This is the age of technology. People are on their mobile phones, laptops, desktops, and tablets most of the day. Most of the communication done each day is already done through gadgets and social media. That is why e-commerce websites are also gaining so much traction and popularity for businesses to build on and expand. A lot of services, shops and brands are already online and a lot of people really respond to it well because of one main reason: convenience. But that is not the only thing that drives more and more people to shop online, it is a growing industry and if you have not put up your own e-commerce website yet, then you are probably lagging behind your competitors. Haven’t you noticed that even though most brands and businesses still invest in traditional marketing such as print or magazine ads, billboards, and other out of home marketing strategies, they still allocate a huge chunk of their marketing budgets in ads and strategies targeted using social media platforms? This is the direction where marketing strategies are at, and with an e-commerce website, it would be very easy for you to build your brand online.
24/7 Convenience
When you put up an online store, people do not need to go through the hassle of going to your physical store because they could find what they are looking for and shop simply in the comfort of their own homes. Not all people have the same work schedule, some work until the wee hours of midnight, giving them no time to actually buy from physical stores. Because it is an online shop, it is open 24 hours in a day for all days of the week. With convenience, you are also giving your potential customers a sense of comfort when they are shopping and taking away the hectic vibe in a possibly messy store filled with so much people. This way, your customers have the flexibility to actually take their time and enjoy shopping in their own terms and how they like to do it.
Reach Every Corner
Building a business and a brand is tough. It is not easy to put up one store front because you have to think of the most tactical area with the most foot traffic that would help you introduce your brand to the community. You are one of the very few lucky ones if you already have multiple store fronts in different key areas, but it is one expensive feat to upkeep. If you do not have much of a capital but want to expand your reach for your business, then going online is the way to go. You would be able to cater to clients far away from your physical store. A great way to actually start up a business is to not prioritize a store front. It is better to actually spend on building an e-commerce website first to not only get your brand known and build it up, but to also drive up your sales and increase capital.
Attract Potential Customers Outside of Your Market Niche
When you have e-commerce website, your online presence would greatly increase added with your social media platforms. If you maximize your marketing strategies through your online channels, you would be able to pop up in the top pages or maybe even first top page of search engine searches. You would be able to tap different markets even those outside of your targeted niche. For example, if your business is selling basketball apparel, of course a great majority of your target market would be males. But when a girl’s boyfriend’s birthday is coming up, she could possibly search for “best basketball apparel stores” and yours could pop up, making her a potential customer. Online marketing has endless opportunities just waiting for your business could take advantage of.
Results at the Palm of Your Hand
For online sales, you would be able to get reports instantly. This holds most especially true if you hire an outsourced marketing provider to handle all of your e-commerce website building and maintaining. The beauty in that is that your data would already be analysed for you so you know which products are fast moving, which products do not sell to your market, who your market is, what your market like, and so much more information that would be beneficial in handling your business and increasing your brand. With information such as knowing what time usually your e-commerce website has the most traffic and from what area, the demographic of your market, the spending habits of your demographic, and other information, you would be able to cater your marketing and advertising strategies to be able to not only increase the traffic to your website, but more importantly to drive these potential customers to make an actual purchase.
