An online store has several benefits, whether you use it to sell products alongside your conventional business or as a standalone e-commerce venture. Read our list of 10 reasons why an online shop could be great for your business.
Reduced overheads – in general, an online store costs less to set up and run than a physical shop, although it’s important to recognise that making e-commerce work requires continuing investment.
Lower marketing costs with better targeting: online promotion can be more precisely aimed at potential customers than using conventional media. It’s also much cheaper, for example, to send a marketing message by e-mail to 1,000 customers than it is to send 1,000 newsletters by post.
Expanded geographical reach: a local business can become nationwide or, depending on the product, international, just through having an effective e-commerce strategy. Bear in mind that if you do sell outside the UK, you’ll need to comply with regulations and understand tax and import/export issues. Find out more at the Open to Export website.
Being open for business 24/7: with automated order and payment processing, sales can be made at any time, and customers can buy when it suits them. Research* shows that the most popular time for online shopping is 12pm to 2pm weekdays, and on Sunday evenings.
Greater flexibility: an online store can be updated instantly and as often as you like – for example, to promote a ‘deal of the day’ on your front page, without the need for expensive printed display material.
Broader potential customer base: an e-commerce business is an additional buying channel, capable of attracting customers who have not bought before.
Improved customer profiling, with the opportunity to target products and services at specific groups based on buying data.
Increased visibility for your business: with investment in search engine optimisation and online promotion, an online shop becomes more accessible to customers searching for your products.
The ability to tell people about your business: this is particularly valuable when an online store operates alongside a conventional high-street outlet, providing information about opening hours, contact details and answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
Another marketing channel: your online store can support your digital marketing efforts by including customer reviews and testimonials.
Yell can build an online store website for your business, with integrated e-commerce functionality to help you get started selling products online quickly and easily.
If you have a physical store, you are limited by the geographical area that you can service. With an e-commerce website, the whole world is your playground. Additionally, the advent of m-commerce, i.e., e-commerce on mobile devices, has dissolved every remaining limitation of geography.
2
Gain New Customers With Search Engine Visibility
Physical retail is driven by branding and relationships. In addition to these two drivers, online retail is also driven by traffic from search engines. It is not unusual for customers to follow a link in search engine results, and land up on an e-commerce website that they have never heard of. This additional source of traffic can be the tipping point for some e-commerce businesses.
3
Lower Costs
One of the most tangible positives of e-commerce is the lowered cost. A part of these lowered costs could be passed on to customers in the form of discounted prices. Here are some of the ways that costs can be reduced with e-commerce:
Advertising and Marketing: Organic search engine traffic, pay-per-click, and social media traffic are some of the advertising channels that can be cost-effective.
Personnel: The automation of checkout, billing, payments, inventory management, and other operational processes lowers the number of employees required to run an e-commerce setup.
Real Estate: This one is a no-brainer. An e-commerce merchant does not need a prominent physical location.
4
Locate the Product Quicker
It is no longer about pushing a shopping cart to the correct aisle or scouting for the desired product. On an e-commerce website, customers can click through intuitive navigation or use a search box to immediately narrow down their product search. Some websites remember customer preferences and shopping lists to facilitate repeat purchase.
5
Eliminate Travel Time and Cost
It is not unusual for customers to travel long distances to reach their preferred physical store. E-commerce allows them to visit the same store virtually, with just a few mouse clicks.
6
Provide Comparison Shopping
E-commerce facilitates comparison shopping. There are several online services that allow customers to browse multiple e-commerce merchants and find the best prices.
7
Enable Deals, Bargains, Coupons, and Group Buying
Though there are physical equivalents to deals, bargains, coupons, and group buying, online shopping makes it much more convenient. For instance, if a customer has a deep discount coupon for turkey at one physical store and toilet paper at another, she may find it infeasible to avail of both discounts. But the customer could do that online with a few mouse-clicks.
8
Provide Abundant Information
There are limitations to the amount of information that can be displayed in a physical store. It is difficult to equip employees to respond to customers who require information across product lines. Ecommerce websites can make additional information easily available to customers. Most of this information is provided by vendors and does not cost anything to create or maintain.
9
Create Targeted Communication
Using the information that a customer provides in the registration form, and by placing cookies on the customer's computer, an e-commerce merchant can access a lot of information about its customers. This, in turn, can be used to communicate relevant messages. An example: If you are searching for a certain product on Amazon.com, you will automatically be shown listings of other similar products. In addition, Amazon.com may also email you about related products.
10
Remain Open All the Time
Store timings are now 24/7/365. Ecommerce websites can run all the time. From the merchant's point of view, this increases the number of orders they receive. From the customer's point of view, an "always open" store is more convenient.
11
Create Markets for Niche Products
Buyers and sellers of niche products can find it difficult to locate each other in the physical world. Online, it is only a matter of the customer searching for the product in a search engine. One example could be the purchase of obsolete parts. Instead of trashing older equipment for lack of spares, today we can locate parts online with great ease.
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