There’s no denying that today’s consumers love convenience. From 24-hour gyms to pay-at-the-pump gas stations, a sure way to win over consumers’ hearts is to provide them with a convenient option to access your services and products. However, it can be difficult to know how to offer convenience without sacrificing quality along the way.
One of the best ways to provide convenience for your customers in an efficient and effective way is to create an online store for your products. Also known as an E-Commerce site, an online store is a great way to connect to today’s consumers, who are incredibly comfortable with making purchases online, and often use the Internet as a way to research products before they actually buy them.
In today’s digital marketplace, investing in an E-Commerce website design is a great way to reach customers of all ages and in many places. Here’s a list of five reasons why you should bring your business’ products online with an E-Commerce website:
1. Convenience: The convenience offered to consumers by an E-Commerce store can’t be matched. Physical stores can limit consumer-buying habits (not to mention your business’ profits) in a surprising number of ways. For instance, a customer who lives 45 miles away from your store is unlikely to travel a long distance and will settle for a competing business’ products nearby, even if they are of a bit lower quality.
In addition, your store hours might not coincide with your target consumer’s schedule, forcing them to look for other options. An E-Commerce site allows customers to access your products from any location, without having to travel long distances, and gives them the opportunity to shop for your products and services at a time that works best for them.
2. Accessibility: An E-Commerce site can bring your business to a global clientele, who may hear about your products and services through buzz on the Internet. A great way to generate traffic for your website is to make sure customers are exposed to it. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a surefire way to make sure your site is one of the first options available (organically) to consumers who use a search engine to find specific products.
Not only does an online site make your business accessible to people around the world, but also it opens your business up to a wider range of generations. Young customers use the web for the majority of their purchases; not investing in an E-Commerce site would mean you are not capitalizing on an important customer demographic.
3. Customizable: With an online site, your business can create a tailor-made shopping experience for your customers. An experienced web designer can help you set up specific functionalities for your site, like comparison-shopping, which allows customers to bring up side-by-side information on various products, or providing recommended items for shoppers based on products they have previously viewed.
In addition, an online site connects your business to various social media and communication tools, so you can send useful targeted messages to your customers containing information about your business, like promotions and group deals.
4. Enhanced user experience: E-Commerce sites can be set up with tools that make the process of online shopping positive and productive for your business’ customers. Included among these benefits are: secure payment processing, inventory tracking, and auto-responder emails. Not to mention that online stores are easy to navigate, and allow customers to quickly locate products without having to wander throughout a large, physical store.
5. Lower cost: While it might seem like developing an E-Commerce site is an extravagant expense, investing in an online store is actually a savvy, economic decision. An online store means you are gaining profit through additional sales and marketing opportunities while eliminating the costs involved in setting up physical stores across different locations. These costs include: additional employees, building fees and maintenance costs, etc. Once you add it all up, an E-Commerce site is an economical and profitable choice for your business.
After deciding to invest in an E-Commerce site for your business, the next step is to choose a web design firm to help you with the development process. Our Minneapolis web design firm is here to help you with any and all aspects of creating your online store. We specialize in custom E-Commerce website design, web development, and digital marketing/SEO. For more information, please call us at (612) 590-8080.
