This article was last updated with relevant content in August 2024.
If you sell products at a physical location and want to begin selling products over the Internet, you have one of two options: selling on an online marketplace (think Amazon, Etsy, and others) or selling through your own ecommerce website.
Marketplaces are often a simpler way to sell your products to customers online; however, they have several limitations that a personalized ecommerce website can solve.
Discover four main reasons why you should consider an ecommerce website if you want to increase sales, enhance your sales options, and improve your service capabilities.
1. An Ecommerce Website Enhances Relations With Your Customers
Your customer base consists of one of two types of people: those who have purchased from you before and those who are buying from you for the first time.
Whether they are new or existing, it’s important to be able to communicate with all your customers so that you can let them know what else you have to offer or what is currently on sale. Your customers’ email addresses are important to have, because having them allows you to reach out via email marketing and work to gain repeat business through promotional eNewsletters sent straight to your customers’ inboxes. Afterall, the people who have already purchased from you know the quality you provide and the trustworthiness of your company. If you directly promote something they want or need, chances are high that they will follow the steps to make another purchase from you.
Unfortunately, when you rely on an online marketplace to serve your customers, you are not selling directly to the people who are buying your products online. As a result, you won’t have easy access to features like customer databases, online behavior tracking, or other features, making email and other direct promotions considerably more difficult. You’re limited in your reach and your ability to really serve your online customers fully.
With your own ecommerce website, you have full access to your customers’ information and can utilize several opportunities to share additional products or services with them. Not only can you add their email to your email marketing list, you can evaluate their purchasing history and use it to recommend other items they are likely to be interested in.
2. An Ecommerce Website Provides Informative Customer Analytics
It’s super beneficial when you can evaluate your customers and tap into the minds of your buyers to increase sales and revenue. An ecommerce website offers a wealth of information about your customers, including:
- Location
- Website behavior
- Purchase history
- Products they have expressed interest in but have not purchased
- Traffic sources
And so much more.
Each piece of information provided by your customers allows you to sharpen your marketing efforts and push sales further:
- By identifying trends in locations, you can increase your marketing efforts in such areas to capture more customers from a specific area or region.
- By evaluating website behaviors, you can see if there were other items the customer browsed but did not purchase. Doing so provides better insights so that you can create effective remarketing strategies that encourage them to make the purchase.
- By analyzing purchase history, you can create more personalized email marketing campaigns that promote products that align with what you know the customer is interested in and willing to buy.
- By identifying patterns in the traffic sources, you can see if there are any channels to focus your marketing efforts on. For instance, if the majority of your web traffic is coming from organic Google searches, it may be beneficial to invest in a Google Ads campaign to boost traffic even more.
3. An Ecommerce Website Expands Your Geographical Reach
If you have a physical store or even several throughout a certain geographical region, you can only serve the people within the area(s). Residents and visitors alike can stop in, shop, and leave; however, their physical presence is required for you to secure a purchase.
With an ecommerce website, your reach expands significantly. Customers are no longer required to visit in person to make a purchase. Now, they can browse your products, complete their purchases from virtually anywhere, and have items shipped to addresses that fall within any parameters you might have set.
Plus, while your physical stores likely have a closing time, your online store is open 24/7, increasing the ability and likelihood of customers making a purchase.
4. An eCommerce Website Is Flexible, Versatile, and Customizable
When you manage your own ecommerce website, you have all the flexibility in the world to make it your own and to dictate the customer’s journey from the home page to the purchase confirmation page.
You have control of the design, the aesthetics, the layout, and everything beyond and in between that makes your ecommerce site all yours.
What you can do with your ecommerce site:
- Promote the products that sell the most or that you want to push more than others
- Allow customers to leave reviews and feedback on products
- Control the navigation, look, and function of your website
- Share your story
- Keep visitors updated with news, articles, announcements, promos, and more
And the list goes on.
If You Sell Products, an Ecommerce Website for Your Business Is a Wise Investment—Get Started With Yours With Help From the Web Developers at M&R Marketing: 478-621-4491
Our in-house team of web designers and web developers can create stunning ecommerce sites that allow you to sell your products to a broader audience, boost your brand further, increase your revenue, and so much more.
Contact one of our business development managers today to start building your ecommerce site!
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