There are many benefits both for your customers and for your business to having an E-Commerce website. It can provide growth and scale to your business far beyond a physical store, whilst providing lower operating costs day to day.
At the same time giving your customers an opportunity to shop on your online store from anywhere, without even leaving their home or office. They can even do it any time of day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Providing customers with a positive experience that meets their needs, increasing your ability to convert new customers and gain repeat customers.
In our blog post we will look at the main advantages to Ecommerce websites and why it is worth considering having an Ecommerce website for your business.
What is an Ecommerce Site?
Firstly it is important to cover off what we mean when discussing Ecommerce websites. An Ecommerce business gives customers the ability to buy from a business, specifically for shopping online.
A business can directly sell to customers without any location restriction by having an Ecommerce site. The best way to picture what an Ecommerce store is to picture a virtual shopfront.
An online business allows the company to include as many details as they wish on their product pages and product categories that would be relevant for their target audience.
This could be high quality images of product photos, product description, product title and supporting social proof such as customer photos and reviews.
A successful Ecommerce business will be device friendly such as mobile phones, as well as tablets and desktop. Customers can purchase online from anywhere, so it is important it is a user friendly online shopping experience for each device type and screen size.
Since Covid-19 the demand for online shopping has hugely increased, with that demand still continuing in the years that have followed. This has been due to customers seeing the ease and simplicity to order and find their products on an E Commerce site, versus visiting physical stores.
No Limitations
Having an Ecommerce website gives businesses the ability to increase their opportunities with new and broader customer bases. A physical store has limitations due to how far a customer would be willing to travel to your shop. However, there is no limitation for great Ecommerce websites.
It is possible to sell your products to anywhere in world if you wish to. It could be you wish to stick to one country such as the UK, or once ready to grow even further with your Ecommerce journey you can broaden this to other countries and even global if you wish.
This opens the doors to have customers which otherwise wouldn’t have known about your business or been able to buy your products. A great Ecommerce website will have the needed delivery options and be simple to use for customers.
So they have a seamless shopping experience, wherever their delivery needs to arrive. Regardless of if it is local or further afield abroad.
Customer Experience
A huge advantage to including having an E-Commerce website is the option it gives customers to be able to make a purchase anytime, anywhere.
They can complete the entire sales funnel right from their sofa or when out and about. They do not have to rely on being in the right location of a store or their opening times.
Not only does this increase the opportunity to increase your sales with an Ecommerce site. It also benefits a business from an order processing point of view. The orders can then be processed at a time that suits you. With customers being able to purchase online at any time, you do not need staff available at the time of the order.
If you have any concern about questions they may have, interactive elements can be included to benefit customer service such as a chatbot to answer questions. This can help to avoid cart abandonment.
As customers can order themselves, as the Ecommerce business grows, there isn’t a need for more staff to be available to take orders.
Due to the ease and convenience Ecommerce websites customers often end up having a higher average value order, versus if had visited a store. Also the best ecommerce website design will account for displaying similar/recommended products giving a personalised experience.
Potentially enticing customers to add more to their cart than they originally went to the online store for. Under the shopping cart icon, they can then easily proceed with their purchases.
Payment Options
Many customers will have a desired method of payment, which can actually be a main reason a cart is abandoned if the payment option they wished for isn’t offered. Losing out on business to another customer.
However an Ecommerce website can include multiple payment options to suit all customers. Payment options can be set up to be quick and easy to use for customers, so that there is no barrier to completing a purchase.
It is an important part of the web design to ensure it is an effective and simple process to avoid losing either existing customers or potential customers new to your business.
From the knowledge you have of your customer base, a professional website can accommodate including the relevant payment methods you need to provide the best opportunity for converting a customer. This could be using payment gateways as an example.
Cost Effective
One of the main advantages for a business having an Ecommerce website are the cost benefits. Without having an Ecommerce site it can limit the growth for a business, without taking on higher costs.
For example if a store is succeeding then potentially would need to look at a bigger location or having a second premises. Even if a small business with a store, there are still many costs which will impact on profits.
This would include the rent, bills such as electricity, water and staff costs for it to be operational during the open times. Even with these costs, it isn’t a 24 hour, seven days a week business.
Whereas, selling online does not have in comparison these regular outgoings, and allows to be operational all the time and to receive orders from any location online.
There is also the benefit of being able to manage stock, logistics easily etc. which can be achieved successfully with online stores. Giving the ability to grow and scale your business, whilst it remaining cost effective to expand and deliver long term growth.
Build On Your Success
As part of your marketing strategy you can regularly review trends or patterns occurring in your Ecommerce website. Through the use of analytics you will be able to understand more about the top selling products, cart abandonment rates, average order value and potential buying patterns.
This analysis will help to plan and strategise the right ways to test and ultimately further improve the sales and conversions being made on the website. It could be that some products are in need of professional photography or affordable prices in comparison to your competitors.
Often data is used to help choose the right approach for your marketing efforts, such as email campaigns, remarketing campaigns or specific offers made available directly on the Ecommerce website.
Typically on websites, visitors are more happy to share their personal data for using for future campaigns. It can benefit a business to make the most of this information, when delivered effectively with a personal touch, it can help to build a loyal customer base who return for future and regular purchases.
How Can We Help?
We hope you found our blog post useful to learn more about E-Commerce websites and the advantages both for potential customers and for businesses. Having an E-Commerce website when designed and built effectively, can enable businesses to grow their sales and with endless scalability.
At 1PCS Creative we are experienced at providing E-Commerce sites which deliver results for our clients, helping them to reach their business goals and growth plans. Please feel free to get in touch to discuss with one of our team, we would be happy to help.
Ben Webster
Creative director at 1PCS. Addicted to design, SEO, pizza and helping companies big and small succeed online.