Given the current state of things in the world, you must be wondering what you can do to make the most of things. You know that it’s vital that your business have a solid, well-run website, but you may be wondering if you’re losing out by not selling online.

Let’s look into e-commerce and how it might transform your business for the future.

What is e-commerce?

E-commerce refers to the buying of goods or services and the transfer of money to pay for said goods or services, all done using the internet.

There are 4 main categories of e-commerce models for all of the buying and selling:

  • Business to Consumer (B2C):
    Where a business sells a product or service to an individual consumer

  • Business to Business (B2B):
    Where a business sells a product or service to another business

  • Consumer to Business (C2B):
    Where a consumer sells their products or services to a business

  • Consumer to Consumer (C2C):
    Where a consumer sells a good or service to another consumer

Shop Open For Business

While there are 4 main categories, e-commerce can take on many different forms involving different transactional relationships between the buyer and seller.

  • Retail: The sale of a product by a business directly to a customer.

  • Wholesale: The sale of a product in bulk, often to a retailer.

  • Physical Products: Any tangible good that requires inventory to be replenished and orders to be physically shipped to customers as sales are made. The opposite of this is…

  • Dropshipping: The sale of a product, which is then manufactured and shipped to the consumer by a third party. The key point here is that you, as the seller, never actually have to have the product in hand.

  • Crowdfunding: The collection of money from consumers, in advance of a product being available, in order to raise the money to produce the product and bring it to market.

  • Subscription: The automatic recurring purchase of a product or service on a regular basis until the subscriber chooses to cancel the subscription.

  • Digital Products: Downloadable digital goods (e.g. images, videos, courses, really just any form of digital media) that can be purchased or licensed for use.

  • Professional Services: A skill or set of skills provided in exchange for compensation. The service provider’s time can be purchased for a fee.

The lockdown in 2020 and the ongoing pandemic, has made more and more people rely on online services. Regardless of which model is best for your particular business, it’s almost always beneficial to offer goods or services online.

The benefits of e-commerce: A win-win for both the business and the consumer

  • Convenience: Ordering online is fairly effortless. You simply browse and buy from the comfort of your home, whenever it’s convenient for you.

  • Easier inventory management: Using online inventory management systems is not only easier for your business, but cheaper as well in terms of operational costs.

  • Monitoring purchasing habits: A big benefit for your business is knowing your customer’s viewing and purchasing history. With this information in hand, you’re able to make custom offers, tailored to suit their needs or wants.

  • Take over the world!: With your goods or services being online, you’ll be able to offer them across the country, or all over the world if you’d like.

  • Opening hours: This goes back to the point of convenience… you, as the business, are never closed.

  • Reduced operational costs: With an online store, you’ll need fewer people to help run things, and you can then re-route those savings into advertising and marketing.

And when you do go the marketing route, here are some additional suggestions:

  • Ensure your site is mobile friendly. If you’re going to maximize conversions, You have to provide the best possible mobile experience. Most of your visitors will be checking your site on their smartphones.

  • Add live chat. It’s always a good idea to offer that option just in case someone has a question or needs help with shopping. Helping customers right away, or resolving any issues they may be having can help greatly with conversions.

  • Ensure you have up-sells (pop-up offers) on related items. If someone adds product A to their shopping cart, product B may be a fantastic add-on to that item. Make sure you offer it at that time. This is just like that huge rack of candy, gum and magazines you see right as you’re checking out at the supermarket.

  • Retargeting. Unlike a retail store, your online store will have much more insight into who exactly your visitors and customers are. Use Google Analytics & the Facebook Pixel to advertise to those specific visitors and customers. This is a proactive approach to keep people interested and coming back.

It’s always a good time to start selling online. As I said earlier, COVID has changed everything and those selling online are definitely a step ahead. If you’re looking for more sales, get your own e-commerce shop up & running.

About the author

Sam is the founder and lead designer at Arias Design Studios. Always up for a good design challenge, he enjoys dreaming up ways of making the complex look simple but awesome! He'd love to chat with you about your business model (or anything else!), drop him a line at sam@ariasdesignstudios.com