This is Day 8 of my 30 day writing challenge and and I can not for the life of me write anything personal. The idea for today’s post came to me as I was talking to one of my clients for whom we are building an ecommerce website. You’ve probably heard about e-commerce businesses, and how they’re one of the fastest growing business models today. You may be wondering what makes them so popular, and why an aspiring entrepreneur like you should consider one even though you don’t know how e-commerce works.
Well, allow me to show you several very good reasons why you should consider e-commerce as a great business opportunity.
1) A Wealth of Resources
If you’re too intimidated by how complicated e-commerce business is, there’s no need to be. Many websites can show you how to set up your own online store. A lot of these resources are free, and can be found as online guides, downloadable ebooks, or even videos. E-commerce software providers like Volusion and Magento even have active helpdesks to help walk customers through the process of getting started. Also, there are many online communities where e-commerce entrepreneurs gather to share stories and advice.
2) Global Market Reach
When you set up a brick-and-mortar store, your customer base is automatically limited to people within your general vicinity. But with an e-store, you’ll be able to extend your reach to any place with an Internet connection. Now the only thing limiting customers from buying from your store is the shipping charges—which savvy retailers can waive entirely if a customer purchases enough items. Just make sure you do your due diligence to identify your customers and avoid scams.
3) Flexible Office Locations
One of the beauties of having an online storefront is that you can work from anywhere you want. Customers only see what your website shows them. Your office could be in a converted trailer, your bedroom, or your neighbor’s basement, and no one would be the wiser. This allows for great flexibility when you compute costs like electricity and travel. And businesses operated from the house make you eligible for certain income tax exemptions, too!
4) Reduced Overhead
Jumping off from the previous point, you can see that having a flexible office location can drastically reduce your overhead costs. But that’s not all that you can save on. Having an online storefront means that you no longer have to employ sales people to man a counter or cash register, nor a receptionist to handle interested customers. Neither do you have to deal with utility costs or parking.
5) Smaller Capital Investment
Thanks to the reduced overhead and smaller operation, entrepreneurs can start their online business with a far lower capital than more traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. There are stories successful e-businesses being started for less than $100. This makes e-commerce a very attractive and low-risk proposition for people with unique business ideas that may not be attractive to loan officers or venture capitalists.
6) Niche Businesses
Do you have a unique, quirky idea for a business or product? One that banks and investors don’t want to risk their money on? E-commerce businesses are a great place to try your idea out. In addition to being a low-risk venue in terms of starting capital (see above), an e-store’s global reach also allows helps you to find your ideal customers, wherever they may be. You don’t have to restrict your search to the local area in order to reach your niche market. The Internet makes marketing more effective as well, as you can track down the online communities where your customers would congregate and speak to them there.
7) Tighter Process Control
An e-commerce business allows you greater control over both your operations and the customer experience. With the right technical skills (either yours or someone else’s), you can make customers input the necessary order information in the right way to ensure consistent invoicing and order forms, which will in turn speed up the transaction and fulfillment process. Many e-commerce platforms can be synced with integration software that can automatically take online order information and input it directly into your accounting software, to prevent rekeying errors and wasted hours doing data entry.
8) 24-hour Operations
Just because you need to sleep, doesn’t mean that your store has to, also. Online storefronts never shut down, and can take orders at all hours of the day. Customized ordering forms and online payment systems facilitate the business transaction without any management from you, so that you can spend time doing other things like fulfillment, product development, and marketing.
Can you think of any other advantages of e-commerce? Comment below and share!
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