6 e-commerce tips to cope with the Covid-19 crisis | RAJA

France, like many countries in the world, is currently facing a health crisis never seen before. The customers of your e-commerce site, confined, have different consumption patterns and expectations than usual. How to react, as an e-tailer, to the Covid-19 crisis? What good practices and e-commerce tips to put in place, so that your business is optimal in view of these changes?

1. Respecting the barrier gestures during the order preparation phase
2. Review your hosting offer to cope with traffic peaks
3. Communicate well on your e-commerce delivery methods and times
4. Choose postal packaging to facilitate delivery
5. Plan in advance for order returns
6. The e-commerce tip in addition: continue to take care of the customer experience

Respect the barrier gestures during the order preparation phase

You are probably already aware that barrier gestures are now the easiest way to limit the spread of Covid-19 and ensure the safety of your employees. So remember to remind your order preparers that they must

• Wash your hands very frequently
• Greet each other without touching
• Sneeze into their elbow or into a single-use handkerchief, which they throw away immediately
• Maintain a minimum safety distance of one metre

but because habits die hard, don’t hesitate to help your operators to fight the spread of the Coronavirus. Currently, protective masks and hydroalcoholic gel continue to be in short supply, and are primarily reserved for healthcare personnel. However, here are some solutions to think about to protect your pickers as best as possible

• Short-use protective gloves
• Boxes of tissues, to be placed on each order picking table
• Coloured or marked stickers to indicate the safety distance on the floor
• Cardboard partitionsputting a safety net between operators if they cannot respect the safety distance

make sure that each of your pickers has access to his or her own tools at his or her picking station. Scissors, tape, adhesive tape, scrollers, cutters… Each tool must be reserved for one and the same operator, to avoid any contact between different employees via shared tools. cta id=’fcf483ef-e0ff-4944-b846-615b338b7699′]

Review your hosting offer to cope with traffic peaks

To date, we do not yet know the French figures for Internet traffic during the Covid-19 crisis

• +70% web traffic on the fixed network in Italy
• +40% more web traffic in Spain

en somme, partout dans le monde, le trafic Internet a explosé, notamment pour les vidéoconférences ou les plateformes de streaming.

Les populations confinées consomment plus de contenu web, et votre site e-commerce risque peut-être lui aussi d’enregistrer des pics de trafic par rapport à d’habitude. C’est pourquoi votre serveur doit être prêt à accueillir ces pics.

Voici donc le 2ème conseil e-commerce à appliquer : rapprochez-vous donc de votre hébergeur, et demandez-lui de faire un point sur la situation. Il doit pouvoir vous aider à éviter toute interruption de service ou des temps de chargement de pages supérieurs à la moyenne. Il s’agit d’un élément crucial à anticiper, pour ne pas faire baisser vos taux de conversion, et conserver une bonne expérience utilisateur sur votre site e-commerce.

Si ce n’est déjà fait, cette période de crise du Covid-19 peut également être le moment de doter votre site web d’un système de cache. Le principe ? Ce système permet aux na

• If your usual delivery methods have changed, e.g. point-of-sale deliveries are no longer provided; this seems obvious, but it is good practice to communicate this clearly to your visitors, to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
• If the delivery times announced may be longer than normal, or even different from what is announced to the customer at the time of ordering, to ensure that you have a clear view of your delivery times, contact your e-commerce carrier and discuss with them how they are currently operating.

en somme, gardez le contact avec vos clients, et soyez transparents avec eux sur les soucis éventuels que vous rencontrez. Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir, en termes de santé comme en e-commerce.

Choisir des emballages postaux pour faciliter la livraison

Peut-être l’avez-vous lu : La Poste n’assure actuellement ses tournées de livraison que 3 jours sur 7, pour le courrier, les colis Colissimo et les journaux. Bon nombre de leurs agences sont fermées, ne permettant pas aux clients d’aller chercher leurs colis sur place.

Du côté des autres transporteurs e-commerce, certains sont toujours en activité, comme DHL, Chronopost, Amazon, UPS ou GLS. Cependant, leurs délais de livraison sont significativement augmenté, avec l’explosion de la demande e-commerce et la baisse de leurs effectifs.

Le meilleur conseil e-commerce à appliquer aujourd’hui semble alors simple : tenter de faire passer vos colis en boîte aux lettres standard. Vous vous assurez ainsi des dé

• Padded pockets
• Plastic pouches
• Extra-flat boxes

this will improve the experience of your customers in times of containment, as they will have direct access to your products, without taking any health risks!

Plan ahead for returns

If the number of e-commerce orders is going to soar, we can expect the number of returns to rise proportionately. Your customers may be waiting for the end of the Coronavirus crisis to do this, but they need to know how to request these returns now. So now is the time for you to think about implementing these two key e-commerce tips

• Review or create your returns policy, including whether you do make returns during the crisis, or whether the return times are increased in view of the exceptional situation.
• Choose return packaging, to facilitate the return and adopt an eco-responsible approach, limiting the number of raw materials used in your reverse logistics.

think about it now: you will save precious time, which will be necessary when you receive these returns.

The e-commerce tip in addition: continue to take care of the customer experience

In these times of confinement, and in the face of a future that may seem troubled, your customers need more than ever to be kind, to receive small attentions that warm their hearts. Taking care of the customer experience becomes an act of solidarity, a means of retaining your existing customers, and a way of communicating your values. We therefore advise you to

• Show goodwill on your website by publishing content related to the current crisis in the country and how your company is responding to it.
• Add a small positive message or goodies to your packages.
• Develop a loyalty programme for customers who continue to order from you.
• Keep a responsive, tolerantservice for customers who may be more stressed than usual.

on this subject, if you want to review your packaging strategy to take care of the customer experience and unboxing, take inspiration from the concrete case of the Le Closet website. The company, which offers an innovative clothing rental service, has reviewed its packaging strategy over the years to combine customer experience and eco-responsibility. This is a positive read, full of good vibes, for these times of confinement!