ECOMMERCE

A WEBSITE IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST ONLINE PRESENCE, communication and marketing. In many types of businesses (books, music, cars, groceries, houses, flowers, toys, and gifts) e-commerce systems on the internet are vital sales tools. They are a fantastic way for your customers to interact with you and to buy your products, from the comfort of their home or office.

But e-commerce is not just about the purchase. Whether you’re a start-up, in your early market development stage or (re)defining your marketing message, getting as much feedback as possible is an essential part of the process. We’ve discussed this already, in some detail, and we know that marketing, testing and capturing customer feedback can be an expensive exercise. But e-commerce systems allow your business to do all three very cost-effectively. So, e-commerce allows you to:

–  sell products (especially commodities);

–  give your customers the opportunity to explore your products in detail, in their own time and space; and

–  collect customer data to validate your business model and value proposition.

OTHER BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING E-COMMERCE INCLUDE:

– LOW SETUP AND RUNNING COSTS

The cost of setting up an e-commerce website is much less than setting up an office, or brick and mortar store. Also, the sales and product delivery system for your business is automated online. This means you save on other important operational costs, including rent, electricity and employee salaries.

– OPERATE ANYWHERE, ANYTIME

E-commerce websites reduce many of the geographical and time restrictions normally associated with brick and mortar stores. Customers from around the world can buy from you at any time and can also assess your products at any time. Equally, the business can access the e-commerce management back-end from anywhere in the world. All that is required is internet access.

– IT’S FANTASTICALLY MEASURABLE

E-commerce websites track and measure most aspects of the customer’s behavior. You, and the business, can access a huge range of statistics, including:

  – the number of website visitors.
  – the number of processed orders through your site.
  – the cart abandonment rate.
  – essential customer demographics (age, gender, geographic location etc.).
  – time spent on each page of the site.
  – precise figures as to how many people have clicked into your website thanks to adverts (or other types of marketing or communication) on other websites, giving you important insights into which communication efforts are working, and which aren’t.