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eCommerce is a booming business. In fact, current eCommerce statistics state that 40% of worldwide internet users have purchased products or goods online via desktop, mobile, tablet or other online devices. This buying power equates to more than 1 billion online buyers and is projected to exponentially grow in the coming year (Statista). This increasingly growing market isn’t just a business to consumer (B2C) avenue; business to business (B2B) electronic commerce is taking place with internal company stores. So, if your organization isn’t taking advantage of this convenient way to boost sales, here are a few reasons why you should:
Work Flow: Adding eCommerce solutions to your company will improve how your organization, especially one with multiple locations, acquires business consumables. These “stores” are easier and faster. Less paperwork means more time, and time is everything.
Brand Management: Your brand is your company’s symbol to the world. It is what represents you to current and potential clients. eCommerce solutions can be essentially used as your own personal “Logo Police.” Anything placed for purchase on the online ordering site can be pre-approved, ensuring your brand is consistent for every end-user sale.
Analytics: The importance of tracking what you’re actually selling or purchasing is a no brainer in any industry and inventory control is often met with groans and moans; well not anymore. Convenient summary reports are provided to you and can be personalized for your specific needs. Want to track a certain item? Sales for a specific location? And, perhaps of more value, would you like to track what isn’t selling? All that data is readily available to you without having to pick up a clipboard or ask employees in your organization to work extra hours crunching numbers.
Customer Service: Though eCommerce isn’t face-to-face sales, the integral component of customer service has been thoughtfully considered and is readily available. Dedicated customer service representatives are designated to your company. They monitor orders being processed and are the go-to people for any questions or concerns regarding items purchased. Even billing and shipping concerns are filtered through these folks, ensuring smooth interface with your online customers and internal staff. Logistics of the online store remain separate, but a very important part, of your marketing program.
A final thought: Online shopping provides around 10% of the US retail revenue and according to recent statistics, approximately 22% of all of the disposable income worldwide was spent online (Statista). The younger generations automatically expect online ordering and this trend no doubt, will only continue to grow. Hopefully these points will encourage and strengthen your resolve to add eCommerce solutions to your business model.
