Would it be crazy if I tell you that in Indonesia we have an app that lets people shop for you anywhere, then deliver it to your home?
From shopping, paying bills, food, doctor appointment, home service, courier service and transportation, all available in one application.
Prior to coronavirus, I barely use this apps called Go-jek, a national startup whose founder is now the Ministry of Education in Indonesia. The app, unlike Grab offers much more than just food, transport and logistic. It even lets people shop from you from anywhere.
Since staying home, I've been using the Goshop service that lets drivers purchase things on behalf of me. This way, I don't have to go outside to buy things. I only have to check the website of the store, list all things I want to buy and write it on the app. What about the cost? each delivery within 1-2 km will cost me around 1.2$. I know it's quite pricey but it's much more safer than to go outside right now.
Then, when I did a bit of market research around my province, there are plenty business offering home delivery at a small price. We no longer have to go to the traditional market to buy fresh fruits, all we need is a vendor who sells it online via instagram, whatsapp, or web and do home delivery.
Couple weeks ago, I ordered fresh organic vegetables from one vendors who has an online page and does home delivery. It was quite efficient and cashless transaction.
Then, I think about so many business that have yet became online. I think this is the right time for them to start venturing the wild west of online business and establish a presence. More people are home, looking for alternatives to shop from home and have things delivered right in front of their door.
The transportation system and logistic have became advanced too. Since I mentioned about Gojek and Grab, you can use this application as a vendor to deliver the goods to your customer door safely and contactless.
If your business is not online yet, here's what you can do based on my market research as a customer and how it can be more convenient for your customer to shop :
- Establish an online presence. It depends in the climate of your country. It can be a facebook page or instagram page.
- Invest in a domain. Try porkbun for a cheap domain. Upgrade as you start making profit. Do not pick difficult domain names, keep it short and relevant. If you can, no special characters.
- Take care of your instagram page, advertise it and have a friendly admin to reply inquiries and request.
- Set up a dedicated number for your business.
- Diversify your payment method.
- Make sure to reply as fast as you can. If you can't, let the customer knows don't let them hanging, they'll leave and complain.
No matter how advanced the technology or online shopping is, person to person marketing helps. People tend to shop from their "trusted" family/friends recommendation. So, keeping customer satisfied should be #1 of your priority. Satisfaction of customer will get you far even if you sell lower quality of things than other stores. Essentially, care your customer and customer will care about your business. This is the good time to establish an online presence and delivery system. Once this pandemic over, you'll have both online and offline store with more and diverse customers.
This write up is based on my experience dealing with small business as a customer and observing how they operate. Seeing these dynamic from the customer's perspective makes me understand the pros and cons of features that the business is offering. This helps me understand customer's behavior and what they wish they could have but couldn't. signing out