Why There Has Never Been A Better Time To Set Up An Online Shop

If you run a small business, it might seem like a hassle to set up your online shop but if you don’t put the time in, you could be missing out on a huge market. In fact, this is one of the best times in history to be an upwardly mobile entrepreneur. The opportunities for rapid growth are astonishing. 

 

Just think about it. You have access to more than 5 billion people connected to the web. And all at the cost of an affordable designer and developer. If you had told someone in business that 50 years ago they simply would not have believed it possible. And if you don’t yet have an online shop, then you are simply not making enough of this opportunity. 

 

Here’s a closer look at some of the reasons why. 

As we mentioned above, billions of people around the world have access to the internet. And as long as they have a bank account, PayPal, or other secure payment method, they are potential customers. All you have to do is meet the delivery requirements. 

 

Okay, so we know that most of you run businesses that are unlikely to be posting anything out to the Cook Islands or Tuvalu anytime soon, but the potential is there. Even in your local or national market, an online shop gives you a massive advantage. Rather than selling just to your local area, you can sell across the country. With an online store, it’s like opening branches around the UK. 

 

As a small business owner, we know that you work all the hours you can. But even you have to sleep and eat, and occasionally take some time off. Having an online shop means you can be selling even when you are sleeping – or even on holiday. Online shops can process orders automatically - all you have to do is have a system in place to deal with them. 

 

Just think about being on a beach somewhere exotic and knowing that business is still ticking over without you at the helm. 

 

So the idea of having an online shop might seem like a lot of work. But the reality is that you can now get them set up, with all the design and web stuff taken care of, all at a reasonable price. So, not much inconvenience for you. But think of it from your customers’ point of view. 

 

If they want to buy your goods from a physical shop, they need to come down in person to complete the transaction, or at the very least make a phone call to arrange payment and make a delivery. If you have an online store, they can do all that from the comfort of their own home. 

 

That means no procrastinating, no changing minds – just clicking a mouse to make a purchase. From their point of view it could not be easier. That’s why people are taking up online shopping at an astonishing speed. And these are numbers that are only going to go up. Online shopping is here to stay, with mobile platforms making it even easier to buy at any time of the day or night. 

 

This is not something you can afford to miss out on. Your competition will be there, so you need to make sure you are too. 

 

At the top of this article we mentioned that it wasn’t just the pandemic that makes it a great time to start an online shop. And we stick by that – citing most of the above as evidence. But at the same time we have to admit that these are unprecedented times. 

 

Never before have so many people been kept at home and away from the shops for so long. We have seen online shopping businesses like Amazon and eBay thrive. It’s not because they saw this coming but because they saw and understood a general change in behaviour and technology years ago. 

 

More importantly, the pandemic has not just changed things in the short term. This extended period away from the physical retail space has proved that many businesses can work only in an online capacity. Through the sheer ingenuity to survive an incredibly challenging time, businesses have adapted and found that there are new ways of working that suit them. But the common denominator is that online technology is the driving force behind all of it. 

 

If you needed any motivation to set up an online shop, then the last few months really should have been it. Your business doesn’t need to just survive, it needs to thrive. Currently, the only way to do that is to have an online commercial presence where you can sell any time of the day or night, all without the costly overheads. 

 

Yes, it may involve an outlay of much needed cash to set up the shop in the first place, and there is always maintenance. But the benefits for your business can far outweigh this in the long run.  

 

If you would like to know more about how an ecommerce presence could transform your business, and to find out why it may not be as expensive as you first thought, get in touch with a member of the team here at it'seeze Web Design Twickenham. We can guide you through the whole process of setting up your online shop and even spread the cost with an affordable monthly payment plan. Remember - there has never been a better time to set up an online shop.