Do you find yourself sometimes wondering what the future holds for eCommerce sites and the influence they may have on your business?
Do you still keep wondering if it’s worth the move to invest in an eCommerce platform with the high trends escalating in the digital world?
Or perhaps you’re one of those who prefer the ease of managing an offline store, and the idea of taking it online excites you at a magnitude that is bound to overwhelm you?
Such are some general concerns many companies come across when considering making this shift from brick-and-mortar to digital space. To simplify things for you, we have pooled together and categorized a list of some of the newest and most revealing statistics that might just surprise you!
So, is eCommerce really all that important?
Let’s just look at the figures. It is estimated by 2025, the global eCommerce sales will touch an unbelievable $7.4 trillion! according to Statista.
But that is not everything.
Research further went on to reveal that the average number of online transactions each consumer makes in a year is 19.
Considering the fact that more than 5 billion users exist on the internet around the world and internet access shows no signs of slowing down, the population of online shoppers is, therefore, growing at an extremely fast rate.
These trends believe that eCommerce has simply become an essential part of retail businesses across the globe.
Why are eCommerce websites gaining such popularity?
Today, with the speed of the digital world, most consumers prefer to shop online, enjoying the convenience of making purchases from their own home, whether clothes and cosmetics, home-ward essentials, or even groceries.
As eCommerce keeps growing, more business owners see the need to set up an online presence in order to expand and serve their customers. With the potential for remarkable growth and results, eCommerce stands out as a mighty tool in business success.
However, most still rely on the traditional method of selling. Does that include you?
Do you feel that you are confused about starting an eCommerce business?
You might be harassed by a vast ocean of problems like mountains of paperwork, taking approbation from the government, or simply not possessing tech know-how. You may resist change, or maybe you fear failure. And these are just some of the most common fears holding you back.
We get it!
But to help you understand the correct values for an eCommerce website, we have listed some remarkable benefits. So, let’s dive into why eCommerce could be the perfect step for your business!
Why is an eCommerce Website Important for Businesses?
Having an eCommerce website is no luxury in today’s digital age; it is a necessity for most businesses. Here are 7 key reasons why the eCommerce website is critically important for your business:
1. Global Reach:
An eCommerce website allows your business to be accessed by potential customers all over the world, at any time of the day, 24/7. This opens up endless possibilities for growth even if you’re located in a small town or niche market.
2. Increased Sales and Revenue
An online store means that your products are on sale 24/7, and not only at traditional business hours. This could allow for a much higher volume of sales and even more money in the course of revenue as the customers can buy whenever it suits them best.
3. Lower Operational Costs
Another reason running an online store is cheaper in terms of overhead costs than any brick-and-mortar store is because you are saving on overhead like rent, utilities, and in-person staff that can increase your bottom line exponentially.
4. Better Customer Insights
An eCommerce website gives you very good insights into how the customers are behaving, which purchases they make, and their preferences. It can guide more informed business decisions and even help tailor your marketing approach to the right kind of customer.
5. Improved Customer Experience
An online store can offer a seamless shopping experience with features such as easy navigation, quick checkouts, and personalized recommendations. Easy experience translates to higher customer satisfaction and repeat business.
6. Market Expansion and Diversification
With an eCommerce platform, you simply need to introduce new products or expand into new markets without the logistical limits of opening new physical stores. Furthermore, you can change your business model to focus on different types of customers.
7. Competitive Advantage
Unless you embrace eCommerce in the increasingly digital-first world, your business risks falling behind the times. An online store has a certain competitive advantage because it makes it visible and comprehensible for a larger audience to understand and appreciates that your business appears contemporary and visionary.
Strong reasons why every business should have an eCommerce website
With the internet, everything in this world has become so easy to access. Even physical business has now become a matter of choice rather than a necessity. While everyone does need some online presence, here are 6 strong reasons every business should pursue eCommerce:
1) Freedom from Some Restrictions of a Physical Business
A traditional retail business is accompanied by many restrictions that could limit its flexibility and growth. The challenge the most the former faces is having to open only within set hours of operation. Businesses also have to accept payments in-store. The most significant limitation that a traditional retail business will face is waiting for a customer to physically visit your store to make a purchase.
An eCommerce store will eliminate these restrictions, offering plenty of advantages:
It is open 24/7.
An eCommerce shop is operational 365 days a year, 24/7. This can translate to you having the ability to reach customers anywhere and at any time without being confined to business hours.
Provide Many Forms of Payments
Unlike a brick-and-mortar shop, an e-shop can accept a huge amount of payment options like BNPL, credit, debit cards, e-wallets, gift cards, bank transfers, UPI, PayPal, and so much more, giving maximum convenience to the customer.
Sell Worldwide
You do not have to limit your eCommerce website to any particular area. Selling becomes very easy when you open up cross-border sales. You can increase your market horizon and thereby grow your business beyond your local customers.
Work from Anywhere
You will require nothing more than a laptop, an internet connection and an email address to run your eCommerce business. This flexibility will allow you to run your business from almost any location on earth whether you are in your home, on the move, or traveling.
2) Make money online
Revenue from the physical store may often tend to hit a wall. A business might begin to feel that achieving growth becomes an uphill task even with the best marketing strategies. Now, at this point in time, increasing your sales channels can be a major driver in increased revenue. The higher your sales channels, the better your opportunities are for increasing sales and keeping your revenue on the rise. One of the most powerful ways to do this is by launching a fully functional eCommerce store.
An eCommerce platform unlocks a completely new revenue stream, whereby you can not only increase sales from your traditional business but also generate incrementally incremental revenue from online sales.
However, who is buying online? According to key findings, there are:
Millennials and Generation X: The time spent shopping online by these demographics is 50% more compared with older generations. For millennials and Gen X, this amounts to six hours every week. For older generations, this was estimated to be about four hours every week.
Men: Compared to women, men spent 28 percent more money online last year.
A wide range of age groups: Even 28% of seniors, 41% of Baby Boomers, as well as 56% of Generation X, like more shopping online over visiting physical stores.
These statistics clearly prove that a vast market would be opened by businesses with the help of an online presence and the eCommerce shopping trend.
3) Perfect Control of Order Lifecycle from Pickup to Delivery
The eCommerce platforms have made the order management process very simple, providing an end-to-end solution for order processing, payments, customer support, inventory management, and delivery. All these systems put in place ease the placing of orders by the customers, track their shipment with ease, and process returns-all online. Translucency in all operations adds up to ease and improves the customer experience.
An eCommerce website may be the line of difference between actualizing an online store for those small and new business owners in a day-to-day operation set-up. It provides the tools and automation that can proficiently manage sales, process orders promptly, control inventory, and handle payments for services needed to remove most daily struggles of running a business.
4) Get new customers daily
An ecommerce website may attract new customers every day if it is live and offers an attractive variety of in-demand products and services. Here are some of the highly effective strategies to encourage new customers to visit your online store:
1. Free Samples: Free samples can be the best way to generate interest and curiosity around your products. Free samples will allow the customer to trust you, and to let potential customers buy the products.
2. Targeted Blog Content: It is informative, engaging, and relevant information that attracts organic search traffic to your website. The more a blog addresses the specific customer need or question, the more likely it will educate your visitors and motivate them to share this content with others.
3. Tap into social media: social media is a huge contributor to brand awareness, as well as relationships with customers. Utilizing social media will surely give you the chance to communicate directly with your audience, answer their questions, and build a community of followers who are interested in your brand and its products.
Apply these strategies to keep growing your customers and strengthen your online presence.
5) Reach Your Customers Directly by Building Your Email List
One of the most active ways to reach potential customers with a keen interest in your product or services is building an email list. Unlike a traditional shop where you seek foot traffic, an email list allows you to be active in contacting your target audience, where they can visit and engage for as long as they want on your eCommerce website.
Here are some effective ways to build and grow your email list for your online store:
1. Offer Incentives: Offering a good incentive is one of the most effective ways to capture some email addresses as you are offering a discount coupon, exclusive offer, or special deal in exchange for a signup.
2. Run a promotion offering free samples of products or a gift with a first purchase to incentivize visitor signups to your list.
3. Use Exit-Intent Pop-Ups: These are pop-ups that come up when you or your visitor is about to leave your site. Here, you might provide a discount or special deal and thus, an email address in return for grabbing a would-be lost visitor into a valuable subscriber.
You can apply these tactics effectively towards building up a list for your emails that can drive potential traffic and even increase engagement for your website.
6) Lower costs of an eCommerce store
The overhead of physical stores is much higher than that of eCommerce. These include the wage, and benefits, payroll taxes, rent, maintaining the inventories, and business license, insurance, maintenance, hardware necessary to the store, and also POS technologies.
Where for an eCommerce store, it does require web domains, payment processing services, third-party order fulfillment services, web hosting, maintenance, technical support, and online advertising to complete the orders.
Related expenses of an online shop are straight away related to the website, delivery, and payment processing. You will have to buy a domain name, an expert, or teach yourself how to develop your website and the e-commerce platform, which is expensive but much less expensive than opening a retail storefront.
eCommerce is not new. Since the advent of the Internet, it has been growing in momentum until it has become the largest online industry worldwide. Starting an online eCommerce store can be overwhelming, but it is cheap and easier than you imagine it to be.
Indeed, with proper strategies, you can make your business online accessible to millions of customers with ease. With Digisensehub you can have an online website for every business at the lowest cost within 30 minutes. And it is true! Book a demo right now.
Conclusion
An eCommerce website is essentially the need of the hour for any business to expand and keep up with others in the present digital world. With online presence, a business stands to gain some varied opportunities based on worldwide reach, increased scope of sales, and lower operational costs. With an eCommerce website, you would be tapping into real data power, streamlining operations, and ensuring a seamless shopping experience that leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Well, if you are ready to take that step, then the role of a reliable eCommerce website development services in India will make it easier than ever. Partnering with a team like Digisensehub ensures you can create a fully working, scalable, and beautiful online store that meets your business requirements. With the expert support, you can drive your brand forward in that competitive digital marketplace.
Do not let the digital revolution pass your business by—embrace eCommerce today and reach new customers to secure a prosperous future. Get started now with Digisensehub, your trusted eCommerce development partner.