Gone are the days when you go shopping in a brick and mortar retail shop and finish the purchase after taking the opinion of family and friends. Nowadays consumers have unbelievably changed the way they shop. Shoppers are everywhere from online sites, marketplaces, mobile apps, physical stores, and social sites. To keep up with current trends merchants have to create digital and physical touchpoints for their brands in order to ensure a rich and remarkable experience for their consumers. Ecommerce can play a pivotal role in this journey. Let’s discuss.
Ecommerce is a commercial transaction that involves information transfer using the internet. Ecommerce can appear in various formats like mobile apps, branded websites, online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, social media platforms like Facebook, google shoppable ads, and so on.
In the current scenario when social distancing is new normal, retailers want a new alternative. What can be better than innovative technology like eCommerce? Let’s see how eCommerce can fuel the growth of small and medium scale business.
World Wide Reach: With the growth of the internet the whole world has shrunk into a small place. Selling Online has equipped sellers especially small to medium scale to showcase their products to a wider audience anywhere anytime.87% of shoppers { Source:(https://www.retaildive.com/news/87-of-shoppers-now-begin-product-searches-online/530139/) }are online
Easy to install: Any eCommerce website can be created using WordPress, Magento within 15 minutes using minimal efforts. You do not need any eCommerce and technical expertise to have a professional website. eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, Squarespace have pre-made templates to create your online store. You can start selling on Amazon or eBay by merely setting up an account.
Low maintenance: You may be wondering that maintenance of an eCommerce is far easier than the maintenance of a physical store. The fully automated systems checkout, billing, payments, inventory management, and other operational processes lower the requirement of hiring technical staff and thereby reducing the cost of maintenance.
Also since there is no physical store to build so there is no overhead cost of construction.
Effective: You can directly connect one on one with your customer and address their needs using eCommerce websites. The customer finds it easier to connect with 24-7 customer care numbers provided on the website than going to a physical store.
Competitiveness: As big brands are also present on the same eCommerce platform, it has brought more competition. This has given the opportunity to small business owners to bring their best to the table.
Lead generation: Traditional stores have very limited access to the audience. Building a new customer base is not easy for them. They have to depend on relationships and branding. Whereas online stores are easily accessible to the global audience with one google search engine query.
Easy methods of payment: With the use of apps and net banking, an increasing number of users are turning towards eCommerce stores due to hassle-free purchase. These methods of payment are fully secure and reliable.
Quick navigation: With the vast variety of themes available Ecommerce websites are very attractive and easy to navigate. You do not have to push the shopping cart looking for the product. The search box on the site can help to find all the choices available. For repeat purchases, some websites show customer preferences based on customers’ earlier purchases.
Good User Experience. Online shopping ensures a good user experience for a variety of reasons such as an easy comparison of prices, brands, customer reviews, and more
Low cost: organic search, pay per click, Google Adwords, social media marketing, are some of the cost-effective channels of advertising on eCommerce platforms. eCommerce marketplace is free to sign up or prices are as low as $20/ month. It is more cost-effective than installing a physical store that requires a lot of investment, payroll, and inventory expenses.
Easy comparative study: It is easier to compare the price offered for various products from different brands on one platform.
Good customer engagement: Online selling makes it easy to collect consumer data collected by form and cookies that give access to a lot of information about the customer. This can help retailers to understand customer behavior and preferences which helps to increase engagement. Better engagement leads to good traffic.
Access to the Niche market: Some products can be sold to specific customers. Marketplaces like Amazon Etsy, Newegg, Poshmark provide a platform for niche products catering to a specific audience.
Easy expansion: For a brick and mortar store expansion or relocation would require a lot of investments, but an eCommerce store needs just more inventory, more digital storage in terms of more web pages. Once you see substantial growth in your business you can take the help of a digital agency to expand further.
Brand awareness: eCommerce can help your retail stores increase brand awareness by worldwide presence. You can add more web pages and increase your chances of getting indexed by search engines.You can tap into word of mouth or social media following for your new website This will boost traffic and enhance brand awareness
Customer retention: With so many options open for a customer to choose from, it has become very difficult to retain your customers. Your online presence on social media allows you to re engage with your customers. Blog Posts and videos can nurture your audience with relevant information. This improves brand loyalty as well.
After reading all this you may want to start your eCommerce dream business right away but must be worried about challenges and possible ways to overcome them. Let’s discuss some of them here.
Lack of technical know-how
Lack of internet connectivity
Lack of resources
Funding
In the present situation during a pandemic when foot traffic is low, it is advisable for small business owners to invest in digitizing their enterprise to boost their brand
There are various ways you can get online. Ecommerce funding can be a helpful tool to achieve this objective. There are many other sources of funding for setting up an eCommerce store. Like crowdfunding, Angel investor, and venture capitalists.
Ready to use eCommerce website: There are a lot of platforms like Insysd (https://insysd.com/) that offer an eCommerce website with preloaded products. You can add your own product and categories and personalize it as per your business needs. It is quick and easy to implement.
Support of NGOs:
You can search for NGOs who are providing corporate support to undertake social activities like help for Wi-Fi co
nnectivity, computer education for students for training, funding for infrastructure like laptops, smartphones, etc
As Darwin uses the phrase “ survival of the fittest” today it is more relevant than ever. The hybrid model of shopping where a buyer can order online from their favorite brick and mortar store will answer to the needs of buyers . Ecommerce and retail hybrid models can be a long term strategy to win over customers because today your potential customer will go online for any information as simple as checking your store working hours or locations before stepping in your physical store.
As you have made up your mind to use an ecommerce website to integrate with your store , you can immediately visit (https://insysd.com/) for ready to use websites and more .
Let’s optimize the benefits of eCommerce for our traditional brick and mortar shops and most importantly BELIEVE THE CHANGE.
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