E-commerce platforms have revolutionized the way that we do business. The days of traveling to a department store, sorting through hundreds of items in search of one that you want, and trying to find a fair price are over. Retail shopping is becoming obsolete as the convenience of online shopping enables consumers to get what they want quicker and for better prices. From data, to warranty, to cost, e-commerce stores provide a plethora of advantages.
For small businesses and storeowners, e-commerce platforms are providing a lucrative source of revenue, enabling them to reach customers that they never would have found otherwise. Given the power of e-commerce, constructing an effective e-commerce platform can often determine the effectiveness of your business. E-Commerce provides an entirely new stream of income, which is often larger than an organization’s existing efforts. Thus, creating a highly functional e-commerce store is extremely important for retail businesses. Here are a few ways that businesses can maximize their profits using e-commerce sites.
For small to medium sized businesses, transitioning their inventory from storefront to online can be the biggest shift in in their business model with huge benefits. Many shoe stores, makeup stores, art stores, and other retail stores lack an online presence, and thus limit themselves to the sales they get from customers who physically walk into their store. Much of the reason why companies have neglected to build online stores is because of the cost and time it takes to build one. Ecwid, a company that enables businesses to create an online store, is aiming to fix this problem.
Ecwid has been able to find success and provide immediate help to businesses because of the simplicity and functionality of its platform. Ecwid is a shopping cart that allows any user to easily create a professional online store and embed it into any existing website, blog, mobile site, or social network in less than five minutes.
The quick and easy nature of the program enables anyone, even users who are not tech-savvy, to setup a highly functioning e-commerce store in minutes. For business owners who lack online stores, the implications are vast. Previously, an individual who wanted to create an online store would need to first create a separate website or alter their existing website, which could take them days and cost them hundreds of dollars. With the user-friendly platform the Ecwid provides, all users need to do is add a simple widget code from Ecwid and they will then be able to create a fully functional online store. This can also be deployed as a store on Facebook, which provides a significant sales channel for many small and medium sized businesses. In addition, Ecwid offers a free plan for organizations, which sell fewer than ten goods in their online store.
If you own a small retail store, this is the easiest way to grow your business. The platform allows entrepreneurs and business owners to start building their business and selling online from day one. Ecwid stores look professional, smooth, and function well on all devices. Storeowners can even use its mobile applications to run their business right from their pocket.
Ecwid is unique, and specialized for the SMB market place. It is the only global e-commerce cloud-based platform that enables small and medium sized businesses to create professional online stores, embed them into existing sites and operate multiple online stores and point-of-sale integrations simultaneously.
In fact, Ecwid is the fastest growing e-commerce store builder for SMBs, with over 900,000 registered merchants worldwide, from over 170 countries. Unlike other e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Ecwid integrates easily into any existing website in minutes. Thus, SMBs are able to retain their investment in their existing website, and not forfeit any assets. With no need to create a new website, businesses can start selling online right away.
Additionally, Ecwid does not lock businesses into a single, narrow sales channel; Ecwid’s easy-to-deploy technology allows SMBs to simultaneously operate multiple storefronts at once across different platforms, including: Facebook, WordPress, GoDaddy, mobile devices, and Marketplaces such as Google.
How much can this help a business? Ecwid merchants typically see a 10% of more increase in overall sales when they add a Facebook store as an additional channel for their online business. Ecwid makes it easy to add an e-commerce store to social media sides, which is part of how it became the largest social commerce platform on Facebook with over 50,000 stores. Ecwid supports 40 payment gateways, so that customers from different countries can pay with their standard format.
Ecwid’s storefront is available in 45 different languages, with a localized consumer experience for buyers around the world. The platform includes very flexible plans, and offers a freemium model that enables merchants to use the service for free if they are selling less than ten items. If an owner of a brick-and-mortar store wants to start selling online and he uses Square in store, Ecwid can be seamlessly integrated with the device, syncing all of the inventory, sales records and other data, so the online store won’t require any additional paper work. It’s free, it’s easy, and it can double your sales in a short period of time.
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Originally posted on Inc.
Leonard Kim is Managing Partner at InfluenceTree. At InfluenceTree, Leonard and his team teach you how to build your (personal or business) brand, get featured in publications and growth hack your social media following.