While this past year has brought on a lot of changes to our world, there is no doubt that our businesses and markets will never be the same after going through the year 2020. We have seen great advancements in the medical field, social change, political war, stock market volatility, and so much more that has happened. It’s hard to imagine what this year would have been like without the added stressor of COVID 19. One thing I know for sure is that my business definitely became worried about being able to stay open during the pandemic. The company I manage creates different fabric and textile pieces for luxury cars and big brands in that industry. Whether it be Ford, Lincoln, Chevy, Lexus, Mercedes – you name it. We have probably designed something for them in the past or the present. However, we were worried that, since we all know demand for new cars has steadily declined over the past year, that we would soon be starving for some sort of business opportunity. Well, we ended up finding one.

The biggest success our company had in years came in the form of PPE. Being a fabric and textile company, we already had much of the machinery we needed to start manufacturing face masks for the general public. We were given grants from the government and even the CDC to begin making adjustments to our factories and supply chains in order to start creating masks in mass quantities very quickly. When the pandemic first started and masks were becoming mandatory for all people in public settings, there was a huge shortage of them to be found in stores. Since everyone needed them on such little notice, there was a gaping whole in the market that businesses and government bodies were scrambling to fill. Thankfully, we were one of the lucky ones that got to fill that space.

One of the problems we ran into was shipping our product in an efficient way. We were very used to our structured routine of orders and had been using the same processes and methods for years. However, we started to work through different problems and issues as they hit us. We had to greatly increase our purchasing of shipping supplies, and this became a slight problem when the packaging and supply company could not keep up with our orders. We needed shipping supplies badly to get our masks to different department stores all over the country, and we were having trouble finding the means of doing that. We ended up ordering from a bunch of different supplies all at once, hoping to scrape up enough boxes each week to have orders ready on time. This method proved to be effective for a while, until our main supplies was able to get back caught up on orders as things became less crazy.

What I have taken away from this experience is that life is crazy. Life continues to surprise me; even when I think that things are going to go a certain way, there is always a curveball being thrown my direction that I simply do not see coming. I know that me and my coworkers did good work this year in manufacturing PPE to help fight the pandemic, but I think it is time we get back to doing what we normally do.

If you are looking to start an eCommerce business, then you need to read this article. I have some news for you that you are going to want to hear. First off, everyone and their mom is starting an eCommerce business, so do not think you’re special. I promise you, whatever business model you are aiming for, whatever product you are selling, it has already been done before. Just keep that in mind while you think about your next steps and while you’re reading this article. Hopefully that is a bit of a reality check for you. I myself have experienced a multitude of successes and failures when it comes to the world of eCommerce, so I definitely know what I am talking about. I hope I can offer some advice when it comes to starting your own business online, and I hope you can truly take advantage of what I have to offer. If not, then I guess you’re just digging your own grave and it’s not my problem anymore. 

The first thing to know is that the future of eCommerce is incredibly bright. We are seeing unparalleled growth and success of eCommerce companies from all over the world. Each day, we are pioneering into a new path of business that the world has not seen before. Consequently, it is important to know that you are already making the right moves by wanting to start an eCommerce business. It is plainly and simply the smartest thing you could possibly do right now. The first step for you is choosing the right product to sell. Now most likely, if you are reading this article, you already have a product in mind that you would like to sell. If that’s the case, great! If not, that is okay too. You will need some time to brainstorm ideas and come up with a product that makes sense for you to sell. 

Once you’ve come up with ideas for a product, you need to make sure you pick something that is actually going to sell. To do this, I suggest you critically evaluate your product idea and do a lot of forward research to make sure you are coming up with something that will actually work. I have seen a lot of people come up with ideas that are just so far out there, and yet they still are able to turn around and actually sell things well. Inversely, I have seen people attempt to sell things that the consumer simply does not want to buy. So it is imperative that you find the product you can sell that you know people are going to love. 

Another thing that you need to do is get ready to ship your product to your customers. Once you have determined what you are going to sell, spend some time researching different shipping supplies that will be good to get your product from you to the customer. Remember, you want to make sure that your product does not get lost or damaged on the way to its destination. This is probably a worst-case scenario situation. Make sure to find some shipping supplies that will keep your products safe and allow for a good unboxing experience from your customers. This will keep them coming back to buy from you again and again.

I know I am not in the minority opinion that small businesses have been hit the hardest by the COVID 19 pandemic of 2020. I remember first hearing the news about my business needing to be shut down temporarily. I thought it would only last a few weeks, maybe a month tops. However, as we all came to realize, those hopes were quite far fetched in retrospect. I hope for the sake of all small businesses owners like myself that things start getting back to normal. It is now early June of 2021, and I am seeing good progress being made in different parts of the country that lead me to believe we may be seeing the end of this blasted pandemic. I for one have struggled greatly to stay above water when it comes to my business, but I have been able to find some success in the form of online sales and eCommerce. 

Normally I am not one to get much involved with eCommerce, but this pandemic has really brought out the necessity to get things rolling across the web. Luckily, my business has a pretty simple method of production and distribution, which made it relatively easy to switch to an online only model of selling and still be able to interact with and reach my customer base. I witnessed the downfall of a lot of my colleagues with business models that could not properly adapt to a more online environment, and this made it really hard for them to find any sort of business through eCommerce. However, I know that I am not the only one to find success in this way. Ecommerce has become widely successful in almost all markets and industries of our world. Just about anything you could find in a brick and mortar store you can now find online. What is even crazier is that, once you find that product online, it is most likely going to be a lot cheaper than what it would have been in a real store.

Going forward, I know that I have to keep on top of trends with my business. I am planning to re-open my brick and mortar storefront soon, but I will also continue my business online through my website. The means of distributing my product are not hard, especially with the right quality shipping supplies. The other nice thing about eCommerce is that production costs are relatively cheap, and one does not have to worry about a lot of overhead that would normally be associated with owning a literal store. Going out of business is something that all of us small business owners have to worry about. But hey, I did not start this business because I thought there would be no risk involved; I knew that there would be hard times that I had to face but I knew I would be ready for them.

This crazy time in my life will always serve as a reminder to myself that I can continue to pursue my passions and business ventures anyway I see fit. As long as I trust my gut and have lots of shipping supplies on hand, I can keep my business running no matter what the world throws at me. Unless, of course, the society collapses and I can no longer ship my products to people.

If you’re someone who is somewhat familiar with technology, you’ve probably heard a lot about automation and robots. In fact, the media used to portray robots as these contraptions that we would use to get everything done. In a way, they were the future that we hoped and dreamed of. The idea that this could be a part of our lives seemed out of our reach and insane. 

However, these days robots are a reality that is easier to understand than ever before. More technology has changed the equipment, and also the processes have changed the industries that are there, including food and beverage sectors. It’s vital to understand that robotics will impact your operations, setup, and even the machinery at hand.

Robots are changing the different types of manufacturing and other processes. This market is growing, and new applications and other types of opportunities are being created.. Whether it’s packaging or production, you’ll be able to use automaton for a variety of different things.

Even if you don’t want to replace everything with robots immediately, there are new changes that are significantly impacting this type of industry. There are a lot of benefits as well that are gained through the leveraging of this especially when you look at robotics and technology.  You can look at each of these to see how it benefits the functions of the warehouse and the like.

Safer to Work 

Robotics does make this safer for people that work in factories. They are designed in a manner where they act similar to humans. Instead of putting humans in places where they may get injured, you can put robots there too. 

This is a major plus point, especially for those who work in food and beverages.

This is something that can save a billion dollars a week for companies, especially if workers comp is a major problem. The rate of possible injuries can definitely change with this, and you don’t have to worry about having to shoulder the medical or production costs.

It’s actually great for packaging, as this is a very dangerous industry, and we’ve developed robots that are smart enough to do all of this. They can cut meat from carcasses with a sensor.  That way, they are able to cut it, and since they don’t have hands that bleed and get hurt, if they somehow mess up, it’s less risky in a lot of cases.

For risky sorts of processes, this is a great option to be had.

Better product consistency 

We’re all human, we tend to error, but robots are made in a way where they error less than we do, which offers better consistency when it comes to the overall product.

They can do the tasks of various humans in a way that takes far less time, and with better accuracy too. Whether it’s products that are damaged, or materials that are wasted, mistakes that are common in the production world are basically thwarted when you put automaton in place.

This is something that, for industries that focus on slicing and cutting, can be beneficial. When you cut meat for instance, you do have some room for error when you’re letting humans do this. But let’s say you get a robot to do it? it’s definitely not as prone to error, and it’s a bit safer for them too.  You don’t have to worry about them falling over and bleeding or having to get fingers put back on bodies.

Automaton has a variety of applications, and in the world of packaging, it’s something we will see more of soon.