Step 7: Set-up Operations
Founder’s Club > The Plan > Set-up Operations
We’re excited to have you here!
Before we continue, tell us more about yourself.
Your Business Operations
Operations deal with all the “Hows” of your business – primarily in production, fulfillment, and collection. Although there may be other operational elements for a standard company, these three remain consistent regardless of business setup or age.
Process and Manpower (Production)
This involves the steps to making your business available and accessible to your target market. Your experience in Product-Service Development should give you a good idea of acceptable processes and necessary workforce to create your product or service.
Keep in mind the Agile Mindset and be ready to adjust and iterate as you see fit. The more efficient your process becomes, the more profitable your business can be.
Logistics and Location (Fulfillment)
This includes the process of receipt, storage, inventory management, and order fulfillment for your business. Your strategy for “Place” in the 4Ps of Marketing can help you identify your ideal set up. It is possible that at the start of your business, storage and inventory may not be that critical yet, but understanding the requirements will definitely help improve your service delivery. With online shopping slowly gaining ground, delivering goods has become a necessity rather than a nice to have. It’s always good to have a reliable delivery service that you can count on for bulk fulfillments. Depending of your serviceable areas, you can hire your own rider or avail of services from logistics providers.
Payment System (Collection)
Back then, cash and credit cards were the most common modes of collecting payments for a business. However, with cashless methods quickly gaining popularity, it’s good to always present your customers with various options to pay. Using a payment service provider like Magpie helps make it easier for you to offer customers more ways to pay. Their payment platform tracks all sales invoices issued, making payments monitoring and collection more efficient.
We recently partnered with Magpie to give our account holders exclusive access to their payment service solutions. Click here to learn more.
If your business is something that can be set-up online, you may want to consider established ecommerce platforms or marketplaces to help you cover the critical tasks in running your business. Usually these platforms can already cover your fulfillment and collection requirements for a minimal fee or commission.
eCommerce Platform
These platforms allow you to set up your business and sell online faster. By giving you full control over your site’s look and feel you can apply your branding to make it look your own. Subscription can go as low as USD 13 (or around PHP 700) per month.
Example: Shopify, Shopline, and OpenCart
Online Marketplace
These marketplaces allow you to easily build online shops or host your business within their platform. Think of it as setting up a space in a virtual mall with established foot traffic. Some of these marketplaces work on a commission or income sharing arrangement.
Example: Lazada, Shopee, and AirBnB
Portfolio Website
This setup is best for businesses of artists, talents, freelancers and various professionals selling a service. Through these portfolio websites you are able to showcase your best work and share testimonials from past or current customers.
Example: Vimeo, Behance, and Instagram
Ultimately, factors to consider in setting up your business operations will differ depending on the dream business you have in mind.