effective online sales system helps businesses optimize their operations. With the information above, we hope you've found the best approach for your online sales system.

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