The Chamber of Digital Economy of Uruguay (CEDU) started a new cycle of webinars with a first teleconference by Natalia Macri, CEO of the company Oferta Exportable, and Gabriel Budiño, academic coordinator of the Postgraduate in Information Systems of Organizations and Management of IT Companies of the Faculty of Economics and Administration of the University of the Republic (Udelar), who spoke about the best strategies for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to get started in e-Commerce and manage to face a pandemic like the one we are currently going through.
In her participation, Macri told the experience of Abierto.uy, a new digital platform that, driven by the pandemic, began operating in May to give visibility to MSMEs. "We felt the need to create a space for MSMEs to have the visibility they had lost in this particular situation," said the accountant.
Thus, a group of professionals in digital commerce and new technologies began to create tools for all those entrepreneurs who were disoriented before the loss of traditional forms of sale and quickly began to feel the interest of traders.
However, they noticed that there was a total lack of knowledge about the forms of digital commerce. "Entrepreneurs asked many questions whose answers were obvious, and we noticed that there was inexperience about the new sales mechanisms".
Photography, product descriptions, sales and delivery mechanisms, and taxes were some of the problems that entrepreneurs encountered due to the lack of knowledge on the subject.
This is how Abierto.uy's team of professionals offered their services for a better adaptation to the new forms of communication. "Only one of the 110 companies that started in Abierto.uy was able to do the process without help," said Macri.
"It's a transformation and getting started on that path meant adding entirely new tools for them," he added.
As a result of the motivation and the need for greater visualization, Abierto.uy joined CIBERLUNES only a few days after it started operating. "It is essential to be present on e-commerce platforms," said Macri.
Linked to the concepts overturned by Macri, Budiño began by saying that "SMEs often feel overwhelmed by the use of e-Commerce". Therefore, his presentation was aimed at offering advice for the development of this channel.
For the academic, the goal of MSMEs is to be able to provide their customers with personalized service, but without that meaning an increase in costs. To do this, the management for customer relationship management (CRM) must have the combination of strategies, processes, technology and people, and remarked that separately fail to reach the goal.
"We need to create a strategy to reach a target, and that strategy needs to be communicated to differentiate ourselves," he said, citing the example of an artisanal carpenter who must make his efforts visible to demonstrate the value of his work.
Budiño pointed out that there is CRM software that facilitates personalized communication and allows customer segmentation. However, he said that they do not always work because it requires "a strategic approach, the reformulation of processes and people involved".
"Sometimes CRM projects fail because technology does not solve everything, you need to have a culture oriented to customer service," he said. Within that culture, Budiño remarked that the businessman must relate to the customer to get to know him and know what his needs are and then offer him what he needs.
Finally, he pointed out that you must differentiate customers and the importance they have for your business. "If it is a profitable and loyal customer, you have to be patient in times of crisis to get it back. If it is unprofitable and not very loyal, it is better to have a minimum effort on it," he said.
Macri and Budiño agreed that these strategies should be taken into account by MSMEs beyond the pandemic and allow the development of a new sales channel. The cycle of CEDU webinars will continue until the end of the year, with the next delivery on Thursday, October 8 at 10:00 am.
On this occasion, the activity will be led by professionals from the administrative software company Memory, and free registrations are already open at https://www.cedu.org.uy/eventos-cedu/.
You can consult the complete cycle here.
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