Take advantage of technology: the great leap is to undertake online

Recessions or tough times are considered good times to start a business for two reasons,” said Rashmi Menon of the Zell Lurie Institute for Business Studies at the University of Michigan. “One is that there is less competition for resources. The second reason is that any change we face, positive or negative, brings with it new customer needs. And customer needs are at the heart of any business.”

Mainly motivated by the pandemic and its effects at the labor level, the idea of ​​creating your own business has increased exponentially in the last two years. The The internet has been a great ally in this boom in entrepreneurship, by facilitating the creation of online businesses for the sale of products or services with a greater reach. “There have been many companies that have closed, therefore there are many people who have had to leave the dependency relationship. Another important factor is that many businesses no longer need to rent a place or have a physical space because now there are virtual spaces, which make entrepreneurship cheaper than before, and the digital or virtual theme speeds up the connection with clients. Another reason is that, being global citizens, you find many ways of doing business that you can reproduce in localized environments”, says Pedro Collantes, director of Humane Consulting Group.

The smartest small business owners have taken advantage of the pandemic and know that technology works. “Today there are small but profitable businesses on Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. The last reference found comes from the eCommerce Day Ecuador Online (Live) Experience, an event held in July 2021 by the Ecuadorian Chamber of Electronic Commerce, in which the following relevant data was presented: Passport, in its regional study, indicates that Latin America was the region with the highest percentage growth compared to all regions, growing 66% of sales compared to 2019, in global terms of all the countries in the region, represents more than 26 million compared to 40 million that had been registered in 2019. In this total, it was evident that Ecuador grew more than 40%. The Superintendence of Banks of Ecuador contemplates all digital transactions that are registered in the country. When comparing 2019 with respect to 2020 and the period from January to April 2021, Ecuador grew more than 19 million in terms of digital transactions through digital payments. It also registered a growth, between 2020 and April 2021, of 4.1 million transactions made with credit cards through eCommerce and 552 million sales made through credit cards”, Collantes highlights.

Determining what customers need now, rather than before the pandemic, is crucial. Juan José Espinoza, general manager of PayPhone, a payment platform created in Ecuador, believes that The pandemic motivated many people to start a business out of necessity, without knowing how to do it and without the tools to achieve successful results. Hence, it stands out that technological advances allow simplifying many of the processes within the commercial area, finding the tools and options offered by the digital world will allow business to be consolidated. “PayPhone is an Ecuadorian venture that is innovating and implementing improvements in the digital payment system. Through Payphone Business you can simplify business accounting processes, reach an international audience, accept credit card payments worldwide, and guarantee security”.

In fact, PayPhone had a 154% growth in the registration of new ventures with web pages during 2021 compared to 2020.

“There are platforms e-commerce where people buy the space and pay a rent for the use of the space to display their product or service, and right there they can make transactions by adding payment buttons. For example, Amazon offers that service, worldwide for a fee. At a simple level, social networks are free platforms that are available to everyone, and when the business evolves, it is necessary to develop a web page, add payment buttons, such as Kushkio Datafast, this does require an investment”, details Collantes, an expert in innovation design, strategy, change management and digital transformation.

Guide to creating an online business

Are there must-see steps to creating an online business? Collantes sums it up this way: “They continue to be the same as in a traditional business, which starts with detecting a business opportunity and validating it through a pilot before making a greater investment. The condition or difference of the online business is that you can test the business opportunity digitally, making it more agile. The advantages of having your own online business compared to a traditional one are the opportunity to not get into a business where people are not willing to pay for that product or service using pilots, and it costs less to make a mistake if you initially do these pilot exercises and validation”.

Espinoza offers a guide:

• Define the ideal platform: It consists of choosing the digital platform in which the business will work on-line. Several factors must be considered to select the ideal one, mainly the product/service to be sold and the public to which it is directed. It is important to keep in mind that the digital world has a much broader scope than physical businesses, which allows increasing the visibility of the business, generating credibility, as well as reaching and retaining a broader audience. There are several options to have a digital presence, be it a website or social channels. For the website there are several free alternatives for its creation such as: WordPress, Squarespace, Web.com, Woocommerce, Prestashop, among others. Additionally, you can take advantage of social networks such as: Instagram or Facebook, even the latter has the Marketplace option to offer products in an easy way and that is very well received by users. Having a business with a website and social networks will allow you to offer the service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Content production: After creating a website and social media to enhance your business presence, it’s important to creatively, regularly, and strategically manage content across platforms. There are online tools that allow you to create publications, which even adapt to the characteristics of each social network, in which there are several templates and design options that are easy to use and will allow you to generate content to highlight the business’s products or offer services. in a more visual way. Among the easiest options to use are Canva, Desygner or Crello, which have several free templates to work with or you can even pay additional values ​​to access more features. Managing content will allow you to promote your business and attract the attention of potential buyers. In addition, these digital media will improve customer service, because they allow direct interaction with people via chat or comments.
• Have digital payment channels: Starting a digital business has several implications, but many times the collection method and the guarantees in the buying and selling process can generate some mistrust and make the business not prosper. However the e-commerce has become a reality and there are several digital payment methods that can streamline processes and guarantee security. Payphone offers options such as: Payment button, payment link and QR code.