One of the issues that many new business owners face is choosing effective channels to promote their brand and bring their products to the market. Alongside many free selling platforms such as Facebook, Zalo, or e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, etc., a website is also an important channel.
However, many small and medium-sized businesses, or individuals just starting to sell, often worry that creating an e-commerce website will be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly. Will having an e-commerce website really help increase sales or raise brand awareness?
In reality, a website is a highly effective sales channel that business owners should not overlook. To understand how effective it can be, let’s explore 7 reasons why you need an e-commerce website to grow your online business.
1. 24/7 Sales
A website is like a physical store but with no set opening or closing hours. An e-commerce website allows you to sell 24/7, with no time limits on when customers can shop, whether it’s during the day or in the middle of the night.
Moreover, you don’t need to hire too many sales consultants; just a few people to handle online customer inquiries (or you can integrate a Messenger chatbot for automatic customer service). This significantly reduces costs and increases sales profit.
2. Customizable to Your Liking
With social media platforms or e-commerce platforms, you cannot design your shop the way you want because they have standardized layouts for all shops. It’s like a stall in a market—you can’t upgrade or fully own the space, you can only list products without customization options.
With an e-commerce website, you can customize the display interface as you wish. Here, you can showcase everything you want in the way you want. Your online store can be large or small, with as many departments as you need. You can design the website the way you like (but it’s better to design it according to what your customers prefer, rather than what you like).
Arranging and introducing products on the website is not limited. This allows you to provide complete information to customers while making it easy for them to search for products. This enhances the user experience and drives customer purchasing behavior.
3. Reduce dependence on Facebook
Most online sellers on Facebook have faced situations where their account gets locked, their account gets hacked, or their fanpage malfunctions, which interrupts their sales and results in revenue loss.
In such cases, if you have a website, you can still maintain sales without much impact. Customers can still visit the website, receive advice via live chat, and place orders directly.
Moreover, a common issue faced by many Facebook sellers is having competitors “steal customers.” This significantly affects the shop’s revenue and profit. With an e-commerce website, orders placed on the website are entirely private, so you don’t need to worry about competitors stealing customers or sabotaging your business.
4. Optimize advertising campaigns
An e-commerce website allows you to integrate Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics to optimize your advertising campaigns.
Facebook Pixel is a JavaScript snippet provided by Facebook for advertisers to insert into their website for the following purposes:
- Track user behavior
- Measure ad performance
- Create custom audiences tailored to specific ad campaigns
By tracking the behavior of users visiting your website, Facebook Pixel helps you target your ideal customer audience.
Google Analytics is a website analysis tool that provides detailed statistics on user behavior on your website. When integrated into your website, it helps you track and control Google Ads campaigns, providing you with detailed, clear insights.
A specific example of benefit #4: A potential customer visits your website and adds a product to their cart. However, for some reason, they don’t complete the purchase. The next day, they browse Facebook and come across the exact product they selected (via a Facebook ad). The customer clicks on the product and completes the purchase they had previously abandoned.
5. Customer retention and building loyal customers
Customers on Facebook or e-commerce platforms are not truly yours. They may switch to competitors if they sell similar products at a lower price. It’s difficult to keep them loyal to your brand.
A website not only helps you interact better with existing customers but also supports effective customer retention campaigns. With the ability to analyze and store unlimited information, an e-commerce website allows sellers to understand customer habits, behaviors, and shopping history. Recognizing your loyal customers helps store owners create attractive promotions to retain them and turn them into loyal customers of the brand.
6. Build credibility and promote your brand
Although the trend of shopping on social media and e-commerce platforms is growing, research by Moore shows that 61% of customers still trust and prefer choosing shops that have an e-commerce website.
Updating complete product information and transparent purchasing policies will help increase customer trust and boost sales. Articles that share product-related information and knowledge help strengthen customer confidence. Additionally, a website helps you create a brand identity through elements like logos, interface colors, designs, and domain emails. This makes you appear more professional and leaves a lasting impression on customers’ minds. It’s clear that no major brand lacks an e-commerce website.
7. Maximize potential customer reach
Today, most customers search for product information on search engines (primarily Google) before making a purchase decision. To appear in search engine results, you first need to have a website.
With a well-SEO-optimized e-commerce website, you have a greater chance of ranking high in search results, increasing your chances of attracting customers to visit the website and complete purchases.
Additionally, you can also run paid advertising campaigns such as Google Ads and Google Smart Shopping to quickly boost sales.
In conclusion, in today’s highly competitive online marketplace, having an e-commerce website will give you a competitive edge and help you sell more effectively. Owning an e-commerce website is not as difficult or as expensive as many people think.
With the Haravan website platform, business owners can quickly build a professional multi-channel business website at an affordable price. The website integrates all the necessary features (payments, shipping, security, reports, live chat, etc.) to start selling immediately. It connects with major platforms like Shopee, Lazada, and Tiki to conveniently manage multi-channel sales and achieve significant growth.
Furthermore, Haravan offers over 200 beautiful templates suitable for various industries. The website is mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized, and provides free hosting with unlimited bandwidth to optimize page loading speed and provide the best user experience.
There are many more outstanding features available from the Eras Vietnam website platform. Contact us now to experience the website design services at Eras Vietnam.
