This article outlined the advantages of internet to business. It also discuses the 10 reasons why your business must have an online presence to succeed.
The internet has uniquely fashioned out businesses environment in which there are no time barrier or distance difficulty, where people have digital access to more information which would assist them in decision making and customers have better access to a wider variety of products and services. An online presence for business is a commanding marketing and communication instrument, an extremely cost-efficient method, as well as an environmentally responsive way to work, an indication of absolute professionalism and pretty much a necessity in today digital business environment.
In this modernized era, a lot of brick-and-mortar companies as well as prospective companies are asking themselves: is it quite necessary to have a presence online or not. Maybe you are still in doubt about the beauty, uniqueness and rewards that come with having your business online, you are definitely not alone. Recent statistics by a credible institute confirms that nearly 50% of domestic businesses in Nigeria don’t have any presence online.
It is require of you to make up your mind swiftly, in fact you ought to have done that in years past. Considering the extent of absolute decadence in the Nigerian economy, a lot of companies who are not making full use of the internet are increasingly going extinct. The internet has innovated a new type of wealth, which by its volatile development and absolute volume is already giving a new angle to the insight of the usual way of running business.
If this does not encourage you to take your business online, below are the comprehensive 10 reasons why you have to start doing business online right now.
1) It Gives Your Business New Opportunity For Growth
Taking a look at Companies like Jumia and Konga who have effectively taking over and have been able to control areas, where just few years ago traditional brick-and-mortar companies were leaders. However, for you to be successful on the internet, you need not to be a giant like them. A lot of small and mid-size companies have been able to put up an online businesses quite profitably. In fact, research has shown that small and mid-size companies will be the major developmental influence of e-commerce in the future.
2) It Builds A Better Company’s Image
Having an online presence affirms your trustworthiness and professionalism. Your customers and prospective clients are expecting to see your website address on your business cards and promotional materials. They are asking you: “Do you have a website? Can I read more about your products or services there?” Whether you are into selling products or rendering of services online, in today’s world you have to give your business a corporate presence on the Internet. A nice corporate website definitely increases the credibility of a company particularly if it has great product or service related content to go with.
3) It Eliminates Location, Time And Accessibility Limitations
The internet is a platform that spreads across the world and covers all time zones. That means that as soon as businesses take their services online, they have the same potentials. With a traditional store, customers are surely restricted by how close the store is and its operating hours. Your E-business, on the other hand, is available to your customers from any area and at any time of the day with internet access.
4) It Provides Better Customer Support
Your website is a good means for your customers to get in touch with you and works better than a business card. Clients are now capable of contacting and conversing with you, thanks to email and live chat software, e-businesses have no trouble fulfilling that need via phone/e-mail/Twitter/Facebook etc. This is a unique method of building relationships with your customers. When customers contact you, they will always appreciate quick response. Plus, these flexible forms of customer service can expand past a traditional store’s hours of operation.
5) Low Initial Investment
An important advantage for new businesses is the fact that primary investment for starting up an e-business is usually lower than the expenses associated with starting an equivalent business using a traditional model. The technology used to setup and operate an e-business is becoming highly developed whilst the needed equipment are also cheaper to obtain. A lot of thriving e-businesses were started using only a home based office with a individual computer, couple with some basic software and an internet connection.
6) Low Cost of Operation
It is no longer news that running an e-business is by far more cost effective than running a brick and mortar enterprise. modern technologies enables you to take practically any part of your business online, that include supply chain management, payment, delivery, procurement etc. Streamlining these business processes through online systems will allow you to cut costs significantly in almost every area of any business. Plus, things get a lot easier from a logistical standpoint, since one person can carry out the task of quite a lot of people. Take mass communicating with customers, for example. Sending a bulk email to a list of customers is easier than sending out 100 people to share flyers.
7) Favorable Marketing Strategies
The internet will also make it easier and more cost efficient for business proprietors to promote their business on the digital sphere, with the arrival of social media, search engine and so on. Many platforms such as display advertisement, social media advertisement, email marketing and mobile marketing now exist to help promote businesses to their relevant customers. It also makes it straightforward for business managers to track and examine the purchasing patterns of their customers, and in so doing modify the business to better suit their needs and expectations.
8) Keeps Your Business Relevant
To stay significant, businesses need to constantly post content on these online channels that suits the need of their customers. Also having an online presence on social media websites is a big part of getting your name and business name out there. The internet could now be considered as an important part of our lives, either you like it or not, and it isn’t showing signs of leaving anytime soon. So why not take advantage of its benefits to the fullest. Opening an e-business keeps you in touch with what’s trendy, just like all the several blogs you find online giving out the most up-to-date information.
9) Low Cost of Maintenance
With a pile of bills for rent, electricity, security and that of common office maintenance, everyday expenditure for traditional locations can start to stack up. By taking your business online, you decrease or eradicate a bunch of these operating costs.
10) A Global Reach
An online business can get your business to a broader audience, a global one. Anyone with an internet connection can view your products or services online. From the remote and rural areas of Kano, to the countryside in Accra to a full of activity corner shop in Japan and to a sleepy fishing village in South Africa, the internet is the world’s shopping window for your products. Also online presence gives you the freedom to live and work where you like, you can be traveling while at the same time running your online business! Now tell me what other method can beat that?
Being online enables a business develop their customer base faster, it gives room to become handy, available, affordable and well equipped to assist its customers, and when businesses are focused on benefiting their customers, high income becomes automatic and at the end everyone is poised to wins. Hopefully you are now able to see why an online business is a concrete investment. When it comes to an e-business, it’s unusual to go wrong with it, because everyone reaps the benefits including the customers and the business itself.