Why Should Every Business Have An E-Commerce Website?
Ecommerce websites are a great way to reach out to millions of customers with just a click of a button. There are currently 7.9 million online retailers globally, and in 2021 an estimated 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to purchase goods online.
It makes online shopping an important part of our daily lives. You need to have an eCommerce website to make it easier for your customers to recognize your brand and buy from you.
Strong reasons why every business should have an eCommerce website
1. Gain freedom from physical business restrictions
A retail business needs to be aware of the restrictions of operating a physical store. The main restriction is that you must be open to customers during your regular hours of operation. In addition, if you are selling goods or services, you have to accept payment in-store. The most important one, you have to wait for the customers to visit your store and sell the products.
A retail business operating an eCommerce website is free from such restrictions:
- Open 24X7: An eCommerce store is open 24 hours, 365 days a year, giving the ultimate flexibility in reaching out to the customers, regardless of their location.
- Accept all payments: Online stores are open to accepting all types of payments like Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), Credit Card, Debit Card, eWallets, Gift cards, bank transfer, UPI, PayPal ,and more.
- Sell Globally: An eCommerce business can help sell your products globally irrespective of geographical boundaries.
- Operate your business from anywhere: You only need a laptop, internet and email to operate your eCommerce business from anywhere.
2) Make money online
Sometimes revenue from physical business becomes saturated, and it becomes tough to grow it even after implementing the best marketing strategy. In this crucial situation, it makes sense to grow the number of sales channels as the greater the number of channels you have for your business. The more are the chances of making higher sales and growing overall revenue. An eCommerce business serves as a valuable channel for making more money online.
Creating an eCommerce store provides a whole new opportunity for revenue generation. Not only will it help you grow the sales generated by your physical business, but it will also help you get incremental revenue from the new eCommerce website.
So, who are the people who shop online? A critical study shows
- Millennials & members of Generation X: This generation spends 50% more time shopping online (six hours) per week than the older generation (four hours).
- Men: Men spent 28% more money online than women did last year.
- Every other person: 56% of Gen X prefer to search and purchase online rather than in-store; 41% of baby boomers and even 28% of seniors prefer to shop online.
With this type of data, it is clear that businesses can benefit from online presence and make money online.
3) Complete Order Management from pickup to delivery
The process of managing orders has become easier with the advent of eCommerce websites which helps in end-to-end order management. It provides a comprehensive system for order processing, payments, customer support, inventory control, and order delivery. Now every customer can buy, track and return orders online, bringing much-needed transparency to the business process.
If you are a business owner interested in starting an online store but lack experience in managing day-to-day business operations. In that case, the eCommerce website will help you overcome everyday hurdles like handling sales effectively, processing orders in time, managing inventory properly, and making payments for services.
4) Get new customers every day
An eCommerce website can get you new customers every day if the website is live and has an attractive lineup of products and services in much demand. Effective ways to get new customers every day for your eCommerce website:
- Give free samples: The best way for a customer to experience your products for free and raise product curiosity.
- Write targeted blog content: Writing authoritative, targeted & interesting content will help bring new customers organically and encourage existing visitors to share more content & connect deserving customers.
- Use social media effectively: Social media plays a big role in building a reputable brand that is open to interacting, listening and communicating effectively with every customer. It helps grow a loyal base of followers that are genuinely interested in your brand and the product offerings.
5) Reach customers directly by building an email list
An email list can help you reach the target customers that share similar interests in your products and services. Like a physical business, you don't have to wait for customers to visit your store. A good email list based on accurately predicted customer avatar can propel them to visit, interact and engage with your eCommerce website.
Some of the effective ways to build an email list for your eCommerce website:
- Offer an incentive: One of the best ways to build an email list is to offer an incentive like a discount coupon.
- Create giveaways & promos: You can offer a sample of your product or give away a gift for free.
- Create exit-intent pop-ups: Exit-intent pop-ups will appear only as visitors approach the point of departure from your website. With this pop-up, you can offer them a discount or an offer in exchange for their email addresses.
6) Lower costs of an eCommerce store
Physical stores have a greater overhead than eCommerce stores. It includes employee wages, benefits, payroll taxes, rent, maintaining inventory, business license, insurance, maintenance, necessary hardware, and POS technologies.
While the cost associated with an eCommerce store includes web domains, payment processing services, third-party order fulfillment, web hosting, maintenance, technical support, and online advertising to complete orders.
The mentioned costs of an online store are directly tied to the website, delivery, and payment processing. You have to purchase a domain name, hire an expert or learn yourself to develop your website and the e-commerce platform, which can be costly but significantly less expensive than opening a retail storefront.
eCommerce is not something new. Ever since the inception of the Internet, it has been gaining momentum until it has become the biggest online industry worldwide. Starting an online eCommerce store may seem like a daunting task, but in reality, it's inexpensive and easier than you think.
With the right strategies, you can create an online presence for your business that millions of customers can access easily. Fynd Platform makes it easy for every business to have an online website at the lowest cost in merely 30 minutes. It's true! Book a demo right now.
