Nowadays, selling online seems easier than ever. In a market where 66% of customers choose to buy their needs and wants on a website, it’s no surprise why more businesses are springing up, and why the e-commerce industry is expecting to grow its already billion-dollar industry even as restrictions ease. Even celebrities use the surge in online shopping to sell directly to their fans.
Convenience, influence, and fewer fees in connecting buyers and sellers make the products and services more accessible, desirable, and cheaper. Looking at these advantages will make it easier to understand how online platforms can considerably grow a business.
Directed Advertising
On social media, people share their data freely. There are algorithms that create an easier way for advertisers to direct their marketing strategies to their target market. They can determine their target market by studying consumer trends and habits based on their customers’ social media activity.
Whenever a potential customer scrolls through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social networking sites, sponsored content is always present. This influences their purchasing patterns, as a post reinforces the brand into the subconscious of users. Directed advertising makes people spend more as they are enticed by their wants that an algorithm has figured out.
That is how businesses grow online — their market is designed to want their products. People are subjected to constant advertising for a fraction of the cost that advertising on television, a billboard, or in magazines will entail. Therefore, the customer acquisition cost will greatly reduce and will more likely produce better leads for marketing teams.
Alternative Payment Methods
Unlike most brick-and-mortar stores that only have few payment options, online businesses can look into many methods to help their customers make their purchases. People can make their payments through online platforms or, in instances where there is still a hesitation for customers to make a blind purchase online, businesses can opt for cash on delivery (COD) services. It will allow customers to check their purchase upon its arrival and pay once they acknowledge the receipt of the package.
Aside from the convenience of not having to be in a store to buy a product or to avail of a service, alternative payment methods, like COD, provide customers with a sense of security when buying online. As the world becomes more globalized, it is only logical that businesses adapt to the needs of an international market. Selling online has allowed them to do just that.
Direct-To-Customer (DTC) Service
A DTC service creates lower costs for the seller, allowing them to flush the rest of those savings into other ways of developing the business. Greater manufacturing infrastructures, better packaging, or diversification of a product or service line can be achieved much faster and sooner because of this option.
It also creates a new avenue for customer service as companies shift to employing more people that will help make their brand visible on social media platforms. The internet has created new kinds of jobs as a variety of skill sets are needed to work around its user interface to help customers and sellers better adapt.
DTC is always a more desirable business model when pitching to investors because they will see all the low margins as potential earnings. Without the need for a distributor or shelf space in a physical store, online selling can quicken the growth of the company. Aside from financing opportunities, it also creates an unlimited market.
Without geographical restrictions, online sellers can reach any customer they want in the world. This also allows an increase in demand for companies that handle logistical concerns well. All in all, many industries benefit from the internet’s capabilities to grow a market.
There are many advantages to selling online compared to a traditional marketplace. In instances where it’s difficult for consumers to reach sellers, a quick post on social media will easily connect them with each other. Prices can also be negotiated directly with a seller. Furthermore, as there are no restrictions on how companies advertise online, they can work with platforms to improve their brand image and develop a greater familiarity among their desired market. Gathering data on what consumers want and desire also create opportunities for new and existing businesses to develop products and services that meet those needs and wants.
As markets grow from the community of an unregulated internet, it’s interesting to see how businesses will adapt when governments figure out how to create restrictions on international consumerism. Until then, they will continue to grow and acquire consumers from a wide variety of backgrounds.
