How do your customers find your products and services? Are you easily accessible online and can they buy your products on demand? Have you set up e-commerce for your website yet? Online transactions create multiple benefits for your company, including increased productivity and profitability while empowering your customers to compare prices and make informed decisions.
So what are the benefits of e-commerce?
Become Global Overnight
The geographic location of a physical store limits the customer reach of your business. But an online store or checkout gives you access to many more potential customers via the internet, while at the same time extending your opening hours to 24/7.
Boost Your Search Rankings
Search engines drive traffic to online stores so the more the traffic you have, the more visible your site becomes. This kind of boost in traffic can help you generate more sales than you were expecting and can take your company to the next level.
Reduced Cost
Web hosting and maintenance are much cheaper than rent and wages, so you’re already saving money with a digital checkout over a new store or office. You can then pass those savings on to your customers, providing cheaper products and services. You also won’t need to spend so much on branding and marketing because you can achieve much more for less with SEO and social media marketing.
Capture More Customer Data
Purchasers filling in their details to receive their products and services means you can create more targeted communications to engage your audience and boost return sales. For example, you can email previous customers about products relevant to their recent purchases and offer discounts.
How to Build an E-commerce Platform
Once you have your suppliers and target market ready for the online revolution, it’s time to set up the site. You’ll want an e-commerce website that manages all aspects of the transaction, such as products, categories and checkout. One approach is to just get the platform up and running rather than spending too much time testing, researching and deciding. Money coming in on a less-than-perfect platform is better than money going out testing something you’ll never use. A couple of quality e-commerce platforms are Shopify and OpenCart, which are both powerful and simple to use.
If you don’t already, you’ll also need somewhere to host your domain name and a designed website, which a third party can set up for you for an agreed cost.
E-commerce has multiple benefits for your business. It won’t cost the world to get started and it can increase revenue and cut expenses.