It’s hardly news that e-commerce is a vast industry. More and more sales are made online each and every day. Yet many businesses still aren’t taking advantage of this trending retail phenomenon. If you have a physical store location, you might think of online commerce as a separate realm that doesn’t apply to you. The fact is, however, that almost any business can benefit by setting up a shop online. The most apparent reason to do this is that it gives you a chance to reach more customers, hence sell more products. Nice as this is, the benefits don’t stop there.

The Scope of E-commerce

While everyone knows how big Amazon is, not everyone realizes just how massive e-commerce as a whole has become the last few years. Close to 80 percent of U.S. internet users have made at least one purchase online. The United States is currently the world’s second-largest e-commerce market at $340 billion. Led by Amazon and Walmart, people are even starting to shop for groceries and everyday necessities online. In other words, online commerce is beginning to take over areas that were traditionally the realm of retail stores. There are several reasons that e-commerce is growing so fast.

• Consumers have more choices and can find exactly what they’re looking for at the best price. People can order the perfect item even if they live far away from you.
• It’s incredibly convenient. Someone can shop at any time of day or any day of the week without leaving their homes. Consumers have quickly become accustomed to getting products delivered to their doorstep.
• The popularity of mobile devices parallels the growth of e-commerce. Mobile technology is making it even easier to shop and place orders online. As more and more people use smartphones and tablets, online shopping will similarly increase.

There’s little doubt that e-commerce is here to stay. The next question to consider is how and why you should get involved.

Why Create an E-commerce Store?

You can enjoy the benefits of e-commerce, even if most of your business is done at your store, office, warehouse, or other physical location. Selling online can help and complement the rest of your business.

• Expand your customer base. If you already sell physical products at a retail location, there’s no reason you can’t sell them online as well. This gives you the chance to expand your business to customers all over the world.
• Create or sell signature products. If you don’t want to sell hundreds or thousands of products online, you can still focus on certain essential products you want to promote. This can help to build your brand. For example, a restaurant can sell its signature salsa or barbecue sauce. Any company can sell branded t-shirts and baseball caps.
• Develop stronger relationships with customers. Attracting loyal customers who regularly return is a crucial goal for any business. With an online store, you can develop efficient ways of keeping in touch with customers. You can build an email list and send them updates on your latest products and promotions.
• Get more social media traffic. E-commerce can help you leverage the power of social media. You can link to your online store pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Encourage your employees to share these social media posts. Another way to promote on social media is to run a contest where you give away products.
• Build your reputation with more reviews. Selling online can help you get more reviews for your business. This can help you generate more in-person as well as online sales.
• Keep accurate analytics. Tracking your results is critical for any business. This is simple with e-commerce as you can track key metrics with both organic and paid advertising campaigns. We’ll help you by monitoring data such as visitor behavior, demographics, conversions, and more. This makes it possible to improve your results over time.

Let Us Create Your Company Store

If you’re ready to start reaping the many advantages of e-commerce, now is the ideal time to open your own digital store. Don’t have the time or expertise to build your own store? We can help. We now offer e-commerce solutions for businesses and can get you selling online before you know it. There are some critical benefits to letting us create your online store.

• Save time and focus on running your business. There’s a steep learning curve when it comes to building an online store. Letting experts handle the process frees up your time and helps you get off to a strong start.
• We’ll design a store perfectly customized to your needs. Every business is different, so it’s important to create a store that’s aligned with your customers’ preferences.
• We’ll help you get more search engine traffic. Every product you post online means more content for Google to index. Your product names and descriptions are all keywords that make it easier for your customers to find you.
• Provide marketing departments with more freedom and control over ordering products for the business. Companies with multiple departments may need to get approval from marketing before placing orders. A company store would allow all items to be pre-approved by the marketing department, creating a more seamless process.
• Highly scalable. With a brick and mortar business, you’re limited by the amount of available physical space. If you need more space, you have to pay for it. With e-commerce, on the other hand, you can easily add products and categories. We can help you start at whatever level you’re comfortable with and scale-up.

As huge as e-commerce is right now, it’s only going to get bigger in the coming years. E-marketer projects that, by 2021, global e-commerce will be close to $5 trillion. As consumers get ever more comfortable with shopping online, it makes sense to get involved as soon as possible. Setting up an e-commerce site can seem intimidating if it’s not your specialty. Let us build your customized online store so you can start getting your share of this gigantic market.