If you wish to start an online business, this is the right time to dive in. To get your business started in the digital world, you have primarily two options: eCommerce marketplace or building your own website. Among these two, the latter choice is best, considering all the advantages it provides.
Established marketplaces may have restrictions that stop you from doing certain things your way. Hence, having your own custom website for your business using custom eCommerce web development services is the most recommended option. In the following sections, we have elaborated on this topic to help you understand why an eCommerce website is vital for your business.
Customers now prefer online shopping
The stir the world has gone through in the last two years due to the pandemic has changed many things around us. Customers are now avoiding going to physical marketplaces and prefer buying things online. This changed behaviour isn’t a temporary phase. We have been seeing the increasing popularity of online shopping even before Covid-19.
The ongoing pandemic has just accelerated it. And now, it is on businesses to understand this changed behaviour and start implementing the online aspect to their business model as rapidly as possible to be on the competitive edge. Building your own website could be a great kick start for your business’s online journey.
Establish and strengthen your brand
The biggest discouragement of using established marketplaces is the lack of availability of personalisation and customisation on the platform. Everything on these platforms, from logo to colour scheme and content, belongs to them, and there is nothing personalised for your brand. Many times, your customers don’t even realise you exist.
Your products are listed in a generic way with all other competitors, and you don’t get to promote them to stand apart and gain traction. This is where a website is more helpful. Having custom eCommerce website development services for your business ensures you get ample opportunity to establish and strengthen your brand through personalisation.
Build a customer email list and market directly to them
When you sell your products on a marketplace, you don’t get to collect information about your customers. Marketplace customers belong to the platform. To them, you are just any other vendor on the platform, so it is less likely that they’ll prefer buying again from you as they don’t really know your business.
If you have your own website, you can have the email addresses of your customers and promote your products in an effective way. You can announce sales, discounts, and new product arrival to your customers directly through their emails. This way, you can boost your sales and get repeat customers.
Learn more about your clientele through analytics
One of the biggest advantages of having your own eCommerce website rather than the marketplace is an opportunity to leverage the power of analytics. Custom eCommerce website development helps collect your customers’ data and get valuable insights.
You get to dive deep into their buying behaviour and personal preferences through impressions they make on your website. These insights allow you to better your marketing campaigns and offer customised offers and discounts to give them a personalised experience. This results in more customer retention and repetitive buying, eventually helping you build a loyal customer base.
Secure and seamless payment options
While the marketplace may be the most preferred platform for customers to shop online, it is highly unsafe as well. Since these platforms receive a high number of traffic, they are always on target of hackers. This also encourages a sense of unreliability among customers, which vastly affects sales.
With a personal website, you can take utmost security measures to keep your customer’s data safe and sound. You can hire a dedicated developer from a reliable organisation or an in-house employee who knows techniques and measurements that make your website less vulnerable.
Carry out creative marketing campaigns
A custom website can be your best marketing platform. On marketplaces, you don’t really market your business; you’re just a seller there, and you rely on the earnings you get from selling products which were marketed by the platform as their own. You get almost zero brand awareness from there.
But with a website, you can carry out various custom marketing campaigns to drive more traffic and encourage your audience to buy. With the help of SEO and social media marketing, you can promote your brand, products, ongoing offers and discounts you are offering on your website.
Bottom line
As we have described, having a custom website can benefit your business more than selling on an established marketplace. A website helps drive traffic and generate more revenue while establishing and strengthening your brand. But for this to happen, you have to have a reliable technology partner. So make sure you hire a dedicated developer who can offer complete and effective eCommerce website development services that put your business ahead of the competition.
