Online sales are an obligation for companies and small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) have it very much in mind, an example of this is the increase in e-commerce during the pandemic, 2.3 million, according to the study on Sales Online in SMEs 2021, prepared by the Mexican Association for Online Sales (Amvo).
“The pandemic accelerated the acquisition of new clients, since what would be met in three to five years was achieved in less than a year; as well as companies, especially SMEs that joined marketplaces ”, explained in an interview with El Economista, Alejandro Joloy, commercial director of Redlemon, an online gadget store.
According to Amvo, online sales in a pandemic grew 81% and of those with an online presence, 70% of SMEs do so through marketplaces and e-retailers, a trend that is looming on the rise, even in the post covid era. Mercado libre and Amazon are the most popular marketplaces with 73% and 54%, respectively.
Data from the study “Mexican electronic commerce in 2021: navigating a sea of opportunities”, prepared by Openpay and Americas Market Intelligence, reveal that Mexican e-commerce will reach a value of 50,000 million dollars by the end of 2021, with a growth rate 27% for the next few years, a situation that will allow the consolidation of digital commerce in the country.
Given this, Joloy stressed that marketplaces will continue to be one of the channels preferred by companies, especially SMEs since they can reach more people without much investment of resources, while large companies see it as one more option and not as a priority. within its strategy, as SMEs do.
The strategy
The biggest advantage of online sales is that now, any sector can join, both on its own page and even in marketplaces.
Proof of this is that since the beginning of the pandemic, the sector that grew the most in e-commerce and that previously did not have such a presence was health with more than 363%, followed by services with more than 139% and sales wholesale with 109%, indicates Openpay.
This is confirmed by Joloy, who registered a considerable increase in sales and who observed the same with other SMEs, which base their strategy, mainly on marketplaces.
“Marketplaces are good strategic partners because of how strong they are, but it is important to create your own sales strategy in the channels you prefer, which is 50 in marketplaces and 50 in other ways, especially now that strong dates such as the the end of the year and the Good End ”, he indicated.
In this sense, 52% of SMEs are concentrating their efforts on strengthening their strategy in their Internet sales channel, such as marketplaces, according to Amvo.
Trends
Companies will continue to join the marketplaces but to have better results, they must prepare for the trends that they already see.
Joloy indicated that one of them is the way to sell, creating a synergy between marketplaces and social networks, another of the main sales channels of SMEs. On average, 10% of SME sales come from social networks, while 11% from e-commerce sites such as Mercado Libre and Amazon. Both add the highest sales revenue to SMEs.
We see more innovative sales, not only from influencers, but from people who on a day-to-day basis, for example those who sold by catalog, join digital channels using streaming through their seller channel ”.
In the style of telesales, the seller shows what the benefits of the product are so that buyers can buy it live with one click.
In China, for example, 25-30% of digital sales are made through these methods. The United States is another country that is also adding this trend. In Mexico, the level of adoption is slow but with an eye toward there.
The openness to different payment methods will also continue to grow, especially in the cash part, considering that in Mexico, during 2020, 86% of online and offline transactions were paid in this way. So far this year, 14% of e-commerce sales were also with cash. This represents a loss of 7,000 million dollars for merchants that do not accept these payments, Openpay indicated.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx