E-commerce is a growing industry, and more than likely, you have shopped online before. If not, I am sure you know someone who has shopped through an online retailer such as Amazon or eBay. In the United States alone, people spent over 2 Trillion dollars in commerce in 2015, with a projected growth of 3-4% each year. The 3.1 trillion industry in 2014 became a 3.5 trillion industry in 2016 and is expected to be 6.5 trillion by 2023. But you need to be competitive and know what to do so customers can find your business and buy from you.
Five Most Favorite Platforms of E-Commerce:
When people think of online shopping, they tend to either think
of Amazon or eBay. Amazon made about 50% of all American online sales in 2018,
and eBay contributed but there are other sites out there that you can look into
if you want to make your small business successful. Here are the top 5
e-commerce platforms right now.
● PrestaShop
● Magento
● Big Commerce
● Shopify
● Woo Commerce
PrestaShop is free to download, offers excellent customization options, unlimited products and categories, and has a great community of users who can give you tips and advice. They also provide live chat and email-based support, and it is available in 36 languages.
Magento is one of the best open-source e-commerce platforms for small businesses. If you have a smaller budget and want to handle your hosting, Magento is the way to go. You can personalize it with add ones if you need them, and they have a great communication center for help and support.
BigCcommerce is a great e-commerce platform if you want to sell products and services directly from your site. They have drag-and-drop features so you can easily re-arrange your store, and they also have excellent customer service with live chat available daily.
Shopify makes starting a store straightforward without having to have a lot of technical knowledge. They have themes you can choose from that will give your site a professional look, and they also offer a 24/7 live chat and active blog for help with your site.
One of the best things about WooCommerce is that it's free to download and install. You can make your site look however you want and put your personal touch on it. However, it does require some technical knowledge to get set up and find extensions for things like shipping and payment methods.
How Does E-Commerce Work?
E-commerce is a way for people to buy things online. You can
shop from home, and you don't have to go anywhere. If you already know
precisely what you want, you can find it online and buy it.
If you don't know (or aren't sure) precisely what you want to
buy, there are websites like eBay where people have lists of things they are
willing to sell. You can look through these lists for something that interests
you.
Sometimes people will sell things through their websites, and
the buyer can pay the seller directly.
E-commerce is becoming more popular as computers and smartphones
get faster and easier to use.
What Are The Steps To Use Online Purchasing?
● Finding what you want
● Selecting it
● Paying for it (online)
● You are receiving your product (in inbox) & checking if
everything is fine
● The last step is optional because sometimes, due to insufficient
stock or any other reason, people get their orders canceled.
What Are The Reasons For People Not Buying Online?
Some of the reasons are:
● Not finding what you want
● Fear of frauds & scams
● Time taken to order/buy the product (online) & pay for it
will take more time than just visiting the store itself.
Conclusion
During the pandemic, e-commerce is booming, which gives
entrepreneurs an excellent opportunity to start selling online. Now, Electronic commerce has become a multibillion-dollar company. Furthermore,
there are many benefits of online shopping, a lot of variety is available, and
it saves time and money, you can buy anything from in the world; we don't need
to swear by a particular brand or shop only at our local market, and it's easy
and takes less time than what you think.
This article is written by Madiha Naz, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
