Advantages of Running an E-Commerce Website

Running an e-commerce website is the new way of running a traditional high street store. For those of you who are feeling a bit wary about starting one then fear not. There are plenty of advantages to running an e-commerce store as opposed to a traditional store. There is a reason that places like Shopify are so popular. Read on for a list of advantages that an e-commerce site has.

Geography 

With traditional retail stores you are incredibly limited by geography. Because your store is located in a certain place you can only attract customers within a certain radius. With an e-commerce site you aren’t limited by anything – the whole world is a potential customer. And with the rise in the popularity of smart phones – people can visit your site from literally anywhere in the world. 

Lower costs

When running a traditional store you will incur several costs that you don’t encounter when running an e-commerce store. Because you are run online, you don’t need a base of operations that will cost you a fortune. You can run an e-commerce store from your own house. All you need is a place to store your products and a computer. 

You can also save money by not having to hire personnel to run the store too. And saving money by using more cost-effective advertising methods. This includes search engine traffic and social media ads. 

New customers 

While we’re on the subject, online retail is driven by traffic from search engines. Customers of online stores often get to your site by clicking on links in search engine results. Often this allows people who have never heard of your site to end up there and potentially buy your products. 

Finding your niche. 

If you have a niche product, a traditional store may not be the best thing for you. When you have a physical store, a niche product won’t bring in as many customers. It will be harder to find people who are interested in your product within the location that you’re based. However, by having an e-commerce store you can find people from all over the world who will be interested. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, there will be people who want to buy it. 

Sell anything 

Following on from the idea of finding your niche, online stores allow you to sell anything you want (as long as it’s legal!) Shopify – one of the world’s leading e-commerce sites now allows people to sell concert tickets. This means that if your company specialises in tickets for concerts, sports matches or theatre events then you too can go into online retail. Many e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, take care of the payment processing for you but there are specialist payment gateways cropping up that offer a more personal touch.

No down time

With an e-commerce store you never have to close. Having a regular store means that you have to close sometimes, unless you want to pay people to keep it open 24/7. But with an online shop you can remain open at all hours, every day of the year. This means that your opportunities for selling are much greater because you can reach customers all the time. 

More convenient

In today’s day and age, people want things faster and faster and so being able to access things instantly is a huge selling point. Customers won’t have to travel to a certain destination to find what you’re selling, which will appeal to them. You can also offer speedy delivery options which will bring more people to you because it means they can have their item quicker. 

There are so many advantages to having an e-commerce store, these are just a few. If you’re interested in running your own store then why not have a look at places like Shopify to see how you can get started.  

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