Advantages of Starting an Ecommerce Business
Ecommerce is very versatile, just about anything can be sold online and you don’t need an actual physical storefront, with rent, etc. in order to make money! This fact opens up the door to any business taking advantage of the online world in which we live.
In business there is one definite consistency; there is always change. The digital age gained momentum in the 1980s with the introduction of the first laptop. The digital revolution continues today as the development of technology continues to evolve and progress. Ecommerce is a byproduct of this digital age. As everything becomes digitized, your business can take advantage of this growing opportunity.
Low Cost- To point towards the obvious, there is no requirement for a physical location. When building an ecommerce site there is no need for a storefront. You can say goodbye to real estate, rent, and utility costs. The spending can be limited to the e-commerce software platform, marketing, staff, and products. You can choose to invest more into marketing and expanding with more hiring, or keep it simple with just yourself. The cost is more under your control - it’s up to you how much you want to spend.
Flexibility for Customers- With an ecommerce business, you are open 24/7/365. This gives an extraordinary amount of accessibility to customers in comparison to the limited hours of a storefront. The convenience for a customer to browse in their own time, in the comfort of their home, makes for a pleasurable experience. iBotta found that nearly half of consumers shop more on mobile than in-store because of this convenience. 63% of consumers begin their shopping journey online - whether to browse prices, variations of a product, or research. When they see what they want there is more of inclination to buy.
Wide Customer Base – Brick and mortar stores are limited to a customer base in their local area, whereas an ecommerce business provides your products to the world. You can sell to anyone across the globe dependent on your willingness to ship to those far-reaching places. Each year, billions of people worldwide purchase goods online. The customer growth is limitless.
More Opportunities to Sell – On your ecommerce site, you can provide detailed information on the product, such as videos, reviews, and descriptions to help sell the product and make the customer better informed with their buying decision. Ecommerce can also give you the option to personalize the shopping to the customer, making it a better experience for them and helping to make them repeat customers. There is also an advantage to direct traffic to your business through online platforms. This is an opportunity to reach many people by marketing your business through these platforms. This can provide channels of marketing that can lead direct traffic to your business.
Data Gathering – Great insight can be gained by looking at the users who visit your ecommerce site. The accumulation of this data helps you understand customer likes and dislikes, how they interact with your brand, and where they’re coming from and where they leave your site. Start with general analytics such as site visitors and discovering which pages of the site attract most customers. Then categorize customers and understand how they are directed to your site, tracking their demographic and interests. You can never stop learning about your customers and through this understanding you can greatly enhance your conversions and sales.
Ecommerce is here to stay, giving retailers an opportunity to grow their brand with great online tools that make the buying experience easy, convenient, and flexible.
Sources:
Visual Stories: Insights on trending topics - Think with Google
How Many People Shop Online in 2021? [Feb 2021 Update] (oberlo.com)
Real-time Optimization and E-Commerce Personalization (slideshare.net)
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