Bycomercial is a Saas platform for sales, both online and offline, where you can get a professional online store for free for a period of 30 days. Online stores are the first link in commercial sales and the first contact with the world of ecommerce. And we say the first contact because they are all you need to start, but from that moment you will want to grow and for that you need an ecosystem of elements that are synchronized.

Online Stores & Physical stores
Any small business wants to influence like a big one. But he’s always thought that technology was expensive and only available to the big guys. Then the internet came along and technology became cheaper, but learning became impossible. Therefore the barrier to overcome is very very simple tools to use, because in a small company, you can not spend time on lectures, or courses of several days to start using a system to control sales operations. The challenge is to be a whatsapp. Everyone knows how to use it.

Obviously not everyone will use all the elements of a sales platform, but all the elements should be equally simple.

The essential elements for selling on online and offline platforms are:
-Online store.
-Physical store payment system, with reader, screens,..
-Stock control.
-Store control.
-Independent control of all sales elements
-Sale with commercials.
-Sales platform for wholesalers, different from the online shop.
-Statistics of everything.
-Invoicing module.
-Schedule control and HR management.
….

In short, a system that can see everything that happens in a single channel sales ecosystem, or a larger complex.

Omnicanality and digitalization for the survival of small businesses

As we have already said in other posts, the coronavirus pandemic has introduced changes in consumption, which are not only focused on the composition of the shopping basket and the way Spanish people buy. The Covid-19 has also changed the structure of shops from the economic point of view (the population is more impoverished by the fall in income), legal (limited capacity and more security measures), social (citizens appreciate that more actions have been implemented for health beyond those imposed and seek more national and natural products and even brands that have helped to alleviate the crisis) and technological purchases online.
There are several types of factors that are accelerating the reinvention of proximity trade, as well as the rethinking of business models, at least in relation to its concept prior to the crisis of Covid-19.

Online

And these are changes that are also opportunities for the sector. Recent studies show that more than 70% of Spanish people have bought over the Internet and 60% have never used the online channel before.

Physical store

But this doesn’t mean you want to give up shopping at the little shops. In sparsely populated towns, more than 80% admit that they want to go to the local shops. We are the tendency of the consumer because they value that the 50% that have been open during the confinement have given a good service, assuming in addition a role not only of sale, without with social component when helping to take food to the houses mainly of people who could not make the purchase.

Proximity

With the coronavirus, the consumer will reduce his trips and the number of establishments he enters, as well as the time he will spend inside them.

Spend less

You’ll go shopping less, but you’ll spend more. Although there are convenience stores, which are

Less globalization

And how can you take advantage of this moment? The key is precisely to propose a less globalized model in trade. The consumer is aware and it is time to invest in proximity with awareness campaigns. The investments are also in the quality of life of the citizens because commerce is more than an economic activity as it helps to take care of the cities. The relationship between the customer and the trader that has been so decisive in this pandemic will continue to be key in the sector, especially at brand level.

Take advantage of the size

Being small, it’s hard to be different in price. You just have to be different in product and you have to work on branding, but now it is complicated to maintain the brand with all the rules imposed. We have to accelerate and digitize yes or yes.

Digitization

A digitalization that, even, has to reach the discounts as it has been done, for example, in the Open Commercial Center of Teruel, which has also launched some vouchers to buy in local shops, which have had a great acceptance, which reflects the interest and greater sensitivity of people with the trade of proximity.

The digitalization process must also contemplate onmicanality. This concept is very important because survival depends on it, and there will never be that question of …do you have this online? or do you have an online shop?…everything will be online and offline. That is why it is said that we are in a moment of transition because there are sales in physical stores and online, but we were born in a counter. There have also been inverse cases such as Ebay or ING, which were born in digital and have moved to the physical store, but the most disruptive model is the opposite. In this concept of omnicanality it is important to understand that the center is the customer, who can buy online, return in store … But it also involves having a domain of your own because, apart from that, when you are in a marketplace you lose your identity and all the work of positioning is for them.

Find your niche. Small is not weak.

Digitization, moreover, has to help put a value on what you have because many consumers do not know the products or brands they have in the proximity trade or the location of the stores, so they tend to search on digital platforms. Amazon has the advantage and has a flattering framework, but it leaves gaps that we have to find:

-He has no capacity to create empathy with the client. They are impersonal.
-Your search engine is organized to give advantages to your sales.
-They don’t have a physical store.
-There’s no phone.
-There is no clear VAT.
-The only element of contact with the final client is the person who delivers, who is always different. No connection link.

Therefore we must take advantage of the weaknesses of the great ones, and use them.

Solidarity

We must attack on all fronts. Proximity is synonymous with collaboration, commitment to your neighbors, work in your environment, everything … this summer of 2020 for example is promoting local tourism, national, everyone wants to attract tourism from their neighbors, few will go abroad at risk of being trapped, treated badly if they are sick, …

Technology is also our ally

The future is the transformation into interactive spaces. We need a visual showcase because, although we are not Amazon and we do not want to, we have to be able to compete with this platform. And, apart from these trends in consumer purchasing habits, there is another reason to turn to proximity commerce: The more people buy on these platforms, the poorer we become, because the taxes on these sales do not stay in Spain. It is a complicated thought, but it can be used. The big markets hire thousands of people, and in exchange they make thousands more disappear.

Post by David B.
Account Manager ByComercial