4 purposes of SMEs to improve their presence in e-commerce during 2023

The presence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the ecommerce grew exponentially in the last two years and the main factor for this was the Covid-19 pandemic, which from one day to the next revealed the need to have an online sales channel not only to grow and reach more people, but also to stay alive.

Shows the importance of SMEs already being in ecommerce is that during the most critical moment of the health crisis, online sales were the sole source of income for 34% of small businesses, according to data from the Mexican Online Sales Association (AMVO).

This need for online sales also responds to new consumer behaviors, which have changed since the beginning of 2020, which allowed e-commerce to grow in more than 80 percent.

“The digital consumer continues to recognize the benefits of online shopping beyond price,” says AMVO.

When analyzing the reasons or why people are preferring to buy online, the following stand out:

• There are products not available in the physical store (60%)
• Purchases are received at home (60%)
• Time saving (57%)
• Crowds are avoided in physical stores (55%)
• You can compare prices and the offer before buying the item or service (55%)

Likewise, the buyer consults five sources of information before buying such as search engines (61%), multi-category site websites (58%), video platforms (41%), social networks (37%) and store websites (37%). This obliges brands, especially small ones to consider it to improve their positioning strategy and to better understand their offer.

How to prepare

If the pace of electronic commerce continues so far in Mexico, an annual growth of 32% is estimated between 2022 and 2026, indicates the report Prospects and opportunities for the success of the regional expansion Asia-Pacific and Latin America, prepared by Nuvei.

In these figures, SMEs play an important role in an important area of ​​opportunity to boost their businesses, but how?

The first thing is to identify the consumer habits in relation to what they search for the most online. In this sense, the following stand out:

• Food at home (66%)
• Moda (57%)
• Beauty and personal care (52%)
• Electronics (46%)
• Appliances (43%)

“On the other hand, pharmacy and supermarket also gain land using this channel,” says AMVO.

Currently, 58% of Mexican SMEs sell online, And it is precisely the food and beverages that have the greatest presence with 42%, which are distributed more in the Valley of Mexico (30%), followed by the Central zone (28%) and the Bajío (15%).

“For seven out of 10 SMEs, selling online has increased its competitiveness and has allowed its digitization”.

Once it was detected in which categories the buyers are most, the SMEs that are selling or will begin to do so in ecommerceshould take into account the following recommendations that are being implemented by businesses that have already migrated to the digital world and that have had good results, both in sales and in new customers and brand reputation.

1. Have updated sales channels (52%): this with its own website, generating content, updating information, implementing interaction dynamics and purchase activities, promotions, among other elements.
2. Strengthen the channel (46%): developing a website and/or joining marketplaces, investing in digital infrastructure and continuing to promote sales in different ways, including social networks where a sale can be closed.
3. Work in direct sales (38%): as far as possible, serve customers directly without stopping from a third party as can happen with a marketplace. Although a platform like this is very effective because it allows you to resolve various conflicts, you must have effective communication with the client, it prevents others from answering questions or comments. This will give greater confidence and warmth to people.
4. Train talent (36%): with the online presence, all employees of the SME must be trained on the subject, from inventory, logistics and online sales so that the results are better.
5. Digitize customer services (15%): It is about automating processes, making the online shopping experience simple and safe, with different payment options and where the consumer is quickly attended to any event that may arise.

“The first step for SMEs that did not have a digital presence until very recently was to start with social networks, therefore, their main strategies were focused on generating content, generating a community, photographs of their product, collaborations with companies or small influencers related to the brand, including generating support networks among entrepreneurs where through giveaways where they gain followers among themselves”, indicates the AMVO.

This makes it possible to generate credibility for the brand, although depending on the networks used, some favor the image more than the possible sale and attraction of customers. For this reason, it is important to know how to choose the appropriate brand presence channels, to know where customers move the most and from there to design more personalized strategies.