How to Expand Your Small Business with E-commerce
So how can you expand your small business with e-commerce? You can overcome distribution limitations despite your geographic location. You can even go global if what you’re selling are digital products, services that don’t require your physical presence, or items that are rather small and can easily be shipped out. E-commerce also facilitates repeat business as people can place their orders again and again with a few clicks of the mouse. And, you get to keep your overhead low with an online store, allowing you to carry a wider array of products including lower-value ones.
Getting Your Business Website E-Commerce Ready
When you’ve put together your business website, you can set it up for e-commerce functionality. You can do this by installing e-commerce software like Zen Cart or OSCommerce so you can accept orders online. Payment processors such as PayPal and AlertPay have plug-and-play shopping cart capability and allow you to generate payment buttons to place on web pages. These e-commerce solutions are affordable and you can even get them free from open sources. If you decide to install Zen Cart or OSCommerce, however, make sure it is compatible with the system used by your web hosting company. Before deciding on the e-commerce software to use, check with your web host. Their website’s help section should contain information or recommendations on the software you should use.
Be Consistent With Your Design
The design of your web store needs to be consistent with the overall look and feel of your website. Create links to it on all the other pages of the site and check every page to make sure they’re working. If you hired someone to build your business website and if your website’s e-commerce section (which you added) looks odd, ask the original designer to fashion a template in the same style you can use for your online store. That shouldn’t cost you much.
Keep Your E-Commerce Store Stocked
To make your online shop fully operational, populate it with the items you intend to sell. Write interesting descriptions for your products, highlighting their features and benefits. Set your prices, although you may want to offer your online customers lower prices. Remember, you can afford to charge less because of your low overhead. Don’t forget to upload photos of your products. Make sure the photos look professional. Provide larger photos so your customers can see them better. If you are selling tangible items on your online store, make sure you stock up. Customers don’t take it kindly to learn that the item they’re keen on buying isn’t available or that they will receive their order only after several weeks. If you want to succeed in e-commerce, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and run a seamless operation.
Deliver Promptly
How you deliver your goods depends on what you’re selling. You can send it by mail or forwarder, or you can transmit it electronically. Either way, you have to ensure you deliver orders on time.
Customers, by nature, don’t like to wait as it makes them anxious. If you’re selling tangible goods, provide customers with a tracking number. If you’re selling digital goods, provide customers with access immediately after paying. If you’re providing a service, give an estimated delivery date. Make it a policy to update your customers on the status of their orders. This way, they’ll know when to expect delivery.
Automated System
When you’ve got your e-commerce site configured, you’ll find out soon enough that your online business can almost run by itself. An e-commerce solution is a fully automated system that allows you to reap the rewards from your efforts several times over. Devote a few hours setting up your online store and generate additional sales. Generally speaking, e-commerce sites are profitable; it’s easy to recoup your investments in a relatively short period.
Expand Your Small Business With E-commerce: Conclusion
While you don’t really need to launch a specific promotion for your e-commerce venture, your small business will benefit if you include it in your marketing literature such as leaflets, flyers, and brochures. Instead of merely inviting people to visit your website, phrase your message to encourage them to shop at your online store. You will get more customers interested to learn about your offers if they can do so within the comfort of their homes.