In the 2013 financial year Australian businesses earned $246
billion through online sales, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Why the continual growth for the industry in Australia and the world?
And most importantly: if it suits your business, how can you participate?
Even if you haven’t asked these questions, this article will be a great
introduction to the ecommerce world.
Increasing your
market reach:
With an online store you are globally accessible; anyone with an Internet connection has access to your products. Your potential customers have the ability to browse through and purchase from your full product range 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Alongside the fact that more than 50% of businesses have placed orders over the Internet, an ecommerce store provides a great visible location that a physical store might never achieve.
Increasing your product range:
With an online store you are globally accessible; anyone with an Internet connection has access to your products. Your potential customers have the ability to browse through and purchase from your full product range 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Alongside the fact that more than 50% of businesses have placed orders over the Internet, an ecommerce store provides a great visible location that a physical store might never achieve.
Increasing your product range:
Ecommerce stores provide the opportunity to broaden your
product range because the products can be delivered directly to the customer
from the supplier. The issue of physically stocking products can be a thing of
the past.
Increasing
convenience for customers:
You have the opportunity to provide a complete ease of experience for your customer. With a well-designed store, a customer can view a product, read everything they need to know – costs, warranties, specifications, relative equipment and parts; any information you would like them to be informed of – and make the purchase all within a matter of minutes, without any lengthy consultations or processes that are involved with physically shopping.
You have the opportunity to provide a complete ease of experience for your customer. With a well-designed store, a customer can view a product, read everything they need to know – costs, warranties, specifications, relative equipment and parts; any information you would like them to be informed of – and make the purchase all within a matter of minutes, without any lengthy consultations or processes that are involved with physically shopping.
A company needs a
brand that’s worth recognising:
Like any other form of marketing, it’s important to have
consistent and professional branding because this affects your company’s
credibility and the likelihood of a new prospect trusting your company with
their hard earned cash. If you’re spending quite a lot of money on marketing
you need to ensure your leads are coming from your specific target audience so
that you have the best chance to turn those leads into sales. Once you’ve
established a brand, it’s important to keep your branding consistent. This provides a way to differentiate the product,
deliver key messages and encourage loyalty by allowing prospects
to trust your product or service.
Which solution best
suits you?
There are a variety of solutions on offer when it comes to online stores. Before you sign up with the first company that seems to provide everything you need, consider these factors:
There are a variety of solutions on offer when it comes to online stores. Before you sign up with the first company that seems to provide everything you need, consider these factors:
·
How long you will be in business?
·
How much profit do you plan (or need) to make?
·
Who will be updating or adding website content?
·
How important is support from your web
developer?
·
How many products do you wish to offer?
These are some of the bigger questions that are very
important when making a decision for the long-term, because costs for upgrades
and improvements could run into the thousands even for a small website if it’s
not set up correctly.
There are solutions online that offer cheap monthly or
annual fees in comparison to local custom solutions but the difference is that
with cheaper options you may be limited in a specific area, whether it be
development, design or the amount of products you can display. With a local custom solution it’s likely that
your biggest expense will be the up-front development cost, and the ongoing
costs will be considerably lower (if you’re selling a decent amount of stock
and have trained staff adding content) in comparison to some alternatives which
take a percentage on each sale.
Online stores are convenient, easily accessible and very
efficient, and the industry is rapidly growing.
If you are looking to sell a small amount of stock and
aren’t in it for the long haul a cheaper solution may be for you, but if you
are looking to display most or all of your products, have local training and
support and have a branding specialist who understands Australian business you
should definitely consider a local custom solution.
Written by Cody Kerr and Kevin Burns.
If you are considering an online store please contact Cody,
Director of Royal Graphics:
info@royalecommerce.com.au
