The increasing popularity of the Internet and advances in technology has made buying and selling goods online easier than ever. According to Statista, the e-commerce market will grow from $ 2.3 trillion in 2018 to $ 4.88 trillion in 2021. Most of this growth will come from popular markets the potential of sales from online stores will contribute as well.
Having your own website will diversify your online presence, improve e-commerce sales and conversion rate and protect your brand from fluctuation and ever-changing rules that affect marketplaces. E-commerce websites are a revolution in the shopping space, now people can shop from the comfort of their own homes and even run their own businesses!
As a seller, having an e-commerce website in addition to your brick and mortar store, provides you with an avenue to inform your customers about your business, present your products, and allow them to make payments online.
After witnessing the rapid growth of the online marketplace, here are some reasons why it is important to have an e-commerce website for your store:
1. Opens The Door To The Global Marketplace
When you run a physical store, you only serve the local marketplace. However, handling an e-commerce site gives you the ability to inform and deliver your products and services to customers all around the world, regardless of the distance and time zones.
No matter day or night, your website remains open at all times and the customers will appreciate being able to shop around the clock, for what they want when they want. Moreover, you can improve sales, because your website will remain active all 7 days of the week. Websites are active 24 hours of the day. When compared to the usual opening hours of a physical store, having a website gives you an extra advantage.
2. Strengthens Your Brand
If you are moving away from e-commerce giants like Amazon or eBay to your own e-commerce website, it gives you more control over your brand, allowing you to expand your offering on your own terms. If you consolidate your brand on your own e-commerce website, you can tell customers that they are buying from you, not from an e-commerce giant.
This gives you more ways to generate brand loyalty because you are the owner of the sale and therefore the customer. Your goal should be for consumers to associate your product with your brand and think about your brand when they think about anything to buy from that category of products.
When you run your own website, you can retain complete control over its look, content, and performance. The possibilities are endless. You can even boost your brand with ideas like using custom packing boxes to make a long-lasting impression on your customers.
3. Reduces Competition
If you were an Amazon or eBay seller earlier, you would probably notice that a bunch of competitors would list products similar to yours every day. This applies to all products in all industries and means that you have to compete with a pool of suppliers in local regions for the same target group, offering similar products with similar prices.
The only factors that beat the competition would be to reduce price, reduced quality, or reduced the variety of products you sell. Not only is there is no room to run an e-commerce business plan in such marketplaces, brand loyalty does not matter here, as brands that have created loyal customers would have their own website.
Having your own online e-commerce business is one of the main reasons why you have loyal customers. With your own e-commerce store, you have the freedom to serve your customers directly and thus build good relationships with them.
In addition, you understand all the details of your business and can take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way.
4. You Can Make Your Own Rules
By running your own e-commerce website, you have the freedom to set the price as well as list products that cater to your customer’s persona. On your website, you are free from barriers and:
- You can add photos and videos according to your needs.
- You can change the design and navigation of your website.
- You can change the color scheme and theme of the website.
- You can change the position of buttons and text.
- You can add a blog.
- You can tell your story on the ‘about my business’ page of your website.
- You can introduce some customers and make portfolios or reviews.
Most importantly, you do not have to worry too much about your competitors, because their offerings would not appear next to your products, unlike how it was when you selling on an e-commerce marketplace like Amazon or eBay.
Moreover, you can decide how products should be bundled and rated, and whether you want to offer free shipping or not. Giving free coupons and freebies can produce a positive impact on the behavior of your consumer, as consumers assume that you are doing good business.
Having your own website makes it easier to experiment with different offers. You do not have to worry about the impact of these changes on your profit margins, because you do not need to give a percentage of each sale to any third party site. With a website, you finally control your business and have the opportunity to test and validate what works.
5. You Can Run Personalized Marketing Campaigns
The fact that you have your own website does not mean that customers come to you automatically. Once you set up an e-commerce website, you should work on campaigns that bring buyers to your site.
The first step in customer acquisition is to direct traffic to your site. It is not always easy to set up the right campaigns. However, you have much more flexibility in how you can get people to find you and buy from you.
Some common tactics include using Facebook and Google ads to reach your audience. You can also create content for your website by searching for and incorporating keywords that help users find solutions or products that you offer.
According to Clutch, 37% of buyers say that discounts or coupons can motivate them to return to a website they visited earlier. In general, there are countless ways to increase awareness of your brand. These include creating videos or contests that can lead to a sale.
Having your own e-commerce website is important in this competitive space. Your website will provide a great way to strengthen your brand, win loyal customers, gain new knowledge, and be creative in your marketing.
Let us know in the comments section below if you have any suggestions or query regarding the article and contact us if you are looking for custom e-commerce development.