5 Things You Can Do to Reinvent Your Business

The quote famously misattributed to Albert Einstein says, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results.”

Maybe we aren’t sure who said it first, but we can be sure it’s true.

If your business is down or stagnant, change is inevitable, no matter the reasons. Sometimes taking a different direction may seem scary and difficult. Still, it is necessary for the growth and prosperity of your business.

Just like with personal development, you need to move your business out of its comfort zone and use all your creativity, motivation, and vision to reinvent it. Only this way can you create new opportunities for improvement and stay ahead of the curve.

With that in mind, here’s a look at five things you can do to reinvent and improve your business.

Offer Online Shopping

Instead of simply being a nice-to-have addition, running an e-commerce store has become a necessity.

During the COVID lockdowns, consumer habits have changed and brought about a significant increase in online shopping. There are 2.14 billion online customers worldwide, so you can greatly capitalize on this trend. 

If you haven’t already set up an e-commerce store, it should be the first step toward reinventing your business. The process may seem challenging at first, but it has many benefits. This way, your store will be open 24/7/365, so you can sell your products even when your brick-and-mortar location is closed. 

Furthermore, with an e-commerce store, your products and services will be available to a broader audience, with better chances for branding your business.

Expand Your Market

Sometimes, expanding your target market can create new avenues for reinventing your business. 

Instead of putting all the eggs in one basket, you can try to diversify your options. 

Think outside the box: what could make your product or service appealing to a more diverse target audience? Maybe you could tweak your product a little? Or change your marketing messaging and sales strategy? 

By doing so, your business can address the needs and pain points of the different target groups.

Let’s take The Villages, Florida, as an example. Dealerships in this area successfully expanded their target audience, and golf carts became an everyday vehicle in this city-sized retirement community. Pensioners now use them instead of cars to visit supermarkets, bookstores, friends, or doctors. 

Long story short: embrace change and offer your products to new markets since this can land you a new customer segment.  

Refresh Your Branding 

When you change the way you appear to your customers, it can instantly make your business seem more attractive.

Updating your branding can be a way to reinvent your business without making any drastic changes to your business’s mission and vision, your products, or services.

Consider lining your outdoor signs with neon or LED lights if you’re running a brick-and-mortar store. This way, you can spark an interest in passers-by during their evening walks.

Furthermore, consider whether your name and signage inform your potential customers about your business’s products and services.

If the information is unclear, a catchy tagline could freshen up your business branding and help your customer understand what your business is about.

Another way to refresh your branding is to update your logo without giving it a complete makeover. Sometimes it’s enough to do a couple of simple changes, such as updating your font or color.

Mastercard did a great job of modernizing its logo. All the brand did was simplify it and drop the text.

Such a minor update is visible, yet it’s not drastic to the extent of confusing your customers.

 

Aim for Exceptional Customer Experience

Improving your customer experience can turn the tables for your business. 

You need to find innovative ways to make every interaction with your company memorable to keep your customers coming back. 

Aim for personalized and flexible interaction that runs smoothly and effortlessly, addressing your customers’ needs and pain points.

Nike House of Innovation 000 is an excellent example of tailoring customer experience to meet their needs. Even though the Nike staff is omnipresent and helpful, a customer can shop their entire outfit without having spoken a single word to a sales associate.

Some recent AI-powered chatbots can deliver smooth, personalized, and beneficial customer interactions. When used in an e-commerce store, such a chatbot can take customer experience to a whole new level.

 

Rethink Your Pricing

Your pricing does not have to be static. In fact, to retain your current customers and attract new ones, think about being more creative with your pricing strategy to boost your revenue.

For example, you can offer unique promotions for your store’s anniversary, birthday, or special shopping hours besides holiday discounts. 

You can also offer discount pricing for the second item or bundle shopping. Such unique promotions will instantly attract more shoppers to your store.

Another effective tactic is spotting upsell opportunities for your most attractive products. Think about offering personalized services and products, extended warranties, and add-ons at premium pricing. 

Finally, check out how much your competitors charge and opt for so-called market-based pricing. This approach is popular among streaming services since they mainly have similar prices. 

 

Final Thoughts

For your company to thrive, you have to be ready to change, innovate, and implement tactics that work better. Being set in your ways can hurt your business, so don’t be afraid to abandon strategies that don’t yield results. Taking calculated risks can be worthwhile.

 

About The Author

Sarah is a life enjoyer, positivity seeker, and a curiosity enthusiast. She is passionate about an eco-friendly lifestyle and adores her cats. She is an avid reader who loves to travel when time allows.

Alibaba vs AliExpress: What’s the Difference?

Have you also been juggling between the two options? The names, the origins, and even the owner himself may lead you to believe that Alibaba and AliExpress are the same things, but they are not. They may have similar-sounding names, offer Chinese items, and are owned by the same person, Jack Ma, but that’s where the similarities end. Alibaba and Aliexpress are two very distinct businesses that compete in very distinct areas.

Given the aforesaid, we believe that after completing this post, you will better understand some distinct features, but if you need the most comprehensive review to select the option that best meets your demands, please visit the ‘Alibaba vs Aliexpress’ article. 

 

Working of Alibaba

Alibaba is a B2B or Business to Business wholesale marketplace that allows various Chinese manufacturing enterprises to build stores on its website (similar to Amazon) and sell items to specific clients.

Alibaba does not own the items because it is a marketplace. Suppliers are solely accountable for the quality of their goods and the purchases that they handle. Alibaba does not require customers or sellers to make any type of direct payment; as a result, this might happen outside of the site based on e-mail or chat talks with the supplier.

So, how does Alibaba generate revenue? It accomplishes this through the “Gold Supplier” plan, a form of premium plan that Chinese suppliers may join for a charge after demonstrating that they are legitimate and verified businesses with registered capital and a physical address.

 

Working of AliExpress

Because AliExpress, like Alibaba, is a marketplace, it does not offer its goods. Instead, it serves as a showroom for third-party products, catering to both B2B and B2C consumers.

Although each store has its display and items, AliExpress’s sales and payment logics are quite similar to those of Amazon. Transactions are made solely through the portal, and AliExpress benefits on every transaction.

Its key advantage is that it allows the sale of a limited number of items (retail), which, unlike Alibaba’s products, cannot be changed or updated because they are already produced.

Differences Between Alibaba and AliExpress

Let’s take a closer look at the fundamental distinctions between Alibaba and AliExpress. 

 

Quantity

Alibaba’s vendors all sell wholesale items and have a large minimum order quantity (MOQ) (minimum order quantity). In truth, many businesses do not have the items in stock but will make them according to your specifications. On the other hand, you may buy finished items on AliExpress, and consequently, you may purchase them in extremely small amounts.

Payment

Alibaba does not handle any financial transactions. Therefore, it disclaims any liability for monetary operations between consumers and suppliers. Instead of being able to pay online on AliExpress, you may get the transaction certified with Paypal.

 

Price

The price of an item varies greatly depending on the amount and quality of the product. Prices on Alibaba are not set in stone since they are determined by the volume of items ordered, the technical specifications necessary, and the manufacturing and delivery times. On the other side, because AliExpress is not a B2B marketplace, you will find items with a fixed price, which is usually greater than on Alibaba.

Customization

Suppliers on Alibaba make the items themselves, so they may customize and adjust them to your specifications. This means they may add a logo to an existing product, modify its design, or even design a brand new product depending on your demands. Because only ready-made things are sold here, they are unable to be altered.

Certification

Toys, beauty products, and gadgets must come with various sorts of certificates if they are to be imported and sold in the EU. When sourcing items, keep in mind that not all Chinese vendors will be able to give you the documentation. Nonetheless, you can contact the wholesaler directly through Alibaba to request items with the appropriate certificates. This is not feasible, however, if you purchase things from AliExpress. The reason is that you are purchasing ready-made items and have no method of directly contacting the provider.

Timing

When you buy anything on Alibaba, you’re asking a firm to make it for you. As a result, you’ll need to figure out how long it will take to produce, ship, and clear customs. The items you’ll see on AliExpress, on the other hand, have already been manufactured. They are delivered to the receiver via courier within a few hours, with substantially shorter delivery periods.

When it comes to deciding between Alibaba and AliExpress, it all comes down to your requirement. What kind of purchases do you intend to make? How much money do you have to spend? Because both platforms are owned by the same corporation, they have several aspects in common, such as low costs, simple payment options, and buyer protection.

There are, however, distinctions between the two. The most important thing to remember is that they were created for distinct audiences and hence provide various levels of service. One is a consumer retail portal, and the other is a wholesale portal. And now that you understand the distinction between Alibaba and AliExpress, you can make an informed decision.

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