More customers than ever are buying their favourite products online, typically from a mobile device and helping small businesses grow their brands without them having to pay overhead for a brick-and-mortar. Small business eCommerce offers major opportunities to sell products far and wide, generate brand awareness, and spur social media conversation while building momentum in sales and revenues.
Here are the benefits of eCommerce for small businesses and why online is a space every brand should master.
It’s A Low-Cost Barrier to Entry
Any company can sell products online. There are low-cost apps and website builders that will help you develop a low-cost website, instantly getting your product out onto search engines and social media for potential customers.
An online store is open 24/7. You stand to dramatically increase your revenues without spending proportionally, especially if you have an existing customer base offline ready to sink their teeth into sharing your eCommerce store with friends.
Answer Objections Before They’re Asked
Sales objections are common in any line of selling. With an eCommerce site, however, you can answer questions before they’re even asked by posting high-quality product images, clear descriptions, detailed specifications, how-to guides, and more. Any user can quickly find the information they’re looking for, and you can close a sale.
You Can Scale Fast and Efficiently
You can ramp up operations very, very quickly with eCommerce. You can increase product offerings, change pricing, launch and monitor targeted advertising, and more whenever you like. So long as you have eCommerce fulfillment services, scaling your business shouldn’t be challenging.
Expands Your Customer Base in a Big Way
The only thing standing in your way of selling products worldwide is shipping. Set up an online store, and you’re marketing to the world. You aren’t just limited to what you can sell locally or regionally. This can significantly grow your bottom line.
You Meet Customers Where They Already Are
Not every person is willing to come down to a brick-and-mortar and buy a product if they can purchase it online. To go the e-commerce route, they don’t even need to leave their seat to make a purchase. Brands selling online are meeting customers in the easiest possible place where a conversion is possible.
Your Operating Costs Are Kept Low
You don’t need to rent a storefront with eCommerce for small business. You can rent a warehouse and seemingly anywhere at a significantly reduced cost compared to a brick-and-mortar storefront. This alone saves your business a ton in expenses.
You Can Make a Dent in Your Competition
If you aren’t already selling online, we can almost guarantee your competitors are. That’s business you’re missing out on. If you want to remain competitive and retain or grow market share, eCommerce is necessary, regardless of what product you’re selling or your target audience.
eCommerce Fulfillment Is Easy to Arrange
Regarding eCommerce order fulfillment, you can hire a third party fairly inexpensively to do it all for you. They’ll take care of the inventory ordering, warehousing, order picking, packaging, and optimize shipping.
It’s easier than ever to make a fortune from eCommerce, and all you have to do is watch orders come in, monitor your online shipping site, and manage your marketing and small business affairs.
You Generate a Ton of Data
As users buy your products online, that generates a ton of data. What products are selling? Who your customers are. You’re capturing emails for marketing. You have a chance to learn so much and optimize what you’re doing, all the while the sales money is being deposited in real-time directly into your account without you having to lift a finger.
Gain Insight Into Where to Go Next
The beauty of all this data is that it shows you where to take your online store next. Create product categories. Source new products that complement high sellers. Set up promotions to move more products during busy times. Learn how to increase sales at reasonable times of the year without having to do more than make a few adjustments on your site.
Show Off Your High-Quality Reputation
For people who have never been to your store or heard of your brand visiting in person, they may not know what to ask or where to look. As a user visits your website or encounters you on a search engine or social media, there are already public product reviews, company reviews, word-of-mouth praise, comments, and engagement for them to peruse and learn about you.
Ad Campaigns Link Directly to Your Store
Post an ad offline; you might never know how much business it generates. Post an ad online, and it’s linked to your site. You run a better chance at selling product and can also see where users are clicking from, providing insight into what parts of your marketing are working and what isn’t.
