November 7, 2022
But the reality is that this growth has slowly dropped as consumer buying habits and the global economic environment have changed. Selling products online has become harder with implications such as supply chain challenges, increasing commodity costs, production costs, and increased logistical costs.
The reality that we currently face is that inflation is decreasing consumer spending power, leading to a retraction in consumer demand to purchase products and services. This has real implications for all e-commerce store owners but there are still tactical and strategic ways to overcome inflation and continue to have a thriving business in these times. In this blog, we’ll be sharing four ways your e-commerce business can start to address and combat the impact of inflation.
If inflation is impacting your unit costs, it’s important to update your calculations and make business decisions based on this new reality. To offset rising unit costs, you should test consumer price sensitivity across your different products and categories. You can recollect lost profits on rising unit costs by keeping the price increases that don’t impact your conversion rates heavily. Try to understand your market better than other sellers in order to find the right balance between profit margins and competitive movements.
By focusing on transparency, product quality and sustainable best practices, you can create more value for the end consumer. These three things can give you the flexibility to increase your prices during this inflation period. Although customers may be looking to spend less, those customers will genuinely value their purchased items and become loyal to your brand due to the additional perceived value created for your products and services. These positive reinforcements will result in the success of maintaining and growing your audience in times of uncertainty.
You can make shopping with your business easy and valuable by implementing a subscription service, as well as launching a loyalty program to reward customers for staying with you. Rewarding retention also goes a long way toward making subscribers happy, especially when it's personalised to their needs based on their past purchase data. But convenience doesn’t stop there! By giving your customers complete control over their subscription experience by providing them with options to skip, pause or swap products, you provide them with convenience through flexibility.
There was a time a few years ago when keeping inventories low was a sign of an efficient, well-managed supply chain. The best companies attacked bottlenecks and constraints and lowered inventory across the chain. In a high-inflation environment, it can make more sense to build inventory now, knowing that it can be sold for more over a short period of time. In a sense, inventory can be seen as appreciating rather than depreciating in times of high inflation.
However, other challenges have presented themselves in the inefficiencies in freight lanes and fuel cost increases. By diversifying your supply chain, your e-commerce business becomes more durable as you experiment with various time and cost offerings.
In a climate of inflation where prices are constantly rising, you may find that expanding your business makes it too expensive to stay afloat. That's why we're offering you a free clinic on how to overcome the challenges that inflation brings with expert insight from our team with over 50 years of experience. Book yours today to find out how to overcome challenging times.
