We’ll never run out of people who prefer to shop in-store. But don’t let that stop you from taking your business online. The benefits of having an e-commerce website speak for themselves: lower overhead costs, larger market reach, improved shopping experience, access to customer data (e.g., the average bounce rate for e-commerce), and scalability. Furthermore, all that’s by default; there are even more advantages when you apply sales and marketing strategies to boost your visibility and performance, like remarketing, mobile optimization, or using a website pop-up from POWR.io.
What Is E-commerce?
E-commerce is defined as the buying and selling of goods online. It refers to the business of online shopping, where companies and brands offer their products for sale to consumers on the Internet.
Why Should My Business Get Into E-commerce?
E-commerce has already been growing at a constant pace for many years. But it went into an exponential trajectory due to the pandemic when people were forced to stay in their homes. As more consumers turned to online shopping, businesses soon followed suit. Nowadays, online shopping has become the norm, opening up new channels for companies to reach a wider market, increase their sales, and scale their business.
Benefits of E-commerce for Sellers
Remaining offline robs your business of a lot of benefits that you could reap just by opening a simple e-commerce website. Here are some of the reasons why you should consider going online.
Lower Costs
Maintaining an e-commerce shop is more cost-effective than running a physical store. You only pay a couple of maintenance fees and establish a quality Knowledge Base Software that come out to a fraction of what you’d otherwise pay for rent, utilities, repair, inventory, etc. The logistics and marketing costs that come with e-commerce are also cheaper.
Larger Reach
One of the biggest advantages of e-commerce is its unlimited reach. You’re not bound by geography. You can reach customers from different states—even different countries and continents!
But in order to extend internationally, you have to understand the role of order fulfillment in e-commerce. Shipping your packages out of state will be twice as complicated as locally.
24/7 Global Availability
Physical shops are limited to store hours. You only have the opportunity to sell for, at most, 12 hours a day. With e-commerce, your store can be up and running 24/7—even when no actual person is manning it. You’ve got the technology to run things automatically, so even people shopping at midnight can check out.
Better Shopping Experience
E-commerce allows you to give customers a better shopping experience. You can give them access to more products and different payment options. They won’t have to scour through aisles and racks just to find what they’re looking for. They can get the products they want in just a few clicks, making it more convenient for them to move from browsing to check-out.
Online shops also have the added advantage of personalization. You can customize your site so it delivers the best customer experience, giving value to your customers. For example, you can encourage them to buy from you by installing pop-ups from Powr.io that offer them a discount.
Access to Consumer Data
Websites often have built-in data analytics trackers (if not, installing one like Google Analytics is easy) that give you metrics about the customers who find, visit, and buy from your site. You can use these to draw insights into your performance, making it easier for you to improve your business.
Scalability
When growing a physical store, logistics poses a big hurdle. You’d have to expand your space and increase your manpower, which costs a lot of money. In e-commerce, on the other hand, it only takes a couple of digital tweaks, an additional one or two people, and a couple of bucks to expand your business. Thanks to technology, e-commerce is also more adaptable; you can pivot or follow trends with ease.
Make the Most Out of E-commerce
Transitioning online already offers a lot of advantages to sellers. But you can make the most out of your online platforms by employing tactics and tools to improve your site’s performance. One way to do this is by adding free plug-ins like Powr.io’s website pop-up, which allows you to personalize your customer’s website experience. Once you’ve got all that down pat, you’re bound to see a significant increase in your business’s numbers!
