With the Covid-19 pandemic, eCommerce has become more popular than ever – you can literally buy anything and everything online. Outsourcing is an effective way to help eCommerce sellers on a tight budget grow their business quickly and efficiently. Your online business can be optimized by outsourcing a wide range of tasks and services, including marketing and accounting, but especially insurance expertise.
For instance, you may save time and gain knowledge when outsourcing certain tasks to third-party service providers but you are also paying a lot for it too. When you rely on Spott to help insure your online business, you not only save money but also get your time back by working with trusted experts who help you find the best rates to ensure you are covered.
Once you have someone else working on these, you’ll have time to truly focus on your core business, while saving money (yes, this is one of those cases where you will spend money to save money)!
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What is eCommerce Outsourcing?
Starting an eCommerce business can be feasible on your own at first. However, as your business grows, your workload will increase. You are not yet at the financial stage in your business to recruit in-house employees either. Outsourcing some elements of your business to an external service provider can help your business grow (or multiply!). Trust is essential in this process, so it is critical that you choose a reliable service provider.
If you reached a point in your online business where you need to delegate operations to third-party service providers, including help in finding a liability insurance broker, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about:
- Why online businesses choose to outsource
- Which services you can outsource
- The benefits of outsourcing
Why Do eCommerce Sellers Outsource Operations?
Here are five reasons why online businesses outsource various tasks and operations to third-party service providers:
- Most online businesses have a limited budget, especially when they are starting out. Every dollar they put into their online store has to count. Outsourcing saves them time and money on tasks that they do not need highly-skilled employees to carry out at the moment.
- If you are bootstrapping your business, you can’t afford to hire an in-house team (or several of them) in all likelihood.
- Your organization needs to scale quickly, and you do not have the time or budget to invest in in-house training. Outsourcing allows you to hire an expert who is already up to speed and knowledgeable.
- You want to leave the less important tasks to someone else so you can focus on your own projects.
- You want to cut down on operational costs by getting liability coverage quotes from an eCommerce digital platform rather than paying consulting and commission fees (which can be very high) from an insurance agent in addition to the premium expenses you’ll be paying for.
Which Services Can You Outsource Now?
Outsourcing best practices begin with you understanding and communicating your goals clearly. Just like it is with brick and mortar businesses, you must know your goals in order for your small online business to be successful when you outsource.
It should include everything from cost savings, streamlining operations, improved customer service, to using a digital eCommerce insurance platform (like Spott) to help you find the most affordable general liability insurance. Knowing what you want out of the process will make finding the right provider easier. There are many services that startup eCommerce business owners like to outsource. Below are a few common ones.
Liability Insurance Research and Purchasing
Running an online business can reap many rewards. But nothing is without risks. If your customers get injured by one of your products, for example, your business could be subjected to a lawsuit. Getting insurance for your online store should be a priority.
Having eCommerce insurance is critical for mitigating damages and claims made by customers, staff and vendors that can result from various liability risks. For this reason, Amazon requires third-party sellers to insure their business. Even if you are not an Amazon seller and are therefore not required to have Amazon liability insurance, you aren’t immune to liabilities without coverage on other online seller platforms.
We understand very well that operating a business leaves you very little time for everything else, let alone to hunt for insurance brokers – especially if you know nothing about general liability insurance or even know where to look.
Using a third-party service provider to help you find the best coverage rates for your online business can save you a lot of time, money, and stress. Spott works on your behalf to find you the best quote. We make sure you get the coverage you need to protect your business.
Marketing and Advertising
Marketing and advertising are important to your online business. You may not have the time, confidence, or skills to perform these services. Outsourcing to an experienced marketer can take a lot of weight off your shoulders, grow your sales, and increase your revenue. Enlisting a professional can draw the best eCommerce marketing strategies for your business.
Here are some marketing services you can outsource:
- Product description
- Ads/PPC management
- Product photography and writing
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
Accounting/Finance
Hiring a qualified accountant can be very expensive. Doing your own books is laborious and eats up a lot of your time. Outsourcing accounting services is a cost and time-efficient alternative to hiring an in-house accountant or bookkeeper.
Inventory and Fulfillment
You can outsource all inventory management and fulfillment tasks to a service provider. These functions include, dropshipping, order processing and reception, warehouse management, and payment verification. A third-party logistics provider can save you heavy costs by helping you deal with the delivery demands due to an overloaded inventory.
Customer Service/Support
Third-party service providers can offer support by email, phone, and live chat. In order to maximize the benefits of outsourcing eCommerce customer support, you may also choose to outsource multilingual customer support. Outsourcing customer support and services mean you save a lot of time and resources that would have been otherwise spent on training an in-house team. That way, you can prioritize scalability and increase your profit margins in the most cost-effective way.
When Do You Need to Outsource Your Online Business?
If you are just starting out as an online seller and are very strapped for money, resources, and time, outsourcing is a great (temporary) solution to helping you get your small business hitting the ground running. The following factors can help you determine when you need to think about outsourcing.
- When You Have No Idea What to Do
If you’re just starting out, outsourcing may seem like a good option. You don’t know where to start, and you’re not sure how much time you can spend working on your own. Outsourcing gives you access to experts who can help you get started.
- When You Need Someone Else to Take Over
Outsourcing is great if you want to focus on the things that matter most to you. If you’re struggling to find time to work on your business, delegating work to outsourcers might be a good solution.
- When You Need to Scale
Outsourcing lets you expand without having to hire additional employees. As your business grows, you can bring in more people to handle the workload.
- When You Need to Save Money
You can use outsourcing to save money. Instead of paying an employee, you pay a service provider. And instead of buying additional supplies or other software tools that you are already using, you can hire a third-party vendor that already has the equipment.
- When You Need to Make Changes
If you’ve tried something and it didn’t work, you can try something different. You can change your approach, your strategy, or even your product.
- When You Need Speak With an eCommerce Liability Insurance Expert
Getting liability insurance is one of the most responsible things you can do as an online business owner. You pay for health insurance because you care about your physical health and you don’t want to shell out a ton of money to pay for heavy medical costs in the event of a (serious) illness or injury.
The financial health and security of your online business is just as critical. Operating your eCommerce business without insurance puts you at risk of being sued which can have damaging consequences for your business – many of which you cannot fix.
You need to find a reliable liability insurance provider. Researching and interviewing brokers can take a huge chunk out of your time and money that would have been better spent on driving leads, closing sales and generating revenue. The rates they are offering (depending on the plan you need) may be too expensive as well.
How Spott Can Help
We can help you find the best rates for your business insurance needs. We do all the heavy weightlifting for you so you can concentrate on growing and scaling your online business. Sign up online today and receive a quote with just a few clicks!
