Because you’re actually drowning in so much workload—and in all honesty, a remote professional might do an even better job.
Now that consumers are growing tired of visiting malls and detouring from the convenient route of online shopping, online shop owners, like you, are looking to optimise operations to be more productive and efficient.
Introducing e-commerce virtual assistant.
These remote workers are heaven-sent, helping business owners in need who don’t have enough resources to employ an extra set of capable hands without breaking the bank.
Who is an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant?
An e-commerce virtual assistant is a professional who offers various remote services to support virtual stores. They are often leveraged by startups, entrepreneurs and business owners to streamline the promotion and selling of their products or services online.
What Can an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant Do?
An e-commerce VA powers up a broad range of administrative chores to handle day-to-day activities in your digital storefront. However, their duties vary from one webshop to the next, depending on what the e-commerce platform needs and requires.
Regardless, these remote workers are surefire to make an impact on your online store by overseeing the following chores:
Online Store Management
So, how does an e-commerce virtual assistant support the management of your virtual shop?
For starters, they can oversee all your e-commerce platforms, which will be buzzing with activity. They will handle the orders, and file and organise documents.
Your e-commerce VA will efficiently sort out all your daily store management to-do lists and give your customers a raving buying experience.
Order Management
Another task that your e-commerce VA can help you with is inventory management. From order capturing and ensuring smooth order processing to effective inventory tracking, your assistant works wonders to add value to your supply chain.
Marketing
Proper marketing is one of the main catalysts in making your online store stand out in such a saturated market. With the right e-commerce virtual assistant, you can create brand awareness that expands into the global scene.
How do they do it? VAs boost your marketing efforts in many ways, such as…
Send email campaigns to market new lines of products and services
Follow-up on clients
Post engaging and inspiring content
Interact with your targeted audience
Assist with finding ambassadors to promote your brand
Coordinate your company’s content to maintain a consistent brand voice
Accounting and Bookkeeping
Yes, your virtual assistant can look after your online store’s financial health. In fact, there are various accounting tasks that they can handle for you.
Manage invoices and accounts receivable, making sure that every transaction is properly documented.
Track payments and follow up on overdue invoices
Keep an organised and updated record of customer payments
Input and record sales information in a centralised database system
Reconcile bank statements
Analytics and Reporting
Your skilled remote assistant excels in interpreting sales data and identifying patterns essential in problem-solving research.
By doing this, they can provide valuable intelligence into customer behaviour, preferences and buying patterns. Consequently, you can adopt a more tailored approach to address the needs of your market.
Market Research
Since you’re in fierce competition with other e-commerce businesses, you must always be aware of the current developments in the market.
Good thing, your e-commerce virtual assistant can handle all your research requirements, helping you minimise risk and identify opportunities from the latest trends and competition. This way, you can deliver the right products and services to your consumers and invest in initiatives backed by reliable data.
Customer Service
A good customer service experience is more than just answering questions; it’s about creating an excellent customer experience. With that in mind, here are effective ways your customer service virtual assistant can elevate your e-commerce business:
Manage customer questions and concerns on different communication channels.
Providing ongoing support after purchase
Proactively engage with customers
Collect feedback and product reviews to establish trust and brand reputation.
4 Key Benefits of Hiring an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant
Want to know the truth? Your e-commerce virtual assistant is like the anchor holding your e-store together.
However, taking charge of your online shop’s daily menial tasks is just a part of what they can do for you—there’s more! The moment you hire them, you also get to bloom with the following benefits:
Money Savings
Compared to hiring an on-site personal assistant, e-commerce VAs are cheaper. This is primarily because you only need to compensate them for the time spent working on your tasks or projects. You won’t have to pay for the overhead costs or extra employee benefits, like health insurance.
From a real estate virtual assistant to a healthcare virtual assistant, you also have the freedom to increase or decrease work hours, depending on the demands of the business. This will save you money that you can invest in other aspects of your company.
Time Savings
When your e-commerce virtual assistants manage the routine tasks necessary to run your business, you save a huge amount of time—about 40%—extra hours you can use to concentrate on the bigger picture, driving your business toward growth.
Fewer Risks
You’re not just outsourcing tasks that burden you every day, but also passing on the risks. What do we mean by this?
You never have to worry about the tasks you just handed to your VA—they’re skilled enough to manage them. But even if there are issues with their work, you can easily find another assistant more suitable for the role.
In short, you won’t have to stress about running a company all the time, flourishing with a work-life balance.
Better Productivity
For all the tasks that take you away from core functions, you have a virtual assistant who can take care of them for you. This enhances your productivity significantly because your full attention is finally directed to your critical revenue-generating activities.
Where to Find an Excellent E-Commerce Virtual Assistant?
By now you’re probably thinking about how to hire an e-commerce virtual assistant. Generally, you have two main options: online marketplaces or virtual assistant companies.
To better grasp which channel will cater to your needs better, let’s break down the advantages of choosing one over the other.
Freelance Marketplaces
Freelance marketplaces like Upwork, Fiverr, or Onlinejobs.ph are common avenues for all types of VA outsourcing—from administrative assistant virtual assistants to real estate virtual assistants. Why? Because it’s fast, and you have plenty of freedom.
However, the biggest drawback of opening your doors to freelance workers is that you can’t be certain if they’re any good. You have to understand that these professionals will be working with others as well, meaning you won’t always be their priority.
The best way to at least minimise the risks is to go through their portfolios and check with previous employers.
Connect with a Virtual Assistant Agency
If freelance marketplaces are the most straightforward solution for finding an e-commerce virtual assistant, VA companies are the most reliable. They have a team of experts who are trained and skilled in the field where you need help.
More than that, these agencies also have a much wider talent pool, covering a wider range of remote services —from financial planning virtual assistants to remote managers.
Also, they still provide continuous support, even after you’ve found your assistant.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant for e-commerce is a professional who serves as a customer service representative for online stores. This includes handling enquiries and assisting customers with their buying process.
Additionally, virtual professionals can take charge of social media accounts, create content and run marketing campaigns.
Which E-Commerce Platforms Can Your E-Commerce Virtual Assistant Manage?
You can find a horde of e-commerce virtual assistants running the show for a wide range of e-commerce platforms, especially now that customers prefer online shopping to buying at the mall.
Some of these e-commerce platforms include Shopify, eBay, Amazon, Etsy and Walmart.
The Bottom Line is…
An e-commerce virtual assistant is a huge help in rapidly scaling your bustling online shop. They’re not only excellent at managing your customers' orders but also reliable in boosting your marketing efforts across different channels. This attracts people to your brand, giving your sales a major boost in a crowded market.
In a nutshell, having an e-commerce VA around is empowering for your growing e-commerce site, driving productivity and promoting long-term growth.
Now that you are rich with all that knowledge, it’s time to find your assistant.
VAV is the right place for you to kickstart your VA search. We have a team of top-tier remote professionals who can truly make a difference in your booming business.