Running an ecommerce business involves juggling many roles – some of which you may not be qualified to do. You need to be able to manage a website, oversee shipping of any products you sell and make sure all earnings are recorded and taxed correctly. Outsourcing a few tasks is often the key to success. This allows you to focus on the business tasks you enjoy and thrive at. Below are just some of the tasks that could be worth outsourcing. 

Web design

Every ecommerce company needs a great website. It’s essential for engaging first time visitors and encouraging sales. While platforms like Wix and Shopify can allow you to build your own website, it could be worth hiring a website designer to make your website truly stand out. There are web design agencies online that specialize in building ecommerce sites.

SEO

A well-designed website will help you engage visitors, but to attract visitors in the first place you need to market your website. SEO is one of the most important forms of digital marketing – it involves optimizing your site for search engines like Google and Bing. DIY SEO is hard to pull off due to requiring a lot of expertise and resources. By outsourcing an SEO agency, you can target the right keywords and boost the loading speed of your site – together which can boost your rankings. 

Product photography

When shopping online, we often rely on photographs to entice us. It’s essential that the photographs of your products on your site are high quality and visually alluring. While it’s possible to take your own photos, you might get better results by outsourcing a product photographer to take pictures of your products. Such photographers can help you choose the right backdrop, the right lighting and the right angles to help your products stand out. 

Order fulfilment

You need somewhere to store your inventory and you need to be able to quickly pack and dispatch your products when someone places an order. While some ecommerce business owners do this themselves by renting out storage units or even using their home as a warehouse, it’s often much more practical to outsource fulfillment services – especially once you start getting lots of orders. Such services can stock, pack and dispatch your product for you. This includes finding the right courier and overseeing the shipping process on your behalf. 

Accounting

It’s important to keep track of all your expenses and earnings so that you can accurately calculate how much tax your business is owed. If you have any employees working for you, you also need to make sure that you’re paying them correctly and filing their tax. As a small ecommerce business, you may be able to handle this yourself. But as your business grows, you may need to outsource an accountant to keep on top of it all. There are accountants that specialise in providing bookkeeping, payroll services and tax calculations for ecommerce companies. Consider looking into these types of accounting services and make sure you’re using the right accounting software.