How to select the Right E-commerce Outsourcing Partner?

Blog: MattsenKumar Blog

Building a unicorn e-commerce platform from scratch is a daunting process. Developing an in-house team for everything from procurement to logistics, and from the catalog management to customer experience will take a toll on other important aspects of the e-commerce business.

Outsourcing on the contrary has equipped IT, Healthcare, Fintech, and Telecom industry with the power to focus on core processes without worrying about repetitive processes. The outsourcing industry is synonymous with efficient management of repetitive processes but in recent past BPOs have innovated and leveraged latest methodologies to help organizations get an edge over their contemporaries.

E-commerce is perhaps one industry that can outsource everything including the platform development, seller onboarding, logistics, catalog management, and content moderation. By leveraging the potential of outsourcing, organizations can save themselves enough time to work on the recommendation paradigms that will put them ahead of their competitors.

Must Read: The Anatomy of a Perfect E-commerce Product Page

Selecting the Right E-commerce Outsourcing Partner

E-commerce players need to intricately assess every potential partner before moving ahead with third-party integration. While adhering to cybersecurity norms is indispensable, it is extremely essential to assess records, the ability to innovate and out of box thinking.

E-commerce organizations must look for following traits in outsourcing partners

1. Industry Players with Willingness to Innovate

Quality catalog and omnichannel experience are attributed to be the factor that makes or breaks an e-commerce business but it is little known fact that dedicated work on product discovery and product recommendations is what separates the unicorns from the crowd.

An industry player that has catered to the varied needs of e-commerce organizations and understands the challenge is a good fit. While BPOs with prior experience can alter the output positively, having the ability to innovate with limited resources and time is an advantage you should be looking for in your ideal e-commerce outsourcing partner.

Also Read: 7 Conversion Improvement Tips for E-commerce Players

2. Players with Comprehensive Offerings

A huge percentage of e-commerce players outsource catalog management, seller management, and analytics to help their key stakeholders carry out acquisition and expansion with full focus. When such processes are outsourced, enterprises look for e-commerce outsourcing partners that can provide comprehensive offerings that cover everything from catalog creation, seller management, on-site search improvement, and customer support.

BPOs today are developing themselves as multidimensional entities that cater to multiple requirements of e-commerce players. By leveraging omnichannel expertise, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and social media as a customer support tool, BPOs have proven their ability to innovate and walk neck to neck with modern-day businesses.

3. Organizations with Cultural Compatibility

Thriving e-commerce players are often heavily funded and believe in working as a start-up. Since a lot of these businesses started from one-room apartments and garages, the start-up attitude never dies hence they should be looking forward to onboard partners with a similar culture.

In the recent past, the BPO culture has evolved and today BPO employees are provided with the requisite facility to have a fun work culture. The changing dynamics have made it easier for bigger players to identify e-commerce outsourcing partners and onboard them.

To have an outsourcing partner that can reverberate with the work culture and be productive round the clock during holiday sales is perhaps really important. E-commerce organizations can never predict the unexpected rise in sales or the requirement of customer support. Pandemics, political developments, and natural events can anytime impact the online industry dynamics hence having a robust partner makes total business sense.

Must Read: 10 E-commerce Marketplace Management Tips for Greater Success

4. An Agile Team to Support Business Requirements

While essential and lifestyle products make up for a huge percentage of online product sales, but online sales are also impacted by trends. Be it fashion, electronics, or décor, a lot of these segments are led by trends.

Movies, music, and festivals are perhaps the biggest trend influencers. One can never predict the impact a new trend can have on online sales. Having an agile partner that can increase the work they can take in and provide quality output is essential. One such partner will ease e-commerce leaders with the pressure of handling repetitive processes and help them focus on metrics and processes that matter.

5. Technologically Equipped Partner for Seamless Integration

The E-commerce industry is such a huge success because it allows people to shop from anywhere anytime. The omnichannel expertise and faster product discovery elevates the customer experience and convinces the customer to come back again and again.

An e-commerce outsourcing partner that is well-equipped with state-of-the-art technology and leverages the latest methodologies to keep data safe and process requests faster is undoubtedly the need of an hour. One needs to crave for one such partner that is willing to operate on the same software and hardware as you to ensure full compatibility and no exposed routes for external damage.

6. An Organization That Understands the Impact of Compliances

Content moderation services are among one of the sought services by e-commerce players. This particular requirement urges e-commerce outsourcing partners to have a clear understanding of international as well as internal guidelines.

While the internal guides alone can create trouble for third-parties let alone the potential impact of a data breach. Organizations with a proven record of data safety should top your list when looking for a potential outsourcing partner.

When BPO enterprises fulfill PCI DSS and ISO requirements, they display their willingness to adopt and seriousness towards serving bigger organizations. Also, outsourcing organizations that comply with ISO requirements are good for easier onboarding and API integrations.

Some of the necessary compliances that outsourcing organizations must fulfill

ISO Family
PCI DSS
GDPR
HIPAA, if working with Healthcare E-commerce organizations

Must Read: 7 Proven Methods for Reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment for E-commerce Players

Final Thoughts on E-commerce Outsourcing Partner

Two and half decades ago when Amazon started, it focused on one product—books—but with time, it started selling everything a person can imagine. Amazon has spread its wings to curtail hosting and entertainment segments. The growth potential of the e-commerce industry is immense and to achieve it in full, existing players will need to rely heavily on organizations that can provide them with the best output, every time.

To find such an e-commerce outsourcing partner and retain them for long will require online stores to continuously grow and share their profits, but they first need to find a partner that is safe and prepared for a tough battle. By considering the factors mentioned in this post, e-commerce organizations can identify such outsourcing partners and nurture a long term relationship.

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