Are you running a successful retail business and wondering what the next step is to expand? By the end of this, onefoursix are sure you will see the benefits of taking your business online. We are going to teach you all about the e-commerce platform, and why it will be beneficial to your company.

Some of you may be wondering, what exactly is e-commerce? E-commerce stands for electronic commerce. It refers to the activity of electronically buying or selling products through online services or over the internet. This will include the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. 

Here are onefoursix’s top benefits of using e-commerce…

#1 Low start-up costs

Going online doesn’t need to be a high-risk investment. E-commerce platforms carry a lot lower running costs than brick-and-mortar setups. Firstly, you don’t have to worry about rent or running costs like a store. This also takes away any store location concerns, and won’t restrict any consumers from finding you. Secondly, e-commerce provides an automation of checkouts, billing, payments etc. and therefore requires less employees – and so saving you money. Promoting your business online is much cheaper. SEO, pay-per-click and social media are cost-effective advertising channels that has the potential to reach a significant amount of consumers. To find out more about these sorts of services, contact our digital marketing team today.

#2 Better targeting to reach new customers

There is a potential to gain many new customers through your online presence. People can come across you through many platforms, such as social media shares, online advertisements and search engine visibility. Many customers will use the internet to browse, and come across your site with no previous awareness of it. This can bank you a whole load of potential new customers.

Digital marketing models that use e-commerce allow you to access customer information and data more easily. This particularly comes in handy when implementing retention activities, such as customer loyalty schemes. You can track shopping habits, and provide personalised offers to each customer based on their buying history. This will help you keep hold of old and new consumers.

#3 Tracking abandoned carts

Another great thing about e-commerce is that you can assess customer’s activity on the website. About 70% of customers abandon their shopping carts without making a purchase. Using Google Analytics e-commerce tracking, you can monitor your cart abandonment rate and come up with necessary measures to reduce it and boost your revenue. This tool also allows you to track check-out abandonment and implement similar measures to reduce this. Here at onefoursix we are also able to implement abandoned cart tracking specifically to your products, so you can see what’s hot and what’s not in your store.

If you find that many customers are abandoning their cart, you may want to consider why this is happening. It may include reasons such as finding a better price elsewhere, website timed out / crashed, website navigation was too complicated etc. Google Analytics will monitor the strength of your e-commerce platform and therefore, will help you identify what the problem is if you are experiencing cart abandonment. A/B testing is also a good technique to use to find the best solution to this problem. 

#4 Monitoring sales

E-commerce allows you to measure your online sales, and there are many ways you can do this. The most common e-commerce metric is sales conversion rate. If your conversion rates are optimised, it means you can confidently send traffic to your online store and expect a certain number of sales. A good equation to use for sales conversion rate is:

(# of sales) / (# of users) x 100% = Conversion Rate.

Google Analytics will help you monitor this, and also allow you to set goals to grow your e-commerce platform. 

Here are a few ways you can improve your conversion rate. Firstly, we recommend using high-quality images on your website. Adding customer reviews will also help boost your conversion rate as it builds more trust for visitors on your site. Finally, we recommend adding a live chat. Potential customers can communicate with customer service managers, answering any questions or queries customers may have. 

#5 Remain open all the time 

The great thing about e-commerce is that your store is always open. Customers have a 24-hour accessibility. There aren’t any working hour restrictions like with a physical store. Customer’s can fulfil their 3am shopping needs! This dramatically increasing sales opportunities, as well as providing a convenient and immediate shopping option for the customer. This also overcomes issues with time difference as e-commerce provides the opportunity for international customers living 10-hours ahead of your local time to access your site and see your products. Therefore, having a store open 24/7 hugely maximises your chance of sales.

#6 A more seamless experience for the consumer

E-commerce has the potential to create a more seamless and enjoyable experience for the customer, compared to a physical store. For example, instead of browsing through a whole store, a customer can quickly locate the product they want on the website through the use of categories. Secondly, e-commerce eliminates travel time & cost as customers can shop from their bed. Yes, you can argue customers may have a delivery fee, but at least they don’t have to get all dressed up and they can enjoy shopping from the comfort of their own home.

#7 Build a content marketing strategy 

Having an online presence allows you to provide more information about your business and products / services. For example, your website can include in-depth product descriptions, in-store inventory availability and an easy product price comparison. This information helps a customer make their purchasing decision both in-store or online. 

Your e-commerce platform can also provide more information through forums such as blog posts and videos. This is an opportunity for you to create helpful content about the use of your products or services, or even a chance to teach consumers more about your business through providing a ‘business story’. This platform can perform in a way that works best for you.

#8 Be in charge of dispatches

E-commerce allows you as a business to be in control of your product dispatches. The benefits of this allows you to monitor the quantity of products being ordered and shipped out. If there is an issue, you have full control over the order and can efficiently find a solution. For example, if there are any issues, you can directly contact the customer to resolve it, or you can manually cancel the order if required. This means you always have full awareness and control of your products, managing it however you feel necessary.

For more information, get in touch with our onefoursix marketing team.