It is increasingly common to find different types of electronic commerce. Which are not only dedicated to the sale of products online but also offer services, and support, among others.
And, when we are faced with a world that seems to advance as the virtual world advances, it is common to question whether eCommerce is really beneficial. Since the online presence seems to be something essential today to grow and stay in the market.
That is why, here, we talk a little about eCommerce, what it is, what it is for and the benefits it can bring to your business.
What is eCommerce?
An eCommerce, or electronic commerce, can be understood as the digital infrastructure that allows the purchase and sale of products digitally.
In turn, it can simply be the use of platforms such as social networks for commercial transactions to take place. However, this usually occurs when a company creates an online space where it can offer its products and/or services.
And it is that, eCommerce brings with it a large number of benefits for companies. Which are capable of increasing sales and thus obtaining incredible results with fewer resources. How is this possible? Here we explain it to you.
Mainly, you should know that online sales have increased incredibly. Especially during the health contingency, due to COVID-19, it became necessary to resort to other tools for buying and selling.
Therefore, it is totally understandable that e-commerce is so successful and very unlikely to disappear over time.
What is an eCommerce for?
As you can imagine, an eCommerce is used to generate purchases and sales online. However, looking at it from a broader point of view, we realize that this mechanism is used for much more.
This is because it allows any company or business to have a space on the web and, in this way, expand its field of action. Give much more presence and the possibility of greater reach.
Increasing the probability of generating many more sales and creating a large, stable and loyal community. On the other hand, it serves to carry out much cheaper sales strategies. As well as to reach potential customers instead of waiting for them to reach you. As would happen with a traditional business.
Technology advances and finding what we need online is becoming easier. Therefore, it is necessary to open a space in the virtual world to achieve visibility and many more opportunities to generate sales.
Now that you know what it is for, let’s talk in more detail about the benefits of creating an eCommerce. You can use Shopify, for example.
Benefits of creating an eCommerce
E-commerce is here to stay. And it is that thanks to the security protocols for online transactions, it is much easier to trust making purchases online.
In this way, not only is the buying and selling process easier, being able to do it from the comfort of home. But it also becomes an incredible option for small businesses that do not have extraordinary resources to sell their products.
Without going into more detail, let’s see the 9 benefits of creating an eCommerce.
1. Reduce costs
Opening a physical store requires a fairly large investment. And, despite the fact that opening an electronic commerce also requires investment, it ends up being much cheaper.
For the creation of an eCommerce, the important thing is to choose a good e-commerce platform where to buy the web hosting service. Also, it is important to acquire a domain to start and thus be able to design your eCommerce to your preference.
In this way, costs are significantly reduced. This does not require the purchase of properties, the conditioning of some space or investing in equipment.
On the other hand, there are also businesses such as dropshipping. Which allows to reduce the cost of investing in inventory. Since it is based on the sale of products acting as an intermediary between the manufacturer and the consumer.
Also, there are electronic stores for the sale of digital products. Which avoids the expense of production, packaging or preparation of the shipment, among others.
In addition, eCommerce also reduces the costs of labor and human resources. Since, unlike the operation that occurs in a traditional physical store, it is not so necessary to hire so many employees.
Chances are, you just need a few people to help you with customer service, technical support, and creating marketing strategies.
2. Greater reach within the market
Another powerful benefit of creating an eCommerce is, without a doubt, the great reach that it can achieve. And it is that managing electronic commerce allows you to reach thousands of people regardless of their geographical location.
Therefore, your business has the possibility of connecting with anyone in the world who is interested in the products and/or services that you offer.
Unlike a physical store, which does not have an online space, it must resign itself to having a reduced customer base. Which will be made up only of those who have the availability to attend in person until the trade.
Sure, catering to crowds from diverse geographic locations is also challenging. Since it requires a large amount of resources and logistics that normal electronic commerce does not have easily in its beginnings. However, this does not take away from any business the great possibilities of growing and obtaining a greater reach with the creation of an eCommerce.
3. Open 24/7
Few are the physical stores that have the capacity to provide their products and/or services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, this becomes quite possible with the help of eCommerce.
Because the entire process is online, users can browse the eCommerce whenever they want at the time they want. As well as fill your shopping cart and carry out the entire commercial transaction, without having to leave home.
Instead of finding yourself limited by a traditional workday. With an eCommerce, you can say goodbye to restrictions and remain available whenever your customers want.
And, as is logical to think, by giving your users this accessibility to your business, sales will have significant growth.
4. Optimization of the purchase process
The online shopping process is getting easier. Unlike a physical store where this process can be slow and tedious, buying online is easier for users.
These will only have to use the eCommerce search option. There they must write a keyword to locate the product, or what they want, and they will be able to verify its availability.
5. Automation option
Automating activities will make e-commerce management much easier. In this way, the few resources that exist can be concentrated on activities that require more attention.
Reducing the probability of errors and saving money, resources and time.
6. Improve the shopping experience
An eCommerce can not only improve the shopping experience thanks to the ease of its purchase process. But, in addition, it can offer a personalized experience.
The personalized experience is ideal for customer loyalty and ensuring that they always come back. Since, they will remember the comfort they felt when browsing your website. Likewise, they will feel the confidence to resort to your eCommerce to make their purchases.
To personalize the experience of each user, you can implement strategies such as recommending articles or products according to the interests of your users. Send notifications or reminders for your customers to take a tour of your site, send promotions, make discounts for specific actions, among others.
7. Provide tools for analysis
Having analytics tools is quite beneficial when it comes to increasing sales. This is because, when implementing sales strategies, the analysis tools provide a more detailed summary of their scope. Something that would be a bit difficult to do in a physical store.
In this way, with tools such as Google Analytics, you will be able to analyze the behavior of your eCommerce and make changes or improvements. Knowing the buying behavior of your customers and their interests will allow you to design much more direct and effective marketing strategies. And, this can be achieved by using the analysis tools.
8. It is capable of growing along with your clientele
In a physical store, expansions or improvements must be made to the facilities so that customers have more space. However, when it comes to eCommerce, it will only be necessary to update the hosting service and expand its storage capacity. In order to be able to protect the data of more and more customers.
9. Allows you to offer a large number of products and process a multitude of orders at the same time
Unlike a physical store that can become too crowded with customers, eCommerce has the ability to serve a large number of customers at the same time. Also, with the automation option, many activities within the purchasing process can be automated.
On the other hand, in a physical store some products may be limited. However, in eCommerce, it is possible to offer a large number of products, regardless of their use or purpose.
Conclusion
Electronic commerce is the present and future in any type of business, we have already reached such a high point of importance that, if your business does not appear on a social network or does not have an ecommerce, it loses credibility. The experience of other users with your online store is essential to capture attention and you can retain new potential customers. The benefits of creating an eCommerce (for example, when using Shopify) will help you mark your strategy to boost your business.