Without
doubt, the Internet has really changed the world for good. It has created
room for the global community to connect, ways for a common person to be more
educated with random information and it has, to a great extent, revolutionized
the world of commerce.
Clearly,
the everyday store front we’re used to will forever remain, but with the
emergence of virtual stores online, ecommerce businesses have made it so much
easier and much more pocket-friendly to start your own business. Anyone
who has ever had it in mind to open their own store should first consider
starting up an ecommerce business for a few reasons.
Reasons to start up your own ecommerce
right away
Let’s
take Amazon as an example it has grown a tremendous amount over the years.
Bloomberg’s reports that Amazon's annual revenue in 2010 was $34 billion. As of
last year, that grew to $107 billion. The number of employees has also grown
tremendously from 33,700 workers in 2010 to 268,900 as of June. So you can see
how the Internet shopping is on the increase.
There
are many reasons why you should startup your own ecommerce business, but the
most important one is a very low start up costs (yeah, you don’t need to spend
a fortune). When a friend launched his coffee shop, he spent over £100,000
in the initial start up and build-out of the space (if you ask me, that’s way
expensive).
After
the startup investment, he then had to keep all items in stock and in large
quantities just to make things more appealing to the eyes. Starting a
personal ecommerce business would have been 1% of the amount it cost me to
start up a traditional store front. The startup investment is nothing in
comparison.
Secondly,
an ecommerce business will waste no time to increase sales, decrease costs and
thus, maximize profits. This is definitely the goal of any business owner
and it is guaranteed when opening for business online.
An
ecommerce business also gives a broad scope of influence. With a local
storefront, only those in a 20 mile radius of your store will be able to shop
there. But with an ecommerce business, you have the opportunity of selling
to a bigger audience, as the internet grows bigger every mili-second.
You
can easily sell your items to a customer around the globe without ever having
to leave the comfort of your own home (easy, right?).
You
won’t only witness increasing profit, an ecommerce business will also help you
decrease your costs. The cost of manufacturing the product, storing the
product, marketing it and distributing it are greatly minimized by using
different trading models.
This
makes your business more manageable financially and physically. For
example, if you owned a store front, you may have to pay an employee for an
entire hour even though not one customer has come through your door. With
your own ecommerce business, there isn't any down time, plus you witness a very
high productivity rate.
Another
great reason why you should consider owning an ecommerce business is that you
can easily reach a narrow market. It is quite simple when marketing to
narrow your target audience and focus more specifically on the demographic that
is more likely to have the interest in your products.
The
best part of all these is that creating an online store is that it has never
been easier and more available to you (you can access your store even in the
toilet). If you are a person who has always dreamed of starting your own
business, but don't have the large financial investment you need to make it
successful, then starting your own online store will be the best choice to
make.
If
you are still skeptical about starting up your own ecommerce, this little
estimate will help:
Due
to so many advancements in the internet, we have so many mobile users today.
According to results collated from independent surveys, currently, more than
80% internet users make use of mobile phones, which makes them have access to
everything they need at the tips of their fingers.
Also,
based on studies, more people prefer buying from online stores these days than
they did in the previous years. In fact, an average online store makes more
sales that the local stores we have.
Interesting facts and benefits of owning an
ecommerce
üYou Can Easily Target Your Audience: Another
major benefit of starting an online business is that it allows you to easily
target your audience. And assuredly, targeting the right audience can help to
increase your sales, which in result helps in the growth of your online
business.
üYou Make
Sales 24/7:
By owning an online store, you can make sales all round the
clock (even while you sleep). There is no limit as to when you can sell your
goods. Since we have more people buying online than we have them buying from
local shops, there is a high tendency that you get sales every time.
üYou don’t
pay heavy rents:
Owning an online store doesn’t attract paying heavy rents,
unlike the local stores we have around, where you need to pay a fortune monthly
or yearly.
üThe
growth of Social Media:
With the growth of Social media networks, you get
help from friends and family to grow your business and showcase your products
or services for you.
Judging
by the facts above, you will agree with me that setting up an online store is the
way forward for the future.
