In the 21st century, the retail experience is all about e-commerce. More than ever before, people are choosing to shop online and have items delivered directly to their home rather than driving to the nearest mall and shopping there. This has resulted in a huge shift in the retail industry, one that has led many businesses to significantly scale down or abandon their physical presence altogether, in favor of e-commerce.
Katerina Yip, an e-commerce brand founder from Hong Kong who has successfully helped to co-found a number of successful businesses at Galton Voysey, provides her thoughts on the subject of e-commerce. She shares the top three reasons why e-commerce is becoming the main market approach to business.
E-Commerce Can Expand Your Brand
According to Katerina Yip, one of the main reasons why e-commerce is increasingly becoming a main market approach in business is because of the medium’s potential to expand your brand. For example, if you are currently operating a brick-and-mortar location, the best way to grow your brand presence and reach a wider audience is by moving into e-commerce. Unlike opening a second physical location in a different neighborhood or city, transitioning to e-commerce allows you to market your products or services to people not only in the region where your business is headquartered, but across the country you live in and maybe even all over the world. By offering a great product or service, combined with an e-commerce website, online customer service, social media, and increased customer engagement, your business will be able to grow exponentially. It also allows you to better understand who your customers are, as you are able to directly engage and communicate with them in a way where an in-store retail experience would struggle to duplicate.
E-Commerce is the Most Convenient Method of Shopping
Yet another reason businesses are transitioning towards e-commerce is due to convenience. An online store, unlike a brick-and-mortar location, is “open” 24 hours a day. This means your customers can visit your website and shop for your products any time they want, making it possible for people with the busiest of schedules to still shop at your business. Nowadays, Katerina Yip points out that people simply don’t have the time or patience to shop in stores or shopping centers, especially knowing they can order what they want online and have it delivered to their doorstep, often within an extremely short time frame. That said, simply setting up an e-commerce website isn’t necessarily enough. In order to gain customers, your e-commerce experience has to be as convenient as the medium itself. This means making your website user-friendly, providing customers with a seamless checkout experience, and offering hassle-free returns and the most convenient shipping rate possible.
E-Commerce Provides Unparalleled Marketing Opportunities, Says Katerina Yip
Hong Kong-based brand founder Katerina Yip claims that another major benefit of e-commerce is that it provides unparalleled marketing opportunities for businesses. A brand’s website, along with their social media pages, are two of the most powerful marketing tools any businesses can have in their arsenal in 2021. For example, when it comes to building a website, if you know how to incorporate the best search engine optimization (SEO) practices, then you can ensure your website is ranked higher and seen by the largest number of people possible. Further, studies show that 43% of global shoppers research a product online via social media before buying it. This is a hugely important statistic and underscores the value of social media for businesses. In 2021, not only does a brand need to have an active social media presence (especially on Instagram) in order to be successful, but they need to go beyond simply posting photos or videos showcasing their products. They need to advertise on these platforms. Paying for advertising on major social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook (News - Alert) is critical to attracting new customers, keeping current customers engaged, and learning more about who your most loyal customers are and what they want.
