Is it time for your brick-and-mortar business to hawk its wares online? Maybe you’re a would-be entrepreneur who has a great product ready to bring to the market. Either way, you’re going to need an online store so you can take advantage of the tremendous consumer base that spends billions of dollars annually shopping on the web.
There are two kinds of businesses or entrepreneurs that should consider getting into the ecommerce world: Small retailers with physical stores that are already seeing success that wish to take their businesses to the next level and passionate, driven individuals who have unique products that would sell well online.
But does the idea of building an online store make you roll your eyes and cringe? The thought of undergoing such as task can be daunting, for sure. However nowadays, it’s easier than ever to set up an online store by simply making use of an ecommerce platform.
Here are 3 compelling reasons why getting into the ecommerce world is a great idea, just in case you’re still hesitant to get that online store up and running.
Shoppers are Spending Lots of Money Online
According to the US Dept of Commerce, web sales totaled more than $304 billion in 2014 in the United States alone. Forrester Research tells us that consumers in the US will spend a whopping $327 billion online in 2016. Forrester also says that many consumers prefer the web to brick-and-mortar retailers in large part because of the deals that can be found online and because consumers are spending more time online due to the popularity of smartphones and tablets.
Since customers are already using the internet find things to purchase, ecommerce entrepreneurs do not need to build demand. Instead they need to tap into the massive, interested market that already exists. While being successful at selling products and services online is not a guarantee, it is far easier to market to people who are already looking for a product than it is to convince potential customers that they need to purchase something in the first place.
It’s Easy to Start an Ecommerce Business
Back when online retail giant Amazon got started in the mid 1990s, opening an online business required a great deal of technical and marketing expertise, lots of money and a whole lot of time. Amazon told its initial investors that it would be at least five years before it made a profit and on its way toward success, it lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
But today, ecommerce entrepreneurs can get a user-friendly, well-stocked and successfully-marketed e-store up and running in a month or two while investing relatively little money. How is this possible? First and foremost, there are many great ecommerce platforms available that make it super easy to set up an online store. Secondly, distributors and manufacturers are offering their support for online merchants like never before in history. And, selling unique niche products that large retailers don’t sell is quite easy thanks to the traffic that search engines are able to generate.
You Can Do Business Around the Clock, 365 Days a Year
One of the biggest advantages to setting up an ecommerce site is the fact that you can do business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There is no other way possible to sell your products and services while you are fast asleep! And, the world wide web allows a business to become a global player without investing large sums of money to do so. The many available ecommerce platforms out there only charge a nominal fee to access customers from around the world. With more and more consumers the world over turning to their desktops and mobile devices when shopping for the products and services they need, now is a great time to launch an ecommerce site so you can succeed at selling what you offer online.
