Benefits of an Ecommerce Store

eCommerce, also known as electronic commerce or Online Stores, is a business model that involves transactions taking place over the internet. These types of websites provide businesses with the ability to sell their goods and services online as opposed to selling at brick and mortar establishments.  A new business model that has reshaped the modern marketplace in recent years.

A regular brick and mortar store is limited by the geographical area that you can service. Nowadays, the ease of access to internet stores removed the geographical limits of a brick and mortar and increased the demand for online purchasing. This web technology opened new markets to small businesses around the world.

There are many alternatives online marketplaces for selling your products online. You can try to sell your product on your own online store or try one of the most popular marketplaces. At first glance, online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay seem to be the number one alternatives, due to the popularity of their brand. By using these services small business owners gain by increasing exposure of their products, and the marketplaces gain an expanded product range without having to increase their inventory.

Third-Party Marketplaces

Selling on Amazon and eBay

Amazon and eBay draw millions of active buyers to their marketplaces every month. Therefore, taking advantage of these third-party selling platforms allows your business to quickly expand into new markets utilizing their popularity to your advantage. Once you’ve got a new buyer in the door, even if it is through a marketplace. You’ve got a chance to win repeat customers while promoting your brand.

Decreasing the Cost of Inventory Management

One of the great benefits of online stores is that it can decrease the cost of managing your inventory by outsourcing inventory management. This is called drop shipping is an eCommerce business model where you can sell physical products online without having to deal with an inventory. Instead of purchasing a large amount of expensive inventory, you can simply partner with a drop shipping company and list their product for sale.

In simpler terms, this is how dropshipping works:

1. The customer places an order for a product on your eCommerce Store
2. Then, automatically or manually you forward the order and customer details to the dropship supplier
3. The dropship supplier packages and ships the order directly to the customer in the retailer’s name, and charge you only for the price of the shipped item

Own Your eCommerce Website

eCommerce Website Benefits

The Internet might be the single most important facet of modern society and owning your e-commerce websites provide your business with an opportunity to open your business doors 24/7. Among the top advantages of starting an e-commerce business, are the removal of geographical limitations. An online store can definitely be beneficial if you already own a brick and mortar store. Consequently, you’ll be gaining new customers with an increase in search engine visibility to your product. It also increases branding awareness and helps your business rank higher with local SEO.

An important advantage of owning your Online Store is having control over the limits to the number of products or services you can sell. This freedom gives you the option to list products with multiple variants and SKUs. So, whether you’re a small boutique or a large business, you can showcase whatever you’ve got in-store.

Digital Content

Today’s new technology and fast internet speed open the door to new markets and products. It allows you to sell digital goods like music, videos, or books directly to your customers. This technology allows you to create virtual warehouses and stores unlimited copies of these digital items. Cutting down on employee payroll expenses. As a result of selling more digital content while increasing your earnings.

Online Memberships and Product Subscriptions

Another advantage of an online store is that you can sell almost any kind of product or service through an online membership/subscription model. The only real limit is your imagination. Whether you’re selling an ongoing monthly subscription or an annual product delivery you can set up recurring and limited subscriptions that best meet your customers’ needs. Save money and time by managing all of your sales within your own website.

While the marketplace infrastructure has many advantages than your own online store. It is important to remember that you are not the third party marketplace-main priority. They want the buyer to focus on the products, not the sellers. Amazon and eBay have the power to restrict the degree to which you can brand your presence. They can dictate what items you can and or cannot sell on your own websites.