Here are 5 reasons how your retail business can benefit from e-commerce
As the world shut down and operations across the world came to a standstill, there was one industry that kept going at a faster pace than ever before; e-commerce. People who were earlier sceptical about buying online or simply preferred to ‘try & buy’ were now forced to stay home and shop via their screens. To most, this might seem like the most convenient choice, but to many across the world, this was a whole new unexplored territory. Retail giants that had a digital retail presence but didn’t focus on it as much as their brick & mortar stores had to pull up their socks to compete with the giants of the digital space.
COST-EFFECTIVE
Online selling offers a greater profit margin due to the lack of operating costs often associated with traditional retail. One doesn’t have to invest in a store(s) and its upkeep or employ personnel to run it. There are also utilities associated with retail which are quite a significant amount of the investment spent every month. Thus, the profit margin for e-commerce is much higher than for retail. However, one may argue that online stores are also forced to discount their goods a lot more which is true. But even if they gave a running discount of 10–15%, they still sell the goods at the same profit margin as their retail counterpart. This means that simply by expanding into the retail space you can retain or expand your profit margins without any new infrastructural investment.
DIRECT CUSTOMER RELATIONS
Online retail allows you to sell to customers via your own website/channel or curation sites and shopping catalogues. This means you have a more direct relationship with your customer and a more tangible form of receiving feedback than via CRM software and social media channels if you are a B2C business. As a retailer, this means one does not have to be limited to just the physical store to be able to tap into one’s audiences.
NOT GEOGRAPHICALLY BOUND
Selling online means opening up to a world of possibilities. You could be located in a tiny studio in the Philippines and shipping orders to the USA. Your market and audience aren’t limited to the walk-ins to your store or the kind of people who live around the mall you’re situated in. The world’s your oyster and with the level of shipping, you offer you can make your products available not only all across the country but also all across the world!
TAP INTO MOBILE CONVENIENCE
While geographical boundaries are a thing of the past with e-commerce, another thing that makes it a game-changer is convenience! Your mobile app isn’t restricted to ‘shopping hours’ or other such access barriers. If someone who works long hours or simply forgot to buy something is in need of buying something, they don’t need to make time to run errands and can simply make the purchase at their convenience. They can do that not only whenever but also wherever they want; from their morning commute to a quick coffee break at work, the sky is the limit.
BETTER BRAND RECALL & SALES
An app is a great tool for your brand’s marketing. This means the chances of being noticed and remembered as your brand increases a lot more. How so? An app enables you to give the user a more personalized experience based on their demographics & preferences, unlike a retail outlet where merchandise is stocked according to a more mass need. The user feels more trusting towards the app and it builds brand loyalty over time beyond the physical retail space. With increased loyalty, customer interaction & engagement goes up on the e-commerce app which eventually leads to an increased sales ratio.
What started as a safety compulsion during the pandemic has now become an act of convenience for many and is only slated to grow in the upcoming years. It’s the best time for retailers to move or add a digital retail segment to their business if they want to tap into this e-commerce growth surge. And if creating such an app for your business is on your mind, you can check out our App Development Cost Calculator for an estimate on the budget and any other queries or get started on your app, you can reach out to our expert team at Valere.
Valere is an award-winning software development agency that has built over 300 top-rated applications for startups and Fortune 500 companies in all verticals like healthcare, finance, sports, fitness, education, and more. Their apps have been featured by the New York Times, and have been consistently recognized as Apple App Store’s top featured apps, TechRadar, and Google Play Store’s top featured apps! Schedule a call with us today to learn how we can help your team create the perfect software or application that can Accelerate Your Business Goals!
