With the rapidly growing number of people who use the Internet for shopping has increased greatly. Hence, the businesses are turning to build their online presence where their customers can interact with their brand as well as buy their products online as soon as they launch. Recently, the trend of shopping online has caught the world by storm. Most people buy products online because there are so many benefits of doing the same. For instance, you can get certain products on discount which otherwise appear costly at a physical store. There are benefits of having your business on the digital platform and your digital footprint determines your target audience. The best way to reach an audience is through digital presence.
e-commerce is a form of business transaction that is conducted online. Including online shopping, e-commerce also entails payment gateways, auctions carried out online and internet banking. Let us take a look at how e-commerce is advantageous for both your business as well as customers.
1. Removing geographical limitations
This is a relatable truth in the field of business. You are bound to one place if you have only one brick and mortar store to sell your products. But if you take your business and put it on a digital platform, your customers can reach you from anywhere in the world. You don’t need to stay put at one location. With an online e-commerce website, you can sell from any location to any customer irrelevant of their location. Moreover, you get a global reach for your business. With a brick and mortar store, you hardly can target different cities or states.
2. Your visibility in search engine enhances your presence
If you have a brick and mortar store, you have to run marketing campaigns from time to time. This is helpful when you are targeting an only local audience. But if you want to take your business on a global level, then you should create your online store that targets a global audience. In addition to this, you should be active from the SEO point of view, so that when someone searches for a particular product, then your website shows up. And this may lead to people landing on your website and buying your products. Moreover, you can receive a lot of traffic on your website which can prove to be a tipping point for your business.
3. Reduced costs
The biggest benefit of having your business online is to have lesser expenditure significantly. And because of this, you can offer discounts on your product to your customers.
Promotion of your business can be done through organic traffic, pay-per-click campaign and endorsement on social media handles are some cost-effective methods to market your business.
With online shopping, you don't need to invest in personnel to handle the processes like checkout and billing as all the processes are automated on an online store. Hence, the cost incurred to maintain a staff reduces considerably.
With your business set up online, you don't need a physical store. Therefore, the cost of maintaining a physical place is almost eliminated.
4. Quickly locate the product
Your customers don’t have to look for the required product on various counters or ask your customer representative about the product. With an online store, your customers can straightaway jump to the required product category and look for the product. Also, with the availability of search box on websites, your customer can type in a product name and find it on your website to see its availability. This can narrow down the list of products that a customer would prefer. With this, your website can also remember your customer’s preferences so that when the customer visits your site next time, he can place a repeat order.
5. Cost and time for travelling reduces significantly
Some customers prefer buying only from same-store every time, no matter how far the store is located. This may take up a lot of time and energy of the customer. Instead, with online shopping and home delivery, your customer can place an order and receive his order from the comfort of his home in a few days. With this kind of facility, the cost and time are significantly saved.
6. Product comparison
Through online shopping, your customer can compare prices on different websites. And if your website offers the best rate, chances are your customer will buy from your business. Eventually, it becomes a win-win situation for both parties.
7. Product information
Your online store can contain abundant information for each product and can help your customer select the right product. Whereas in a physical store, it is impractical to store information about every product on the aisle. Moreover, customer representatives may not be able to answer a customer's query for various products.
8. 24 x 7 availability
Which customer doesn’t like that a product is available for 24 hours without worrying about the store shutting down? Every customer likes a product that is available no matter what time is it. Many customers prefer shopping at night and e-commerce provides exactly this. You can buy from an online store where you don’t have to worry about the store’s opening and closing timings. A customer can order a product from your e-commerce store regardless of the time on the clock. This can prove to be beneficial for your business as it is always open to receive more orders. Moreover, a customer always prefers a store that is always open and available.
Conclusion
You cannot underrate the power of your e-commerce business. Above benefits highlight why in spite of having a physical store, you should sell your products online. Moreover, you can sell your products through various e-commerce websites too. This may cause you a lot of profit and your business may grow overnight.