Small businesses have a lot to gain and practically nothing to lose when they go online. Thanks to technology, customers can now go shopping, transact business, and purchase at the comfort of their own home, simply by using their laptops, tablets, or smart phones. These are the customers you may be missing when your business is not visible online.

The concept of e-commerce is all about using the Internet to conduct business better and faster. It is about giving customers controlled access to your online system and letting people serve themselves. Here are more reasons why businesses should go online.

Reduce operations cost

New technologies allow you to take virtually any part of your business online, including supply chain management, billing, shipping, procurement, and logistics. Streamlining these business processes through online systems will allow companies to cut costs significantly. For instance, companies can reduce more than five percent of their maintenance, repair and operation costs by adopting e-business solutions.

Ability to do business 24/7

When you go online, you can continue making sales even while your staff is still sleeping. The biggest advantage of online stores is that they are open 24 hours a day all-year round. Whether you promote your site locally or globally, customers will appreciate the convenience of being able to go online any time day or night in order to avail of your products and/or services.

Low start-up costs

Building a web site does not require a big investment. There are many low cost tools available today, which can help you create sites from scratch. Many portals allow you to build web sites from templates or you can hire a web designer to customize one for you.

Provide prospective clients with directions

There are some programs that allow you to provide visitors with driving directions to your place of business. This way, your potential clients can be assured that you have a brick-and-mortar place of business that they can visit in case they want to conduct business face-to-face.

Putting your business online follows the same principles when setting up any offline business – you need to have a great idea, a feasible business plan, supply a value proposition for prospective clients and you should have belief in it and your ability to succeed in the online world.

If you need help in in putting your business online, we are just one message away.