Mobile phones and the internet have made things easier. You are in contact with other people all the time, you can click photographs, you can buy and sell online, amongst other innumerable things. Because selling online does not require a lot of investment, it is becoming increasingly common. Even you must have thought about it. But if you do so, you will be joining several millions of businesspersons who are specialized in the world of e-commerce and gaining from benefits of e-commerce.
If you have wondered what is e-commerce business, you have arrived at the right place. In this article, we will be talking about it and the benefits of e-commerce.
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What is an e-commerce business?
E-commerce means sale and purchase of services or goods via electronic channels like the internet and computer networks. E-commerce was introduced in the 1960s through an electronic data interchange (EDI) on VANs (value-added networks.)
Since then, selling online has been becoming increasingly popular. Apart from online shopping portals, social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. have also been contributing to e-commerce massively.
Benefits of e-commerce
There are innumerable benefits of e-commerce from selling throughout the year, low investment to accessing customer data. However, we are listing a few.
Convenience and easiness for customers
People across the world have been using e-commerce for shopping since it allows them to shop at any time of the night or day while sitting at their homes. Other things that make transacting online preferable is that it is faster, user-friendly, and the ease of transferring funds online.
They get the product delivered at their doorstep, and can even return the product without visiting the store.
Increase customer base with search engine visibility
For customers, it is highly common to follow a link to online shopping websites that show in the search engine results. This way, customers visit websites they have never heard of. Therefore, online retail is driven by traffic that comes from search engines.
Cost-effective
One of the biggest benefits of e-commerce is that it involves very low investment. To set up a traditional store, one needs to pay thousands of dollars of rent, build furniture, keep salespersons and security staff, etc. Unlike retail outlets that require designer interiors and signboards, an attractive logo is all you need to gather attention.
If you set up an online store, you do not need to maintain as much inventory, pay high rent, and build furniture. Additionally, you will only hire someone once you reach a certain level.
24*7 potential income
One of the major benefits of e-commerce is that you do not ever have to close your store. With a busy lifestyle, people often find it difficult to take out time and shop. However, in the case of online shopping, they just need to log into the website whenever they wish to and order. They can even order post 12 midnight, whereas, a retail store gets closed by 9 p.m.
This way, you do not miss out on potential customers and attract those customers who have an odd working schedule as well. Online shopping lets sellers sell even during holidays throughout the year.
Sell worldwide
Next on the list of benefits of e-commerce is the ability to sell internationally. While you are sitting in London, a consumer can buy your product or service in the U.S.A.
Additionally, if you open a store in XYZ area, customers living far away would not be able to frequent your store. But, with e-commerce, your customer reach moves beyond your working area as well. This way, you can build your brand much faster, broaden your marketplace, and earn more profits as compared to your local competitors.
Gather customer data
People do not feel comfortable sharing their personal details at a physical store. But when they are shopping online, they have to fill in the details like their name, e-mail address, home address, and contact number.
These details make it easier for a brand to build customer relations since it can contact the customers using three mediums. The customer data also helps the brand to conduct surveys and receive feedback. This is also one of the benefits of e-commerce.
Easier to remarket to customers
If you have customer data, you can remind your customer about new offers, discounts, restocking of a particular product, etc., by sending them notifications. The customer might act on your notification and buy from you again. Unlike retail outlets, you do not have to work hard to spread the word about an ongoing offer.
Customers can shop without meeting salesperson
Some customers do not like going to a store and buy things because they do not like to interact with the salesperson. The job of a salesperson is to ensure that the customer experiences best services and they often ask a lot of questions. Many people do not like answering those questions and find shopping online easier.
Additionally, contacting the owner or executives of an online store is easier for a customer. They just have to send chat messages or emails, or call their helpline numbers.
Involves low risk
A person who wants to start up, does not require a lot of investment for selling online and can start even with 10 goods. The person can increase the stock based on customer response. This is one of the biggest benefits of e-commerce for people who do not want to invest a lot of money in their business.
Due to the above-mentioned benefits of e-commerce, entrepreneurs are focusing more on starting their businesses online, and the world is experiencing a huge shift from traditional markets to online markets.
