A business’ life cycle states that after startup, growth should be the next stage of your business. There are many ways to achieve this growth including hiring great staff, improving operations, cost analysis and so much more. Aside from traditional brick and mortar stores, there is great emphasis on offering your product and services online.
According to Oberlo, an expected 230M people will be shopping online in USA in 2021. There is a projected $469.2B total revenue for online sales. Even after the pandemic, people are expected to continue shopping online especially now that they have accustomed to it versus going to stores.
While it’s easy to just sell your products through digital retailing giants, it is best to consider having your own website with e-commerce. These days, small businesses can have a website using no-code platforms. There are many ways that it will benefit different areas of your business:
By having your own website, your brand becomes more professional looking. It lets your customers know more about the products they are looking for. It gets them familiarized with the company story, mission, values and other important things that a potential client may what to know about your business.
Having a website lets customers have a user experience with your brand as well. You can create a space where they have the option to interact with you and immerse them what the brand has to offer. This can lead to a more strengthened brand connection and foster loyalty. By having a branded website, you are opening another communication channel that anyone can access.
Make the most of your website and make it an e-commerce site as well. By building your own e-commerce site, you can redirect marketing efforts to that site to drive awareness and lead to sales. You will have better margins since there are no expensive commissions and fees you need to consider before getting a sale. Small businesses can benefit from this since the extra fees can rack up eventually as the business grows.
Be reminded that having an e-commerce store means you have to work out a shipping method and consider operational capacity. This can mean more expenses from your end but it can also mean a whole new opportunity for sales growth.
If your startup or small business sets up a website, you have the opportunity to know your customers even better. Since customers have gone out of their way to type or search you on the web, it means they are already interested in you. You can align your social media and SEO efforts to the website and set up lead generation tools to get you started.
You can set up exclusive membership clubs or encourage newsletter signups in exchange for premium items. Having them register on your site, you will get a clearer idea of what your market looks like. It can verify or debunk who is actually buying your products and what their behaviors are.
Better if you have an e-commerce site as well. Not only will you get to know your customers’ locations and demographic but you will also see other data that can help improve the business.
Having a website means an agile and flexible communication channel that can cater to new products, announcements, and campaign launches. Since you are in full control, you have the option to highlight products or categories aligned to your marketing or sales efforts.
Not only that you can also plan exclusive discounts within your own budget. Since you are not paying commissions and other service fees, you have the chance to get a higher profit margin during sale events. Some 3rd party selling platforms charge small businesses and startups with fees an even dictate the discount range for seasonal sales.
You can also reconfigure to add more pages for new product lines or advocacy campaigns. These subsites can also help in optimizing SEO and drive traffic to your website.
Having your website means anyone in the world has a chance to see your product. It can be someone from Wisconsin at 2 am or somebody in Canada at 4 pm trying to find what you sell.
Traditionally, you have to go to offices or stores to get a full view of the products. Today you have a digital space where all your products can be viewed in one area. You can list down all important details, specs, and warranties to make potential clients fully informed.
This is just the beginning of what having your own website can do for you. If you think it’s expensive to get one, then you have to try no-code websites. No-code websites are built in no-code platforms that consume less time to build and faster turnover. Learn more about it HERE.
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