Ecommerce UK
E-commerce plays an increasingly important role in the way in which products and services are purchased. Consumers all over the world are
increasingly swapping crowded stores for the one-click convenience of online shopping.
A recent survey (November 2009) showed that 93% of consumers were planning to do at least some of their Christmas shopping online, with 71% planning to buy more than half of their gifts on the web.
Overall, online sales are expected to make up 30-50% of all consumer spending over the next 3-5 years, retailers who are online need to make sure they are equipped to take advantage, and those who are not need to get online.
The number of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) offering full ecommerce facilities has grown considerably in recent years, according to recent research, but is still only a small percentage of businesses.
The survey found that only 11 per cent of SMEs maintain a full ecommerce website, although this was almost twice the number reported in recent years, this means that a lot of businesses are missing the boat.
Bruce Townsend, marketing manager for survey author Actinic, says many of the reasons for not adopting ecommerce relate to perception rather than reality, with concerns about the security of purchasing online, the cost of deploying a web site and the time involved. “While there were valid concerns about security and cost in the past, technology has overcome much of this,’” he said
Of those with an e-commerce site, 90% said it was profitable, and 40% said that it cost less to set up than they expected.
Of course, there are costs involved in setting up a shop on the Internet, but these costs are much less than they used to be. The cost of e-commerce software, which handles the shopping cart, payment and billing details etc. has to be added to the basic cost of having a web site built.
In addition, in order to take card payments online, you will either need an Internet Merchant Account and a secure server and SSL certificate to provide the “Golden Padlock” or use a Payment Service Provider to process your payments .
Marketing costs also need to be taken into consideration – its no good just building a site and expecting people to flock to it. Your online shop needs promoting as much, if not more, as a physical shop would.
People buy on the Internet because it’s convenient – they don’t have to worry about the weather, parking spaces, travelling time etc. They can shop when it’s convenient for them, late at night, early in the morning, in fact whatever fits in with their lifestyle. If you don’t provide online shopping facilities for your customers, you might find that it’s your competitors that are earning money while you sleep!
What you need to take card payments online - information on internet merchant accounts and payment service providers for Ecommerce UK