Running an online shop is wise even in a post-pandemic world, and the first thing you need to do once your digital business starts gaining traction is hire an eCommerce virtual assistant.
To a few business owners, this can sound like a reckless leap. After all, they’ve been running their business solo for quite some time. And besides, who needs help when one can squeeze all the tasks for a virtual assistant into an entire day?
As with many things, there are trade-offs. By not having a virtual assistant for your eCommerce business, you gain extra income from doing all the work yourself. The downside is you risk falling behind in many other priorities, whether that’s marketing your business for growth or spending quality time with the people you love.
If that doesn’t sound like a pretty picture to you, then perhaps it’s time to consider the alternative.
What is an eCommerce Virtual Assistant?
An eCommerce virtual assistant is a professional specializing in accomplishing tasks to support online business owners in an administrative capacity.
Far too often, online shop owners spend more time on routine tasks than strategizing. It’s a hindrance to long-term goals and a path paved with setbacks.
Imagine being unable to take on new opportunities because you’re drowning in administrative activities. Or, worse yet, being unable to look after your current customer base because you’re doing twenty different tasks at once. How do you handle all this work alone?
Here’s the good news — you shouldn’t have to. When you start to feel as though you’re playing catch-up with your online shop all the time, it’s time to call on the organizational prowess of an eCommerce virtual assistant.
eCommerce virtual assistants are responsible for various tasks you, as an online shop owner, are better off without. They are the clerical backbone of your company. They take care of the routine yet essential concerns to keep your shop running, while you take care of promoting your brand and improving the quality of your work.
That said, how exactly does a virtual assistant in eCommerce help business owners like you?
7 eCommerce Tasks for a Virtual Assistant
There are many tasks for a virtual assistant that most business owners end up doing, either because they lack one or refuse to augment their team of one. However, there’s a variety of work you can delegate to virtual assistants in eCommerce to make your job easier. and it varies depending on the nature of your online shop.
While these tasks vary depending on the nature of your online shop, there’s a default set of work every online shop needs to take care of regardless of the products it sells. Without further ado, here are seven crucial eCommerce tasks to assign to your virtual assistant.
Tracking orders
Tracking orders and packages are part and parcel of every eCommerce business.
Aside from the logistical necessity of this activity, tracking your shop’s orders lets you identify which of your products or services are in demand and which aren’t selling.
But if your shop is growing, this task should be assigned to a virtual assistant as it can get in the way of other important areas of your business.
Taking inventory
Consistently keeping track of inventory is one of the most basic activities in running an eCommerce business that sells goods. It lets you know when you’re understocked or overstocked and is necessary for accounting and bookkeeping purposes.
It’s also a time-consuming task. But you can avoid spending too much time on this by enlisting the help of a virtual assistant. This type of eCommerce work is administrative, and virtual assistants are the perfect people for the job.
Updating shop data
Whether you need to update your products’ prices and copy or add items to your store, an eCommerce virtual assistant is the professional you need to update your shop’s data regularly.
Your shop data is generally located on your website, social media, or even internally on management platforms and includes marketing assets like product descriptions, images, and your website’s layout – just make sure to assign the creative work (e.g., copywriting and graphic design) to the correct specialists.
Supporting customers
Online shops are bound to experience a deluge of inquiries now and then, and it’s important for shop owners to answer each one. The problem is, with everything you’re juggling, addressing each query on time becomes impossible.
But with a virtual assistant who can easily adopt your brand voice, you get to have a representative of your business ready to answer all the questions right on time.
Additionally, in the event a customer wants to exchange an item, your virtual assistant can instantly support them and address their concerns. However, a more proactive way of dealing would be to integrate augmented reality art into your online marketing. This is particularly helpful for eCommerce sites that sell makeup, jewelry, and clothing since virtual try-on is becoming mainstream and, therefore user-friendly, technology.
These are only a few of the tasks for a virtual assistant operating in eCommerce. Depending on your business’s needs, you can. Just make sure the nature of the task you’re assigning is administrative.
Market research
To grow your business effectively, you’ll need insights into your target audience, competitors, and your industry.
An article in The British Library says having a good grasp of your marketplace will empower you to strategize better. Ask your virtual assistant to gather information on your eCommerce trends, your competitors, and your potential buyers. But for a more in-depth analysis, you might want to outsource or hire a market analyst.
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is an activity business owners can’t do without. Keeping a record of your daily transactions not only gives you a snapshot of your business’s financial activities but is also mandatory for legal purposes.
The role of a bookkeeping assistant is to update your business’s general ledger on a regular basis, as well as to determine the nature of your transactions, adjust and correct errors when needed, and create a trial balance, among other duties.
Data collection and organization
The primary goal of data collection is to gather and organize relevant information on the different areas of your business.
This could mean collecting and organizing the figures of your ad campaigns. It could mean tracking your competitors’ numbers on social media. And it could also mean consolidating information on your buyers. The main aim of your eCommerce virtual assistant is to make data easy for you to use.
These tasks for a virtual assistant are top priority for your eCommerce business. However, depending on your business’s needs, you can widen the scope of what your virtual assistant does. Ultimately, these professionals are here to support your business so you can run it without fretting over its foundations.
7 Benefits of Having a Virtual Assistant for Your Online Business
An eCommerce assistant is only one of the many types of virtual assistants out there.
Sure, there are other virtual assistants whose tasks overlap with that of an eCommerce VA. But the need to specify why eCommerce businesses need one stems from the special kind of work required to run an online shop.
So without further ado, here are seven reasons why an eCommerce virtual assistant benefits your business.
- You get to keep up with your sales while promoting your brand
- You have a designated person to track your online shop’s numbers
- Someone can support you with market research, helping you spot opportunities for expansion
- You’re never lacking items or overstocking them
- You prevent customer dissatisfaction by having someone tend to their needs immediately
- You get to run your online shop long-term
- Someone finally gets to focus on strategy (that’s you!)
Growing your business is as simple as getting more customers, an article in The New York Times says. And some of the best ways to get new customers are by expanding, innovating, and managing your business well.
In Summary
eCommerce virtual assistants are vital to managing your online shop. The benefits of hiring or outsourcing them include allowing you to focus on your business strategy, keeping a sharp eye on your inventory, and having readily available support you can rely on so you can maintain your shop’s upkeep.
Important tasks you should delegate to your eCommerce virtual assistant include:
- Tracking orders
- Taking inventory
- Updating shop data
- Supporting customers
- Market research
- Bookkeeping
- Data collection and organization
Are you looking for readily available virtual assistants who can support your eCommerce business right now? One way to do this successfully is by outsourcing virtual assistant services to a company with years of experience and a strong talent pool, like NarraSoft.
Want to work with us? For a free consultation or if you have any inquiries, send an email to sales@narrasoft.com or message us on our chat box below or our contact form.