by Simon Horton, founder of ShopIntegrator.com
Either flow with the water or be ready to drown. And for businesses today the water-flow is towards the web. If you are asking me why, here comes my counter question – why not?
Your customers are online and so are most of your competitors. There is no reason for you to lag behind unless you are thinking to retire. Internet is not a fad but here to stay, it is the present and the future. So if you want to see your business flourish in future, it is vital to imbibe the trend.
The exponential rise of ecommerce illustrates the acceptance of internet as a major marketplace globally. Online sales metrics have reached a high of $248.7 billion in 2014. US and China top the charts accounting for more than 50% online sales of the entire world, despite the fact that US is seeing a recession, which asserts the prominence of e-market.
The rapid rise of sites like eBay and Amazon have knocked down traditional sellers, but this is not just limited to ecommerce sites, other small to medium sized companies have also successfully established their online presence to fruition.
Here are a few reasons why your business should have online roots:
The Convenience Factor.
Bringing customers to your shop is much easier on the internet than physical world. With no botheration to drive to the marketplace, stand in long billing queues and compare among different stores; customers can select, compare and make purchases comfortably from their homes, offices and even while travelling.
Whether it is placing an order or conducting online transaction, consumers have developed a comfort level with online money handling. Moreover you are spared of the customer service calls informing the customers on their order or complaint status (unless required). You can upload the status on the website which can be later viewed by your customer.
Since smart devices are in every hand and the place where consumers spend their maximum time is internet. A business that does not have an online presence is considered non-existent. Today a buying decision is made based on an online research. The names which do not reflect in the search results are left out. Therefore a good website is mandatory for your businesses. In short it acts as your i-card. And if you have not developed a website yet, don’t worry. Setting up a website is easy and can be done quickly. Even adding an ecommerce section to a website is no trouble. There are built-in ecommerce tools available in the market and all you have to do is just integrate them to your website to launch your store.
Launching products is no more a headache as it used to be a few years down the lane; now along with smooth launch of your products you can even educate customers about new products or modifications in the existing versions.
The Cost Effectiveness.
The price of establishing a business website or an e-store is less than half of your physical establishment costs. A physical infrastructure costs anytime more than a website. You no more require an office in a costly urban location for public recognition. With an online existence you can work from the remotest of locations and still reach out to the world. A physical location bears minimal significance in today’s times. And this is your added saving.
Internet has also erased the routine job hassles; employees sitting at disparate locations can coordinate with each other and submit their assignments to the client.
High Accessibility.
For B2B industries online market places offer a wide horizon and the advantage of connecting to endless prospects. A physical shop has restrictions – it can get customers only from the neighborhood, the chance of getting new customers is a rare occurrence. But on the internet there are no geographical barriers. You can interact and do business with anyone from any place on the earth.
Also your physical shop opens for limited duration and the sale can occur in only those timings, whereas an online business which is open 24 hours, increases your ability to serve and profit more by customers contacting your site anytime in the day.
Internet marketing is quick brand awareness medium. You no longer have to wait for your prospects to walk past the billboard to notice your advertisement.
Easier Customer Connection.
You can track down your customers and engage them in one-to-one conversations, through social media and forums.
If you are looking for a new idea, you can launch an online survey to gather consumer thoughts and expectations. If you have already launched a product you can gain feedback by opening your gates to candid opinions. Some of these user testimonials can be useful for your website.
As far as customer service is concerned, it has become effortless. Your customer can submit his complaint online and it gets registered in your ticketing system (if you use any). You will be notified of this complaint immediately and can work upon the resolution. And not just this, the customer can also track the status of his complaint. This way you can build deep relations with your target customers by constantly being in contact.
Auxiliary marketing features.
Conducting a business online you can experiment anything from a promotion technique to a blogging idea or any website design – because you can always go back with a snap of a finger, not that – it was not possible earlier. But the time taken for a brand to get acknowledged by its audiences was so much that reverting it back was a nightmare.
Marketing on internet you outreach larger audience groups. A referral link or advertisement window is visible to everyone visiting the webpage.
You can create a brand persona of your choice through dynamic participation in public groups and discussions. An active social presence rewards extensive exposure to your brand.
Every marketer or business owner wishes to know about the outcome of his efforts. You can track visitor counts, website popularity and brand awareness through tools and techniques that fetch you faster results for fore-planning.
To sum up all I said – You may be doing well even without an online presence, but isn’t there always a scope to better your finances. You can never achieve a satisfactory state in this aggressive competition. But an online presence definitely relieves you from the physical stress of running behind your customers door to door.
Globe is the limit, for those expanding their businesses through internet. If you dream to deliver your products across the world, then this will just make your task easier.
Simon Horton is the founder of ShopIntegrator.com, a Hosted Shopping Cart Store Add-In. His years of experience has helped him setting up this platform. Feel free to reach him out on Google+.
