A lot of offline Business owners have been contemplating and thinking if they should be having some sort of online presence. Well, if you have been contemplating it then you are definitely right.
In order to remain relevant and make sure that you adhere to the ongoing customs and norms of the world it is imperative that you have an online presence of your business. Whether it is a Website, a social media account or an eCommerce Site that entirely depends on you and the business you are in.
It is just not about staying relevant but also thinking about the future of your respective businesses. If you intend on expanding your business at a steady pace with consistent and sustainable returns then the online world is the best way to do that since you wouldn’t be constrained by territorial limitations in order to sell your goods and services and by engaging with a much larger pool of potential customers.
Even if an Offline Business owner has successfully set up his/her business with a good revenue stream and a good brand image as well, it is imperative that he sets up his online presence considering the shifting focus of businesses towards the online world.
In order to have a sustainable model for your business to earn money in a consistent manner, you need to conduct research and churn analysis in order to determine the best strategy for your business.
Conducting research and Churn Analysis with a guide, because is important for business especially if you are planning to have some sort of online presence. Even after taking all of this into consideration, if you still need reasons to have an online presence for your offline business then we would like to assist you and present the reasons as mentioned below.
1. Expansion of Your Business
The potential expansion of your business is definitely one of the primary reasons to have an online presence for your currently offline business.
Your current offline business is currently bound by the limitations of territory however, when you shift some part of your business online you no longer would you be limited to the territories you currently operate in.
You can potentially be in business with people from the entire globe irrespective of the country or territory they are situated in. You would be boosting your business sales as well as significantly improving your brand image internationally.
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2. Increased Customers
Consider an example where you have a Utilities Store which is completely offline without any sort of online presence. In this particular case majority of the time, your customers would be people who would be living nearby.
Your customer base would be only limited to a territory for people who want to buy utility stuff from a nearby store. However, if you open an eCommerce store for your utility business, you can potentially have a customer base ranging from a whole city to maybe an entire country as well.
A lot of businesses have started out as offline only and then eventually went on to operate on a global basis, providing goods and services to customers across the world.
3. Round The Clock Availability
Your offline store certainly does not operate 24/7, it closes at maybe 9 pm or 10 pm. There are a lot of situations wherein a customer may have to avail certain services or goods and during that particular time your business hours may have exceeded.
There is also the possibility of an off day wherein your business wouldn’t be operating at all in its entirety. All of these hassles can be solved with the availability of your business presence online.
Having an online business would solve the issue of various time constraints that would be faced by your business. A particular customer would be able to place an order at any point of time during any day irrespective of it is an off day or not. Online Stores are always open for the customers to do their shopping.
This is one of the major advantages of having an online shop over the traditional offline ones.
4. Minimal Investment
Most of the offline shops require a lot of capital and investment in order to get started. And even after providing the business with a steady source of funding in the initial stages, there is no guarantee that it may succeed eventually.
However, in the case of setting up an online store, you can start out with very minimal levels of investment. You just need a domain name, a server or maybe an eCommerce Platform in order to start out your business.
5. Easy Customer Support
On paper Customer Support for Online Businesses can seem a daunting task. However, that is certainly not the case since it actually lets you provide an enhanced level of customer support.
You can make unboxing and product support videos for your particular goods or services put on sale. You can also set up an easy Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Section and also set up an easy and fair return policy for your customers.
6. Increased Brand Awareness
If your business is running out of a single town or city then my best bet is that no one outside that particular town or city would be knowing anything about your brand.
Now in case you decide opening a social media account for your business, this would multiply the awareness people have about your brand by tenfold considering that people that do not reside in the town or city your business is operating will also be made aware about your operations.
This way you can easily promote the different goods and services being offered by you and significantly increase the pool of potential customers for your business.
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7. Easy Management
With the setting up of an online business via an eCommerce Website or Platform, you can simplify things up to quite an extent. The organisation and the invoicing aspect of your business become in a neat and organised manner since the orders are taking place online.
You can also use the customer data which would be provided by the various analytics in order to introspect better and increase the efficiency of your respective business.