Online shopping has experienced exponential growth since the COVID 19 pandemic, increasing by 13.7% in 2021 compared to the previous year, which is why many companies have seen online shopping as a business opportunity.
In short, we define e-commerce as a business model based on buying and selling goods and services on the internet.
What are some of the advantages of online shopping?
1. Greater audience reach
It gives us the opportunity to increase customer reach since there are no geographical limits. This will lead to more sales and profits.
2. No opening hours
The Internet does not have opening hours or public holidays, therefore, our business will not have them either. Online shopping will allow us to open 24 hours a day, facilitating commercial transactions at any time and day of the year.
3. Lower costs of an online shop
The start-up and maintenance cost of an online shop is lower than that of a physical shop due to the savings on rentals, buying premises and basic supplies.
We will only have to worry about having a good website design and keeping it updated so that it works properly.
4. Data collection and personalised experience
When an online purchase is made, the customer must provide a series of personal data for the purchase to be completed . This and other data, such as the money spent or the type of products consumed, can be used to provide a more personalised experience, showing us what best suits our customers and how we can improve.
5. Communication
The Internet offers us the opportunity to have closer contact with customers, they can leave us reviews, requests, complaints… which will help us to improve and solve any problems they may have. This will allow us to improve the shopping experience on our online store.
6. Simultaneous order processing
Orders and purchases can be made simultaneously online. There is no need for tills and workers to help with the purchases. It makes the whole experience cheaper and faster.
7. Flexibility in payment methods offered by an online shops
Many online shops offer different payment methods such as: Visa, MasterCard, cash on delivery, PayPal, Bizum or even, some offer the possibility to pay with bitcoins. Being able to choose offers greater security for customers when making a payment.
8. Accessibility from any point to our online shop
It will also give us the oppotunity to operate our online store from anywhere in the world, as long as we have an internet connection and a computer, mobile or tablet.
9. Customer acquisition
Using digital marketing strategies such as SEO, SEM, Social Media , etc we are able to attract people from anywhere in the world to our online shop.
10. Increase in the number of products displayed in the online shop.
Another advantage is being able to show all our products or services, as we do not depend on a space that limits us. In addition, we can explain in more detail the characteristics and composition of the products and services.
As we have seen, e-commerce offers us numerous advantages.In short, an online shop must be taken into account when we think about opening a business, due to the opportunities it offers.
