“Don’t quit your day job.”
That is a bit of famous advice given to a lot of people, and for a lot of reasons. The aspiring actor or singer is warned against severing other sources of income by quitting their dependable day job; the ambitious business owner is told to take it slow and keep money flowing in from their usual day job; and the dedicated entrepreneur warned that they need their current job if they want to build their business.
However, when you hold on to that day job, you often have almost no time to work on your “other” ambitions. Nowhere is this more obvious than with modern online entrepreneurs trying to develop a multichannel retail business. The time it takes to list inventory, manage inventory, handle all facets of sales, deal with shipping or drop shipping providers, and so on, is likely to make it almost impossible to succeed. And this is why order management software is such a jackpot. (Cooper, 2013)
Understanding Multichannel and All in One
Let’s just use a simple illustration to prove the point that well made order management software and all in one options from a multichannel management system provider are the keys to success.
“Janet” is a jewelry designer in her spare time. She has really started to develop a following on her eCommerce site, and has been told to sell through Amazon, as well as eBay, and even through her Facebook profile (a fan page). She takes the time to figure out how to tackle each of these possible streams and realizes that it would be like another full-time job. She’d barely have down time in the evenings and would rarely have any time to make the jewelry.
She contemplates hiring someone, but realizes that this would hit her bottom line too hard and leave her with minimal profits at best. This was when someone turned her on to order management software through a cloud-based multichannel management provider.
What did the order management software actually do? It cut her work back down to precisely what it was when she was selling through the single site. She still had to take beautiful photos, write good copy for each product, and make her online inventory. However, with the use of the order management software and the multichannel service, she was able to everything at once.
Not only did the site give her this “all in one” answer, but it was also a major resource for everything else she would need to keep her business growing. From shipping and returns, inventory management, and marketing, she was able to spend minimal time working on the growth of the business and more time doing what she wanted – making the jewelry to sell.
How to Apply to Your Needs
Can you also benefit from such a solution? Of course, when you are free to invest your time in building the business or doing what it is you actually started the business to do, it has to be seen as a benefit.
Just having more free time, of course, does not make the use of software and multichannel options the best decision. Fortunately, there is a lot more that happens when sellers and entrepreneurs make the move to such providers.
Many services with order software will also feature eCommerce site features, customer service options, inventory management, and more. You don’t have to be the manufacturer (such as the woman in the example above) to benefit. You can be someone who is making a business out of drop shipping or through affiliate sales. The point is that the use of software and services of this kind will streamline everything.
Consider that you will be able to provide online and mobile customers with all of the same features. This opens your possible sales to an enormous audience. If you are such an integrated seller, you can also access social media in many ways, further spreading the word about your business, and building your success.
Summary
Entrepreneurs at any level should explore what order management software has to offer. It is one sure way to streamline performance, and since “time is money” it helps a seller to reach goals faster and with more success.
Source: Cooper, Brant. The Lean Entrepreneur. Wiley Publishers. 2013.