Like most people, if you’re an eCommerce business owner, you probably have a lot going on. It might be challenging to find the time to concentrate on the little details when other responsibilities, such as responding to customer inquiries, managing inventory, and coordinating team meetings, are competing for one’s attention.

But if you ignore the details, even minor issues may quickly snowball into significant complications. A good illustration of this would be the creation and implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your company and adhering to them may save time. They ensure that everyone is on the same page about the methods followed at your firm, from taking orders to shipping items. This may help you prevent time-consuming and expensive errors and accelerate the process of completing jobs.

Create SOPs for eCommerce Businesses

To create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for your eCommerce business, follow the steps below:

1. Set easily identifiable SOP title

An SOP’s title should convey the action or responsibility to be carried out. The SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is pointless if your employees cannot immediately recognize that this is the SOP that they should be following and that they should be following it.

The title of an SOP should be concise and easily identifiable. It must have terms that can be looked up to find the procedure.

2. Develop a brief overview of SOP

Prepare a brief overview of the standard operating procedure and what it intends to accomplish. Using language that is easy to understand and concise, provide a short explanation of the goal of the activity or action that the SOP will be documenting. It would be best if you wrote it such that a whole new person might grasp the context of the SOP and the reason why it is being done.

Throughout this, you are tasked with explaining what this guide will accomplish and how your staff may find it helpful.

3. Outline stages of the procedure

Maintain conciseness while retaining clarity in your expression. Write the instructions from the perspective of an employee who has just joined the team; do not assume they are familiar with everything.

Create a number-sequenced list of the actions that need to be taken for someone to complete the work. This involves determining what equipment may be required, who else may need to be contacted, when the work should be completed, and to whom it should be turned over after it has been completed.

4. Deploy Your SOP

Each team member must have a copy of the updated SOP to review. Even those individuals who are not explicitly addressed by the SOP should at the very least be made aware that it exists.

Businesses should consider holding a presentation or workshop for the individuals on your team who the SOP will directly impact. During the presentation or workshop, you should go through each process in the SOP in order.

Benefits of SOP

SOPs may be step-by-step or flow charts. Based on employee feedback, the following are some of the benefits of SOPs:

• Easy performance measurement: SOPs may measure staff performance. When staff know what’s expected, measuring performance and giving feedback is easy.
• Ensures Quality: Consistent task performance frequently ensures quality. Easily identifiable SOPs help employees comprehend each task’s anticipated outcomes. Detail-oriented manufacturing ensures high-quality final goods.
• Profitability: Profitability is another benefit that may be gained by implementing standard operating procedures. A significant increase in productivity and a reduction in expenditures may be achieved by streamlining frequently performed processes.
• Consistency: Sometimes, basic operations are confusing. Working with diverse personalities is enjoyable because you learn how they approach things. Standardization is key to ensuring consistent outcomes in today’s competitive business environment.

Conclusion

SOPs aren’t just employee manuals, as you surely know now. These papers are vital to the success of any company, online or offline. Start your eCommerce experience with Shoplazza and implement these SOPs to assure profit and quality.

(Contributed by M. Zeeshan & Hermes Fang)