And what you can do there
Exponentially growing sales are still prompting companies today to jump on the bandwagon and offer goods and services in an online shop, especially since purchases are predominantly made digitally in both B2C and B2B business. But what exactly is e-commerce and what is the best way to get started in e-commerce?
WHAT DOES E-COMMERCE MEAN?
E-commerce is the process of buying and selling products and services on the internet. Synonyms for "e-commerce" are also used, such as "online trade" or "online shop". In the early days of the web, online shops were mainly operated manually by the owner: Goods were presented on a static homepage and prospective buyers could initiate an order via a contact form. This has changed fundamentally since then: Today, e-commerce uses digital tools that manage the entire online shopping process - including the administration of customer master data, the provision of an inventory management system and payment systems. And last but not least, automated online marketing also plays an essential role in e-commerce.
In practice, e-commerce looks something like this: An online trader uses a shop system that is operated on his own website. In this web shop, prospective buyers can browse the range of goods, order products and optionally pay immediately, for example by credit card or PayPal. After a completed purchase, a connected merchandise management system adjusts the inventory, automatically creates the delivery note and the invoice and triggers the shipment of the goods. The customer is then informed - also automatically, of course - by e-mail that the goods have been dispatched.
E-COMMERCE - WHAT IS THE GOAL?
Of course, online trade is not (only) about offering one's goods online and digitally at any price. The essential goal of internet commerce is to improve sales processes by means of various programmes in order to continuously increase sales with as little effort as possible. But is it still worthwhile today to jump on the bandwagon and profit from growing sales in online trade?
This question can be answered with a resounding "Yes!". Since the mid-2000s, international online sales have experienced gigantic growth. This trend intensified significantly in 2020 after the pandemic-related lockdown forced stationary trade to rethink and made new sales channels necessary. From this point on, at the latest, the dictum applied: "If you don't move with the times, you move with the times." And indeed, online trade has contributed to the survival of many retail businesses.
To complement this, we should refer to the Digital 2022 Global Overview Report, which shows that more than 3.7 billion people worldwide shopped online that year. That's half the world's population!
ADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCe
E-commerce allows companies to easily open new sales channels, but also to maintain customer relationships with little investment of time and money. In addition to the actual web shop, social media also comes into play here. Especially in the local environment of a retail shop, a complementary Facebook page can ensure that the company stays in the conversation in the neighbourhood. Multichannel marketing (forms of advertising by email, on landing pages or in social media) is much easier to implement in e-commerce. The external perception of the company is much easier to control this way.
Thanks to the modern tracking options of the online shop system, it is easy to see which marketing campaigns are working and which are going nowhere. Advertising campaigns can be placed in a much more target group-oriented manner and unfold their effect than print advertising (e.g. brochures and advertisements) with their scattering losses ever could.
Thanks to an online shop system with a connected ERP system and integrated payment processing, the capital commitment is significantly lower and the stock is always up-to-date. Depending on the configuration, the shop software can automatically reorder when stock is running low, so that the company's own ability to deliver is always guaranteed.
All these described advantages are only a small part of the many possibilities that e-commerce can offer.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE TO E-BUSINESS?
E-commerce is a small sub-area of e-business. E-commerce merely describes the transaction of products and services, i.e. the entire processing of a purchase from ordering to shipping. E-business, on the other hand, is an overarching term that describes the overall process necessary to manage an online trade. For example, e-business includes advertising and marketing campaigns, but also inventory management. The e-business concept is thus broader, with e-commerce being only one part of e-business.
CONCLUSION: BOTH TRADERS AND BUYERS BENEFIT FROM E-COMMERCe
Even if setting up your own e-commerce for the first time takes time and work: In the end, the advantages for suppliers and customers outweigh the disadvantages. Even and especially as an operator of a stationary shop, a complementary online shop can ensure additional sales and attract new customers to the business. Existing customers perceive the web shop as an expanded service offering with 24/7 shopping options.
And if you as a customer are addressed individually and personalised by e-mail and/or on social media channels, the frequently cited argument of the impersonality of online commerce compared to stationary commerce quickly recedes into the background. In this way, e-commerce becomes a win-win situation for buyers and sellers.
The digital agency GAL Digital sees itself as a service provider and consultant in all aspects of e-business, e-commerce and online marketing. If you are already thinking about setting up your own online shop, GAL Digital will work with you to develop a target-oriented concept and help you to realise it. Feel free to contact the GAL Digital team!