Why eCommerce websites are important for retailers

Need for an eCommerce website for businesses

We are in an era of COVID and post COVID world where the Indian consumer behavior significantly changed from the pre-COVID times. Before 2019, the majority of the consumers who shop online belong to the middle and upper-middle-class category. The advent of COVID19 and lockdowns have brought in a tremendous change in the shopping experience for consumers where customers from all income sections are becoming more and more used to shop online from the click on their phones.

The availability of smartphones and their usage to shop online has spread to even the remotest of villages. This is leading to a behavioral shift where a consumer who used to visit the physical store is now used to shop online. The footfall to physical store decreasing day by day.

This shift in the behavioral pattern of consumer shopping is a key factor to be noted by the businesses and they will need to move online so that they can stay in the game. It might become very difficult for a business to survive and flourish without an online e-commerce presence especially if one is in the retail segment.

There are a plethora(Agnicart eCommerce- INR 699/month, BigCommerce — $40/month, etc.) of options now available for businesses to choose from and can start an eCommerce website and go live in 1–3 days.

Benefits of eCommerce websites:

1. Purchase decisions are influenced by eCommerce websites. Trust in a brand increases multi-fold by having an online presence. Customers can check the availability of products and shop easily with multiple payment options. They need not have to wait in the checkout line of the physical store.
2. The customer who purchased from the physical store will most likely purchase online from the store's website if he/she liked the product.
3. Businesses can build a greater brand by providing visibility into product reviews
4. The business can sell anywhere across the globe instead of being restricted to the location of their physical store and more importantly, the business can be open 24x7

These are just some of the key benefits and there are plenty of use cases where successful businesses are built just by having an online presence and expanding the reach.