“In a world that is constantly changing, the riskiest thing to do is to not take a risk” ~Steve Jobs
The last 30 years hallmark historic changes across all human endeavours. With everything held as culture and values disrupted. The invention of the internet changed the world.
Today, the whole world lives on the internet. The internet set the trend, spread the news, and dictates consumption. Businesses are learning to adopt the reality of the new world.
There is a gold rush happening in the world today and it's happening online. Many businesses are cashing out. If you own a small business, here is how Ecommerce is going to be the fastest way to grow and scale your business.
Access To the Global Market
With a click on the phone, anybody, from any part of the world can do business with you without any hassle. That's how much power the internet has. It has reduced the world to a global village. It has levelled the playground for any business to prosper.
Before this time, most small-scale businesses depended on foot traffic from the geographic location where they were situated before they could record any amount of success in their Business. But now, you can stay at home and reach billions of people per day on the internet with your business thus increasing your customer's acquisition rates as well as sales and revenue.
Low cost of Operation
Among all the eCommerce benefits to small businesses, this one is the most crucial. Running an online store involves less money compared to running a brick-and-mortar shop. That is because, in a physical store, owners have to invest in purchasing business premises.
The store location is a key factor; hence preference to get a space in a posh area with the targeted audience shoots up the cost.
On the contrary online stores do not come with location and any other overhead costs.
They require very little capital outlay. Hiring even the best eCommerce website development company involves a moderate investment and does not take up the cost as high as purchasing a physical store. The profit made from selling to customers online compensates for the cost of designing and developing the e-store.
There are a lot of additional savings made as unlike physical stores where staff is required to handle inventory, checkout, payments, and delivery, eCommerce automates the entire operational process.
So overall, opening up an online store is a lot cheaper and more reasonable for small and medium-sized business owners who grapple to operate and grow with limited finances. They do not have to invest in the physical store, insurance, or infrastructure but just need a well-designed website to sell products and services.
Low Barrier of Entry
It's very easy to start an online business. It requires no superficial cost, and strenuous setting up processes.
Aside from the low cost of starting an online business, there is no low barrier preventing anyone from entering any industry of your choice. The internet is a vast society with no rules and preferences, everyone has a choice of what they want and what they want to do. For small businesses, you can enter any market and disrupt it without any restrictions or interference.
Improve Customer Experience
The way people are shopping today has changed from what it used to be in the past.
In time past, people required less information, less persuasion, and few marketing tricks before they could make a purchasing decision.
But now, a lot of customers take their time to research the goods/services they want before purchasing them.
With eCommerce, small businesses can create a good customer relationship with a large audience without stress, improving customers' experience faster and better.
Greater Customer Acquisition
Acquiring customers has been one of the toughest parts of being an entrepreneur and running a business. The internet has levelled that Mountain.
With the internet, it has become very easy to acquire customers.
Almost on every social media platform, people are searching for products and services that can solve their problems. It's simple leverage for you as a business owner, cause you have more buyers' intent.
This just goes a long way to reinstate the fact that they're more customers and buyers with more purchasing power waiting for you to bring your business online for them to patronize.
Large Marketing ROI
Just like sales, the marketing activities of physical stores are limited by geographical boundaries.
However, with an online store, the whole world becomes the target audience. Small business owners do not have to solely depend on the local people to see their marketing messages and come to the store. They can advertise their product and service offerings worldwide and bring in domestic and international customers.
Old marketing tactics give way to newer ones such as email marketing. While in physical stores, it is impossible to get the email addresses of every customer/visitor, online stores realize this easily. In all likelihood, SMBs get the email addresses of all their customers and visitors. Using customer browsing and buying behaviour, they send targeted marketing messages.
Explosive Revenue
The sole purpose of every business is profit-making. Over time, eCommerce has been a key factor in skyrocketing the revenues of small businesses.
Physical stores, no matter how popular are limited by the geographical area, but with an online store, the whole world becomes the playground. Small business owners do not have to depend on foot traffic and can sell their products and services across the world. They can capture new audiences that they wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. This drives conversions and sales and the small business experiences a new level of growth.
Not to forget that, unlike brick-and-mortar stores, e-stores are open 24*7/365. So the business never shuts down and customers can buy products whenever and wherever they want. This round-the-clock availability increases sales. Moreover, this advantage explains why eCommerce is important for businesses, particularly small and medium-sized ones.
Final Thoughts
Growing your business is no small task and I get it. But the advantages you posed to have with the internet are so incredible.
All over the world, small businesses are pursuing opportunities to grow their business with the internet. The results have been mind-blowing and the most important fact is that there is still room for more.
If you're yet to take your business online today, take a cue from this article and get started!
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