Whether it’s running an online-only store
or adding online shopping to an established brick-and-mortar business,
web sales are necessary. Those who don’t find a way to sell their goods
via the internet will quickly see their customers take their money
elsewhere.
As of Q2 2017, e-commerce
accounted for 17.5 percent of consumer spending, according to a study
by comScore. The study showed that 1 in 6 U.S. dollars are spent online.
Shoppers
cite numerous reasons for their online shopping preferences, including
that it saves them time, makes comparing prices easy, doesn’t require
fighting through crowded stores and provides a larger variety of items
to purchase.
Businesses have two main options for selling goods
online: run their own e-commerce websites or sell their goods in an
established online marketplace. To run their own e-commerce sites,
businesses need several critical services and pieces of software. Among
the most important are a web hosting service, shopping cart software
and a credit card processor.
Small businesses can take the
simpler route of setting up a store in one of the many online
marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy, E-dukan on rent
Pros of e-commerce
Selling
goods and services online has a wide variety of benefits. Most
significantly, it opens businesses up to a much larger customer base
than they can access with a brick-and-mortar location alone. With an
e-commerce site, businesses aren’t limited to selling their merchandise
to those in and around their local communities. Shoppers all around the
globe can access the sites, significantly boosting the potential for
profit.
In another plus, e-commerce businesses always stay open.
While most brick-and-mortar locations may operate eight to 10 hours a
day, e-commerce businesses run around the clock. Being able to makes
sales and money at all hours of the day is a big advantage.
Running
an online business can also reduce costs. Specifically, online-only
businesses don’t have to pay rent on a physical location and don’t have
to pay employees. Since they don’t require the same amount of manpower
to run, these businesses enjoy huge cost savings
Cons of e-commerce
E-commerce
has some drawbacks too. Online stores often lose out on the ability to
interact with their customers in person. Brick-and-mortar businesses
can build their customer bases by creating personal relationships with
buyers. The only way for online shops to do this is through impersonal
means of support such as email or live chat.
E-commerce ventures
also face cutthroat competition. For every online business, at least
another 10 businesses on the web sell the same thing. Hundreds of
thousands of e-commerce sites operate worldwide, meaning online
businesses must work even harder than brick-and-mortar businesses to
stand out from the crowd.
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