In this economy, everyone’s looking to save a few dollars. To help your ecommerce site save money on its operations, watch today’s video for five quick tips to reduce costs and boost profits.

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There’s no doubt that running an online store can be a lot more affordable than managing a retail shop, but as is life, there are always bills to pay. Of course, the smaller those expenses, the happier you are as an entrepreneur.

Start saving on your ecommerce costs by taking a look at today’s video, where I share five common areas that you can reduce business costs.

Also, be sure to help each other out – what do you do to reduce your ecommerce costs?

Happy selling!
-Matt Winn, Volusion

 

Here’s the transcript of you’d like to read along:

Hi, everybody! My name’s Matt, and I’m the Social Media Manager here at Volusion. Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we bring you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster your online success.

In the world of ecommerce, we’re always trying to save a buck or two, especially as the holidays get closer and closer. To keep that frugality in mind, pay close attention, because today I’ve got five ways for you to save money while running your online store.

The first tip is to carefully look at the most expensive processes needed to run your online store. Nine times out of ten, these fall into your payment processing costs. To begin cutting these costs, see which of your payment processing options are the most expensive. For example, if you’re offering PayPal and accepting credit cards directly on your site, this may not be the most cost-effective way to run your business. So consider dropping one or some of your least favorite payment options.

Secondly, and this is something you should have regardless, make sure you have a solid discount or coupon strategy. It’s really easy for you to simply offer 25% off everything in the store, but that’s probably a bad idea, because you’re not really looking after your margins across your product line. Likewise, whenever you’re offering a coupon, make sure you actually do the math so you don’t lose your shirt in the end.

Number three, remember what your momma always said: You get what you pay for. In other words, if you’re going to invest in design services or marketing services, you might want to go ahead and make the big investment the first time around. If you’re outsourcing to another country or to a college intern, you’re probably not going to get the entire service that you’re wanting, which means you’ll probably have to pay for it again later to have it redone properly.

Number four, try to find efficiencies in your shipping processes. Shipping expenses are one of the most expensive things that you’ll encounter when running your online store. So try to find some ways to save some bucks here. For example, take a look at which providers you’re offering. Are you offering FedEx, UPS and USPS? Well, maybe you don’t need to offer all three. Is live rate shipping better for you than flat rate shipping? Do some math, take a look at what your customers are looking forward to, then you’ll be able to figure out the shipping mix that’ll save you the most bucks.

And last, but definitely not least, focus on customer retention. Remember: It takes six to seven times more money to acquire a customer than it does to retain one. To get your customers to stay put, focus on customer service. Make sure that you’re keeping in contact with your customers and always have a great product offering to keep them coming back for more.

Keep these five tips in mind when you’re trying to save extra money to roll over into that bank account. If you have any questions, just leave me a comment in the box below. I’ll get right back to you.

From me to you, happy selling!