Over the past decade, e-commerce has changed business practices across the country. The number of businesses in India seeking an online presence is multiplying.
With the pandemic, the need to have a website and digital marketing strategy in your business has become necessary. From local markets to multinational companies, everyone is seeking digital help to benefit from virtual shopping trends.
Many businesses delay going digital because of limited knowledge, lack of time and such reasons. But the need of the hour is to take your business and grow to the next level. Here are some top benefits of going online:
1. Low operational costs
Running an online store involves less money compared to running a traditional business. In typical business practice, location and premise add heavily to the investment, but online stores do not come with these expenses.
The profit made from selling to the customers online easily compensates the cost of developing and designing an e-store.
Opening up an online store is a lot more economical and reasonable for small and medium-sized business owners who want to operate and grow with limited finances.
Today, a business idea doesn’t need a physical store, insurance or infrastructure but just needs a well-designed website to sell products and services.
2. Increased revenue
Physical stores, no matter how popular are limited by the geographical area, but with an online store, the whole world becomes the market.
Small business owners do not have to only depend on people visiting your store, instead, they can sell their products and services across the country.
They can capture new audiences who they wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. This adds to conversions and sales and the small business experiences a new level of growth.
3. Always Open
Unlike conventional stores, e-stores are open 24*7/365. With a shop that’s always open, customers can purchase 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.
4. Gain More Customers
Traditionally retail depended on branding and customer relationships. However, things have drastically changed with online retail where potential buyers search for products and services online.
Search engines drive massive amounts of traffic to online stores that result in an increased number of customer reach.
This process helps in boosting brand awareness. Small businesses just need to develop pages that can be indexed by search engine crawlers and paired with customers’ online search queries. This is one of the best ways to attract the target audience.
Consistent SEO efforts ensure recurring monthly traffic that can be easily converted into a steady flow of incoming sales.
5. Far-reaching social media channels
Impressed with the quality of products and services along with the overall shopping experience, the majority of consumers voice their opinions and recommend e-stores to their friends on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more.
Word of mouth recommendation over social media helps customers to choose small business online stores over mega-marts.
In this way, small businesses who till now were way behind their larger counterparts are able to lock down the buyers with superior quality product and service offerings and personalized shopping experiences delivered through eCommerce solutions.
6. Know Your Customer and His Buying Habits
Building customer data is one of the most essential practices for a small business, online stores empower SMEs to keep a constant eye on customers’ buying habits and interests.
Based on the data, businesses can create a plan to offer a personalised experience to match customers’ requirements. They satisfy customer’s needs consistently, sell more efficiently and build long-lasting relationships with them.
7. Online Presence
Customers prefer eCommerce solutions and expect businesses to be available online. Small businesses that have dedicated online storefronts stay strongly in the competition and prevent their audience from flocking toward the competitors to make an online purchase.
Final Thoughts
Going online is a necessity for today’s small businesses. It boosts the SMEs businesses and gives them a chance to attract customers worldwide.
If you’re interested in setting up an eCommerce store or need guidance, talk to us.
We at Boosts 360 specialise in helping business make their website, perform digital marketing and set up an eCommerce store – all from a single app. It doesn’t need any coding experience or a lot of additional time to now go online with plans starting at just ₹410/mo.