Small businesses make up a large part of a country’s economy and are essential in providing jobs across different industries. In Australia alone, small business and family enterprise account for 98% of businesses. The small business and family enterprises are labeled as businesses with less than 20 employees. Many of these are family owned, with some merchants starting a side hustle or an entrepreneur finally making the leap to start a business.
Businesses rely on different tools to operate and be successful, from setting up an ecommerce website to packaging products to actually shipping them out to customers. Merchants need reliable tools to be able to operate efficiently and ensure their business operates without interruption. This is why the news that The Australia Post would cease delivering perishable food items last year such as cheese, butter and other smallgoods came as a surprise for many small business owners and farmers who were given only a three months' notice.
A few weeks later, The Australian Post decided to reverse their decision, saying they had changed their mind, for now. Customers are finding it a struggle to rely on tools they have no control over. The bottom line is business owners need reliable solutions and partners to always be there for them, so they can effectively run their business. Bringing shipping and delivery in-house give the business owner full ownership of when and how they operate.
Shopify tools such as Zapiet can allow business owners to give their customer the ability shop through click and collect and provide local delivery. Searching for alternative shipping methods through ecommerce technologies, allows a wider reach and a focus on the customer.
Nathan Bush is the Director of Ecommerce Strategy at eSuite, an ecommerce employment agency in Teneriffe, Australia. Bush believes small businesses should have alternative ways to reach their customers. “The thing retailers need to do is not put all their eggs in one basket. It's fine to have a preferred fulfillment partner but if you run into trouble, you need to have arrangements and integrations in place with alternative providers, ready to switch on at any given moment.”
The Cupcake Room in Sydney, began with only a physical brick and mortar store, before adding a Shopify store. Through offering local delivery and same day delivery for our customers, revenue has gone up almost 500%. Check out our Australia Hub on resources from Shopify themselves and other partners on maximizing ecommerce tools.
Small businesses contributed almost $418 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Australia through the year 2018 – 2019. As an essential part of the economy, these small business owners and farmers need reliable tools that will not disappear and reappear from one day to the next. Small business owners need tools that are constantly improving, trustworthy and given full control in helping them succeed on their own terms.
