Iryna Mushtina, CEO of CF Digital: It is a mistake to treat e-commerce on a residual basis.

Goals and objectives

First of all, you need to answer the question - what is the task facing your business right now: to keep what you have and simply survive, or is it time to move your business online? The answer to these questions will determine further actions.

For example, if you have a network of offline jewellery or accessories stores, and they all closed at once, leaving your business without a penny of income, you need to act urgently, without much thought and systematic plans.

What it can be: a store on social networks, for example, Facebook, a page on Prom.ua, a simple and fast store on a ready-made solution - Tilda, Okhorop. In two weeks, you will most likely be able to sell online. Probably, it will be in a semi-manual mode, but there will be some money flow.

If you are serious about launching e-commerce, then you need to act differently. You can simultaneously launch a quick solution and start developing a platform with all the necessary elements of accounting, automation, and opportunities for further scaling and optimisation. For this approach, it is better not to use off-the-shelf solutions that are limited in flexibility and customisation. Platforms that can be individually integrated for any business, taking into account all its features, are better suited.  It is not about a business segment, but about each individual business case and processes within the company.

What difficulties can you face when working with off-the-shelf solutions?

First of all, setting up integrations with external programmes - 1C, CRM, warehouse accounting. Difficulties can be caused by non-standard product cards with various modifications and special filters. It will be difficult to set up an individual logic for additional sales, work with abandoned baskets, promotional codes, and a loyalty system.

The limited functionality of ready-made solutions often entails a limited or ‘template’ design. Nowadays, the most important thing is to be different in order to draw the user's attention to your brand.

To be like everyone else in digital is to go completely unnoticed.

Where do you want to be with your business, for example, in a year or three?

If all goes well, you will have another fully independent business. Yes, that's exactly right. I think it's a mistake to treat e-commerce on a residual basis - that's how it works. It's just like any other business: it's just completely online.

Like any business, online business also requires a team, resources, and a separate communication strategy. In e-commerce, the accuracy of measurements is much higher and the cost of error is lower. That is, of course, if you measure it. Because often, unfortunately, I meet online stores that don't even have Google analytics set up.

How does CF Digital work?

We know how to launch a business on the Internet. We will analyse all the client's internal business processes. To start working on an online store as a business tool, we need to ask a lot of direct questions, and the client needs to answer them honestly.

The first thing our specialists - Project Managers - do is discuss the future of the e-commerce project and the business in general. Based on this, we understand what else is worth paying attention to. Do we need to choose a CRM system right away or is the one built into our platform enough? How to build warehouse accounting and optimise goods in the warehouse? Will it be a single warehouse or different ones for each offline store, online store, and possibly a wholesale store?

It is important to communicate and work with all project stakeholders. These are, first of all, end users or potential buyers. But don't forget about accountants, those involved in logistics and warehousing, procurement, content managers, marketers, and loyalty specialists. All of these are also target audiences whose interests need to be taken into account when developing. After all, our task is not just to optimise the purchase on the website, but also to optimise the work of employees. Less time, fewer unclear moments - less human resources and better mood. And this directly affects sales. If a sales manager is comfortable and understandable with a management system or CRM, he or she will answer a customer call with a smile.

We adhere to the LEAN marketing strategy, which means we launch the basic functionality that is necessary and already sufficient for sales on a ‘very reliable foundation’, launch traffic acquisition and sales. And then we start developing in two directions: increasing traffic conversions through hypotheses and small changes on the website and refining new functionality aimed at increasing loyalty, additional sales, and increasing conversion sales. We keep moving through these iterations.

In one of our cases, we increased conversion by 1370% in 15 months of work, despite the fact that traffic remained unchanged, which means that the media budget did not increase.

We have 18 years of experience in web development. During this time, we have implemented marketplaces, web auctions, a crowdfunding platform, a social network and, of course, many online stores. Some of the brands we have worked with are: Danone, Fozzy, L`Oreal, Samsonite, Vinzer, Puzata Khata, Laskava Apteka, LandRover, Jaguar, Bentley, Volkswagen, KIA, Nissan, Renault, Shell, UEFA EURO 2012 and others.

The material was published on retailers.ua