E-commerce is not a totally new concept and it is something that businesses ranging from small startups to the likes of John Lewis and Argos have been doing for quite some time.
However, there have been many businesses over the last few years who have not fully and comprehensively embraced the rise and rise of e-commerce. With the Covid pandemic hitting much of the world in 2020, all retail businesses sought out the internet for opportunities.
Although the likes of Amazon dominate online sales, customers are very willing and able to seek out and find specific and individual retailers for e-commerce and shopping opportunities. Sellers of products ranging from goose and duck down duvets to food and even bespoke and artistic items have all seen sales explode in the last year.
Although the competition has therefore heated up and become a lot stiffer, there are also many opportunities for online sellers, particularly when their product offerings are bespoke, niche or very specifically tailored to a particular audience.
The clear benefits and the key factors helping people move into e-commerce include:
- The reduced need for physical premises
- The ability to incorporate drop-shipping solutions
- Scalability potential
- The ability to sell via a business’ own website as well as facilitating platforms like eBay and Amazon
- The global marketing potential of an e-commerce business
The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t spark a revolution of e-commerce. The trends were already there and businesses and companies were already making (albeit insufficient) moves into the online world of e-commerce and online shopping.
With most of the world forced to stay at home during various periods of 2020, people turned to online solutions for everything from shopping and leisure accessories to e-learning and socialising. E-commerce was no different.
A key difference however between e-commerce and many other areas is that whilst some online adaptations will soon revert to their former selves, for example meetings, socialising and some forms of shopping, when it comes to e-commerce more broadly, people are moving towards rather than away from it.
The great deal of convenience and the immediacy with which e-commerce allows for is almost unrivalled. More people than ever have rather than adapted, totally changed the way in which they live and buy items of any type and persuasion. For example, rather than going to the grocery shop, then a chemist and then another shop, all of the above can be done safely, efficiently, swiftly and in the comfort of your own home with no more than a few clicks and a debit or credit card.
E-commerce is here to stay and the more businesses that jump on the e-commerce trend, the longer it will remain.