Inside the backdoors of two of the best online retailers in the world - Walmart and BestBuy’s
Inside the backdoor – the physical door – of almost every brick and mortar retail store is a supply management department responsible for the overall handling of goods. At the receiving section, most people here do the inventory, warehousing, and distribution of merchandise in the storefront. At the dispatch section, people here do the packing, loading on trucks, and delivery of merchandise to destination – the customers. All processes inside this backdoor is executed for this common goal – to fulfil customer orders.
When it comes to online retailers, which storefront is their e-commerce website, inside their backdoors is the same supply management department brick and mortar companies have. Since these virtual stores also have the physical products to deliver to customers, they will also need workforce, facilities and equipment.
What is the virtual backdoor in online retailing?
There’s another backdoor where online retailers are also putting their best people, best systems, and best management strategies. This backdoor can be found on one side of their ecommerce site, the footer. While inside this backdoor are more doors, hallways, entrances and exits, this backdoor is special. This is the virtual backdoor where shoppers, investors, partners, retailers and ordinary site visitors can discover more opportunities in the online retailing industry.
You are always welcome to this backdoor. I’ve been to the backdoors of some of the top online retailers in the world today and I want to share with you what I had discovered.
What is inside Walmart’s backdoor?
There are doors that will lead you to their story and mission pages, but the more interesting doors to knock on are these big doors: Suppliers, @Walmartlabs, Affiliate Program, International Customers, and Investors.
If you want to become one of Walmart’s suppliers, enter the Supplier backdoor. They are happy to welcome you on your application, say you’re interested, with the Supplier Academy. Everything you need to know about becoming Walmart’s supplier is here: standards, minimum requirements, responsible sourcing, etc.
@WalmartLabs is an accelerator in the effort to meet the needs of Walmart customers. Inside this lab, Walmart is developing mobiles apps, designing a website, and building the next generation search engine – the Polaris. The group working in this lab is called the Big Fast Data team which is consisting of developers, data scientists, and analysts.
The other backdoors are also interesting and I’m inviting you to visit them.
What are the interesting stuffs at BestBuy.com’s backdoor?
The doors that caught my attention at BestBuy.com are the Price Match Guarantee, Trade-in Center and More Support and Services.
There are only a few companies that offer trade in of used devices and gadgets. BestBuy’s trade in program allows you to trade your gently used stuffs for gift cards.
Although some exclusions apply, BestBuy’s Price Match Guarantee challenges customers to find a product from their competitors’ online retailing site that can beat their price on the same product. If they find any, BestBuy will sell to them exactly the same product at that competitor’s price.
Support and Services will bring you to BestBuy’s Help Center page. Here, you can get to know their partnership, marketplace, repair, return, store pickup, shipping, and delivery programs and other helpful information.
Why should you visit a backdoor?
Inside the backdoor of every online retailing store is a vast amount of information. The backdoor is a gateway to the future of ecommerce business.
But because it is a backdoor, it is seldom visited or accessed by shoppers. Some backdoors, however, are restricted or a log-in account is required before they grant you an access. Nevertheless, think about the backdoors of Amazon, eBay and Alibaba. What could be inside those doors are mines of wisdom and principles from their founders and executives that can guide you in building your own online retail store.
The backdoor of online retailing can be the key to the success of your ecommerce business – whether it’s a start-up or a established one. Those backdoors are worth exploring.
