Would the advent of the eCommerce industry leave traditional commerce behind? Or the people would stick to traditional commerce as the dominant method of doing trade? These are very confounding questions to ponder by any business owner. As a business owner, it’s vital to understand different domains and changing dynamics of the industry so you can make the right business decisions. Otherwise, you can be left behind in the competitive world of business. This article presents the advantages of both traditional commerce and eCommerce.
Where both commerce methods stand:
While the traditional way of doing commerce is still dominant, the significance of eCommerce cannot be neglected. Of all the retail sales globally eCommerce has a share of 20.8%; this means more than every fifth good is bought online. On top of that, this is increasing at a massive rate expected to reach 24% by 2026.
Advantages of traditional commerce:
Physical products showcase:
Your customers can physically experience your products when purchasing; they can touch, feel and check the quality of your items. This improves the likelihood of them converting.
Instant gratification:
Customers want to experience their products as soon as they buy them. With traditional commerce, they get their hands on their items almost immediately as they purchase them. This is one of the greatest reasons customers prefer buying from physical stores since it provides them with instant gratification.
Improve credibility:
The credibility of your business increases as physical stores allows you to establish a greater bond and trust with customers. You can answer their queries instantly and offer replacement or refund immediately if required.
Provide better merchandising experience:
Not only can your customers experience your products before buying but with traditional selling you can also present your products in better ways. Consider buying furniture online vs in a nicely set up interior decorated store. Most furniture stores set up their furniture in settings that replicate actual house setups to give a more practical feel stimulating customers’ imaginations. Buying behavior involves human senses; with better product merchandising you can stimulate customers’ senses to improve retention and increase your sales.
Advantages of eCommerce store:
Convenience:
eCommerce store allows customers to browse and buy products from the comfort of their homes.
Less operating cost:
Operating costs for running an eCommerce store are less comparatively. You don’t need to pay for rent and utilities. Also, less workforce is involved, hence your payroll expenses are reduced.
Sell anywhere:
With eCommerce stores, you can sell around the globe, unlike in physical stores where only those in your region can reach your store. This increases your market size resulting in improved sales.
Sell 24/7:
Most buying decisions are impulsive; customers want to buy as soon as they make up their minds. With the capability to sell 24/7, you can capture the sales from those buyers before their mind diverts.
More informative:
E-commerce stores provide more information about the products than physical ones such as features & specifications, reviews, comparison tools, and availability. Moreover, customers can log in to their accounts to view their personal information such as order history and status.
Better personalization:
With an eCommerce store, you can provide a better personalization experience to customers; provide product recommendations based on each customer’s preference, offer discounts and send them personalized marketing emails. This results in an increase in customer retention and satisfaction.
Conclusion:
While traditional commerce is still the preferred way of doing trade, the significance of eCommerce can’t be ignored. The pandemic has already proven the importance of eCommerce and as time progresses eCommerce sales ratio is expected to increase further. Therefore, in order to remain in the competition and ensure growth it’s time for businesses to establish themselves in both of these domains.
x2xecommerce with its years of experience in providing eCommerce solutions can help you in setting up an eCommerce store for your business. And if you’re running a physical store along with your eCommerce store, you can have our integration solutions ensuring both business methods and their solutions are parallel to each other. Reach out to us for any queries and have your business established in both domains with our team so that you can capture the changing market dynamics.
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