10 Reasons Why You Should Have an eCommerce Website Today

Are you looking for an easy and proven way to increase your business revenue? Restaurants, retail shops, vape stores – whatever your particular market, if your business doesn’t have an ecommerce website, you are leaving money on the table! And here’s why…

Small business owners are facing a new truth – the world has moved online. These days, consumers are no longer limited to sitting at desktop computers in order to do research or send emails.

We’ve all noticed it in public, people’s noses are always in their screens. 

But don’t just simply rely on these observations, that’s just the beginning; reports project the value of global Commerce sales for 2019 to be around 3.45 trillion dollars. 

Clearly, there is a pattern here, which speaks to an exponential rise in online sales over the coming few years. 

So, how does this affect you? Below, we outline the top 10 reasons why an ecommerce website can instantly grow your business, and increase revenue. 

Does my business need to be online?

For any business, the answer is “YES!”

• Clothing boutique? While your physical location might limit the amount of clothes you can display, with an online ecomm store, you’re able to show everything – all combinations of colors, sizes and styles are available to browse online.
• Niche retailer? Maybe you sell a special niche product, and doubt interest in your global demand (point to stats that show niche products being sold online)
• Coffee shop or quick serve restaurant? You can increase restaurant sales with online ordering
• CBD or Vape store? Track your inventory , and allow customer far-and-wide access to every flavor and brand you carry in stock.

Even more, being present online with an eCommerce website isn’t strictly about appeasing your current customers.

It’s also an invaluable channel for attracting new customers and increasing your revenue. If you aren’t present online, your customers may be moving on.  

STILL not convinced? Here’s the list of the top 10 reasons that you need an eCommerce website today. 

1. Attract New Customers with Search

The immediate value-add of your site is attracting new customers. With eCommerce websites, this is done through a process called search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the online visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine’s unpaid results. 

According to Business Insider, most shoppers are using search engine before they decide to buy. This means that if you are not showing up in search engine results you are closing yourself off from the primary way consumers shop in 2019. 

Showing up in search results has incredible value for any type of business, and having an eCommerce website is the first step to results.

To appear in these results, you have to have an online address.

Once you have your ecomm up and running, there are many low-effort tactics you can implement to allow your site to rank highly for keywords and phrases associated with your business and its products.

Many SMBs see great results by focusing on local business SEO to increase their sales in brick & mortar stores. 

Optimizing how you appear in google search results can drive more traffic to your eCommerce website

2. Make Money Online

In all business, money is math. The more places you offer you products, the more chances you have to make sales. That’s is pretty straightforward.

Creating an online store opens up a whole new opportunity to generate revenue. 

Not only will you have the sales that your physical business creates, but you’ll also have this new area of your business that will be generating additional sales online.

Who shops online? Big Commerce studies show:

• Millennials and Gen X. This generation accounts for 50% more time shopping online each week (six hours) than the older generation (four hours). 
• Everyone else. Seniors, Baby Boomers, and Gen X are ‘adding to cart,’ as well. 56% of Gen X prefer to search and purchase on eCommerce sites rather than in-store; 41% of baby boomers and even 28% of seniors prefer online to offline shopping.
• All Geographies. While it may seem counterintuitive, urban citizen have greater proximity to physical stores, yet online shoppers in major metropolitan areas spend more money on eCommerce websites ($853) than suburban shoppers ($768), and even those isolated in rural areas ($684).
• Men. Men reported spending 28% more online than women during the past year.

With data like this, it becomes clear that all businesses must have an online website. 

3. Customer Convenience

Small business owners know, their focus cannot only rest on dollars and cents. Another reason to have an online eCommerce website…it will do wonders for your customer experience.

There’s incredible convenience afforded by a website.

Customers can check necessary information like your store hours, phone number or address, which helps drive in-person sales.

Additionally, if customers are busy, move away or can’t get out to your store for another reason, the website provides the convenience of being able to shop from anywhere.

An eCommerce website allows you to display your hours, address and contact information to potential customers

4. Increase Hours Of Operation To 24/7

Your eComm website also allows customers to buy at any time. Unless you’re staffed around the clock, your brick & mortar can’t offer this coverage.

With an online store, customers can browse your products, check if a particular item is back in stock yet, and perform many other consumer processes, even when your doors are closed and the lights are off at the end of the night. With the internet, you’re always open for business! 

You might sleep, but your website (and therefore your business) never will.

5. New Market Acquisitions

When you take your business online, its reach expands.

Your products can be seen and purchased by people all over, while with a traditional physical location, you are limited by time and space. 

Basically, an eCommerce website creates endless possibilities and new markets to explore, and cultivate, for new sales and revenue opportunities.

If you think your products are a hit in your hometown, why not bring those experiences to people in other places?

If your site attracts the same customers as your brick and mortar store, you’ll essentially make money online

6. Speedup Business Operations

Today, the most successfully businesses are able to combine the physical and the online shopping worlds into one, multi-channel experience.

For example, a customer orders a product online, to be picked up in-store.

Some businesses are able to combine the physical and the online shopping worlds into one, multi-channel customer experience.

Thus, when they arrive at the store, their item is ready, they’ve already paid online, and they are out the door. This can help keep queue times down and require less employee effort to complete the sale.

If you don’t want to offer in-store pick-up as a feature of your online store, your business will still benefit from speedier operations. Customers will be able to research products online, which means fewer questions that your employees will have to answer in person. 

The benefits of in-store pick up are even great for restaurants. Offering an online ordering system, with both delivery and take-out options, increases your sales by saving potential customers their most valuable commodity – time.

7. Reduce Payroll

An ecommerce website allows you reduce payroll expenses.

When you’re able to speed up operations and move some of your sales to the online platform, you may be able to scale back your payroll demands.

With your online store shouldering some of the responsibilities that are typically handled by employees, the need for a larger staff diminishes.

This allows you to have fewer employees on your payroll, which means your expenses will be lower and you’ll turn more of your revenue into profits.

8. Data Sync with POS System

One of the big fears of small business owners that have yet to make the transition to the online world is staying organized, particularly with their sales and inventory data.

Operating a physical store is hard enough; the thought of adding more stress with online sales is enough to make any small business owner uneasy.

Luckily, these fears are removed when a business has a proper POS system.

With a POS system like eHopper, a company can integrate point of sale with a website to sync its inventory, sales, and other data between a physical point of sale and an online eCommerce website.

This eliminates any potential hassle of adding an online platform to your existing sales records. Business owners can accurately track inventory, without fearing over, or under, selling products.

With a POS system like eHopper, a company can sync its physical point of sale and an online eCommerce site.

A lot of these companies have free POS offers that allow a business to test the impacts of an eCommerce POS system, without any financial risk.

9. Allow Customers To Share Orders Online

Aside from search and new market acquisitions, the other way that businesses attract new online customers is through social media.

eCommerce websites give customers to share to social media accounts, increasing the reach of your business

Part of the consumer experience in the Digital Age is an opportunity for customers to share their favorite brands and recent product purchases via social media.

With an eCommerce website, other consumers that see the social media posts of your customers have the opportunity to find your business and make purchases of their own.

10. Increase Brand Awareness

Between these social media mentions, gaining fresh customers through search and tapping into new, online markets, the end result is increased brand awareness.

More people will be aware of your company and its products and interested in buying them.

A successful ecomm site can have a snowballing effect. As more people share and spread your site and its products, brand awareness grows exponentially, which means so do your sales.

Conclusions

You offer great products and services to the local customers that visit your store. Yet, you could be denying them a lot of convenience and value by failing to have an eCommerce store as well.

Plus, you’re contradicting your own business the opportunity to bring those great products to more people and produce more revenue.

Simply put, you shouldn’t let any apprehensions or fears get in the way of building and operating an eCommerce website.

With the capabilities of a modern POS system, like eHopper, there’s no added stress to bring your business into the Digital Age!

Sell online with eHopper eCommerce. eHopper provides a fully integrated eCommerce environment, allowing businesses to sync online orders with their physical point of sale.

No risk. Contact channel@ehopper.com with any questions, and try the eHopper eCommerce solution for 30 days!