The world has gone online. Gone are the days when we used to visit malls and shop at retail stores for our everyday wants and needs. Nowadays, it’s easier than ever before to order a product you like while sitting on your living room couch or browse through different brands on your desktop or mobile device, with the goods arriving at your doorstep only a few days later. Shopping online offers convenience, better deals and a whole new shopping experience.
It is time for you to hop on this bandwagon as well! Starting an e-commerce website for your business ensures that no market remains unexplored by you – after all, over 50% of consumers worldwide have made purchases online. It might be hard to get going at first, but if you do things right from the start, your business surely will profit in the long run.
Why Do You Need an E-commerce Website?
If you have a business, an e-commerce website can be a great way to increase your revenue. Online retail sales have been growing steadily in the past decade and are projected to continue doing so for years to come. In 2010 alone, online shopping accounted for 8% of total retail sales, totaling over $180 billion dollars. This number is only going to keep increasing as more people go online every day and rely on the internet by default rather than just using it when they need information or entertainment.
Reasons Why an E-commerce Website Is Important for Your Business
It’s no wonder that businesses everywhere are turning towards e-commerce websites as a means to boost their bottom line. But why should your business take advantage of this trend? Here are the top six reasons:
1. E-Commerce Helps Businesses Go Global
E-commerce business has no boundaries and your company has a legit chance to get discovered by a worldwide audience. Also, it increases your customer base manifold as more and more countries come within easy reach! As a result, an increase in sales is just a few mouse clicks away.
2. Increases Brand Awareness
One of the basic criteria for running any kind of business is to create your identity and build your reputation in the market. As e-commerce websites are available online, people easily get to know about your company and its products or services. This helps you gain a lot of exposure over time and eventually boost your brand value exponentially.
Building up your brand is much easier when you have an e-commerce website because you can display all available products in one place, so customers are more likely to find out about your business no matter where they’ve encountered it. Also, if your website ranks high in search engines for specific keywords, your business will have even more exposure since potential customers are introduced to it every single time they search for something that you offer online.
3. Your Shop Is Open 24/7
The biggest advantage of having an e-commerce website is that it allows you to maintain a virtual store that operates throughout the day and all through the year! You can rest assured that there will always be someone present online who might just make a purchase on your website at any point in time! Also, such platforms allow you to target a global audience that is always on the lookout for new products and services.
Since e-commerce websites don’t require any physical presence on the part of the owner or employees, there’s no need for them to have restricted opening hours that adhere to certain times of the day or week; thus, an e-commerce store is virtually open 24/7. This means that you can reach people all around the world, no matter when they’re shopping.
4. Offers Better Marketing Opportunities
With e-commerce, it’s possible to introduce ads in newsletters and on search engines, which almost guarantees a whole new wave of customers since they’ll be coming from multiple directions at once. In addition, your customers will have the ability to share your products with their social media contacts through sharing widgets on your website. Advertising through social media shares has been proven to exponentially increase traffic over time thanks to the viral effect.
5. Payment Flexibility
With plenty of marketing features available on e-commerce websites, you have a larger platform to offer more details about your business, its activities, and other related matters to potential customers who might be looking for similar solutions online. With a strong online presence, you can increase your exposure manifold and easily connect with a wider range of audiences! You can gather information about people’s buying habits based on the reviews they leave after having made a purchase on certain sites. This helps you understand what works best for your buyers.
As opposed to physical stores, online stores don’t necessarily require a customer’s financial information upfront; it’s your choice whether you’d rather process their order right away with the option to pay later or in installments. This allows you to have more time to get in touch with your customers, while also building up a line of credit that makes purchasing from you a breeze for the customer. As a result, they will probably keep returning for more.
6. Maximum Security of Transactions
As stated before, dealing with physical inventory is one of the most complicated aspects of starting an online store; however, after this problem has been solved it’s typically smooth sailing for businesses operating online stores. Transactions take place in a virtual space, where both parties are shielded by fraud protection services like PayPal’s Buyer Protection. Fraud has become much less common since the introduction of these services.
With the use of state-of-the-art technologies, data encryption techniques, etc., businesses are able to provide their customers with maximum protection when they are buying products or services from them.
Conclusion
When you invest in an e-commerce website, your business will be able to grow and flourish. In this article, we’ve explored the many benefits of having an online store for yourself or your company with proven examples that show how they can help businesses succeed!
