7 Ways E-commerce Can Benefit Your Business

By: Rizwan Ahmed On Apr 13, 2019

One of the biggest trends for businesses these days is to turn their traditional bricks and mortar stores into an e-commerce store (also called click and mortar store).

Today we look at what is e-commerce and how it can benefit your traditional business in ways you could never imagine.

What is Ecommerce?

E-commerce is simply the process of buying and selling products online over the Internet. E-commerce can mean both online retail as well as electronic transactions done by a traditional business.

One of the biggest advantages of e-commerce is that it enables one to buy and sell products around the globe, with an additional benefit of being available 24 hours. So your business can literally make money while you sleep.

Plus, you can easily access your e-commerce business or store anytime and anywhere.

For Example, A traditional clothing store which does business locally, makes limited earnings and also only covers the area nearest to the shop. It’s a small earning, with a big overhead.

When that store is moved online, and turned into an online store, the same business can now sell its merchandise (in this case cloths) all over the world and also provide the benefit of online transactions. Simply put, its the easiest way to grow your business and increase your earnings profile.

Benefits of Ecommerce

E-commerce is such an attractive option for entrepreneurs all over the world because it offers so much benefits over traditional businesses, such as:

Time and Cost Savings
Enable Deals, Bargains, Coupons, and Group Buying
Provide Information
Create Targeted Communication
Always Open
Global Reach
Automated Inventory Management

Time and Cost Savings

One of the most positives things of e-commerce is the time and cost savings. Business can provide lower prices to customers in the form of discounts and it is unnecessary for customers to travel long distances to reach their physical store. E-commerce allows them to visit the same store virtually with just few mouse clicking.

There are many online services that allow customers to find the best or affordable prices and to browse multiple e-commerce merchants.

Another main benefit of e-commerce is automation of checkout, payment, and billing.

Enable Deals, Bargains, Coupons, and Group Buying

E-commerce facilitates the delivery of deals, bargains, coupons and group buying that is very beneficial for selling products with discounts prices. These services are much easier for e-commerce store.

For Instance, if a customer has a discount coupon at one physical store and crockery at another, she may find it infeasible to avail both discounts. But customers could do that online with only a few mouse clicks.

Provide Information

There is limited information that can be displayed in a physical store and sometimes it’s difficult for employees to respond to customers who require information about product line.

E-commerce websites can provide information easily available to customers. An example is an e-commerce store which displays high-quality images of the products and features, alongside their prices.

Create Targeted Communication

When customers provide the information through registration form and buy placing cookies on the customer’s computer, an e-commerce agent can access lot of information about customers and it can be used to communicate relevant messages.

For instance, if you search some product on Amazon.com, it automatically shows listing of similar products and may also email you about related products.

Always Open

An “always open” store is more convenient to customers anywhere and anytime. Physical business usually have limited hours and days but online e-commerce shops remain open 24 hours and 365 days a year. This is hugely convenient for customers and great opportunity for the owner of e-commerce business. E-commerce websites run all the time and customers can avail any time.

Global Reach

A physical store is limited geographically to nearby markets. But e-commerce does not have such limitations. Instead you can buy and sell to anyone, anywhere in the world using digital transations.

For Instance, if you have a store in New York and want to sell in London, you will need to open another physical location. But with e-commerce store, you don’t need to open another store.

You make online e-commerce store, and reach all over the world.

Automated Inventory Management

You can manage your stock across multiple channels with convenience. Inventory management has also become increasingly easier thanks to e-commerce.

The e-commerce business has billions of dollars in inventory and costs. So you can sell and monitor your stock in your own store and also marketplace like Amazon, eBay, online Shop, etc. It’s easy to manage, create and maintain.

Since the e-commerce captures contact information in the form of email, sending out automated and customized emails is quite easy. Additionally, these businesses allow for online store customization by using cookies and other methods of monitoring a consumer’s behavior.