10 Advantages and disadvantages of E-commerce for businesses

Advantages and disadvantages of E-commerce for businesses
Written by

The electronic commerce or its name in English ecommerce, is known as a practice of buying, selling and marketing of services and products by electronic means, that is, all those channels of dissemination of digital information and the Internet.

Any business that sells its products online can be called e-commerce business.

Ecommerce has gained a lot of ground over time, especially in the crisis of 2020 where social isolation led many people to venture into electronic commerce. Despite this, it is important to know the pros and cons of ecommerce for businesses, because it has caused an important change in the industries.

Advantages of Ecommerce for businesses

Ecommerce has different ways to be managed, depending on the target audience, for example if you want to carry out ecommerce for companies, the B2B strategy is applied, which implies that the ecommerce product is intended for other companies.

Based on this, let’s see the different advantages of ecommerce for companies and how the rise of ecommerce has helped the growth of both physical and digital companies.

Accessing new markets

Ecommerce as a business strategy has the main advantage of being able to reach everywhere in the world.

Thanks to the digital age and the internet, you can access new markets and get your products to where you want without having impediments of physical distance.

It can help to increase your e-commerce sales.

Shop accessible 24 hours a day

The possibility of making purchases 24 hours a day, is one of the best advantages of ecommerce for companies, because you can access your service or product at any time and with the assurance that it will be served without delay.

Ecommerce assures you stores accessible 24 hours a day.

Increased data analysis

Thanks to different digital and internet tools, data analysis of your purchases, sales, performance and movement can be done quickly and easily.

Get more data analysis through analyst functions and programs, having a more secure result in a few minutes.

Low start-up costs

To start an ecommerce business, you only need to invest in the products to promote and a website to make the sales.

The biggest advantage of ecommerce for companies is the low start-up costs, since the investment does not require staff, physical site or rental and service costs.

Segmented and targeted advertising

Take care of the content that reaches your potential customers, since through digital marketing tools you can advertise your ecommerce in a segmented and specific way.

The best advantage of an ecommerce for your company is to be able to choose to whom you send the advertising of the site.

Disadvantages of Ecommerce for businesses

As not everything can be good, it is evident that ecommerce has disadvantages and these can be very serious if they are not solved at the moment. A company cannot afford to lose customers, sales or information because of a failure in the ecommerce system, for example.

This brings us to the top 5 disadvantages of ecommerce for businesses.

There may be many more, but the following disadvantages tend to be the most common within any ecommerce, due to the fact that they are the basis for how ecommerce works.

Website failures

Relying on a website to make your sales can be a problem if you run out of internet or start having website failures, this can cause you to lose millions in sales and get disgruntled customers or simply run out of a customer group.

To run an ecommerce business requires dedication, and need to hire employees to build a team that is totally focused on the business online.

Commission charges for payment gateways

Normally payments must be made through payment gateways, some such as PayPal, Mercado Pago, among others, which require a percentage for each payment that customers make by their means. This, although not usually too much, can be a big disadvantage of e-commerce website for companies.

Higher return rates than in a physical store

Finding the right product through an ecommerce can be complicated, since many times you can not specify details of our order which implies that a “general” purchase is made, which can turn into a return because the product is not the product ordered.

Therefore, there is a higher return rate in ecommerce and it is a disadvantage for companies.

Requires time to generate traffic

A physical store must carry out activities such as promotions, ambience and everything necessary to get people to approach, in the case of ecommerce it is necessary to generate traffic, which usually costs valuable time in which they are not making as many sales as desired.

Getting good traffic can take months, being a big disadvantage of ecommerce store for businesses.

Administration of shipping packages

Somehow the product must reach the hands of the customer, which requires the service of parcel and shipping agencies, which in many cases, do not have many tools for management, which requires you to perform the administration on your own.

A large ecommerce does not survive without a shipping company, which is a disadvantage of ecommerce for many businesses.

Ecommerce can be the solution to many current problems, besides being the future in the commercial world due to the great advance of technology and the digital era.

All companies need this electronic side that facilitates and automates many activities, helping to invest the time gained in other activities that really need it.

The important thing is to know very well the advantages and disadvantages of ecommerce website for companies before starting, which can help not to make mistakes and take advantage of everything that ecommerce has to offer.

Why brick-and-mortar retailers should start thinking to build an e-commerce online business?

There are many reasons why brick-and-mortar retailers should start thinking about building an online business platform.

The most obvious reason is that it can help business owners them reach a much wider audience.

With an online presence, retailers can sell to customers anywhere in the world, not just those who live near their physical store.

Online shopping has created a better shopping experience for online shoppers who with just some simple clicks they can access to the catalogue of brick-and-mortar stores.

Additionally, having an shop online can help to build brand awareness and loyalty among customers.

Businesses can transfor their customer base towards their digital transformation and offer better services with their online store platform.

Customers who shop with mobile devices in a retailer online are more likely to remember the brand and return to it in the future than those who only shop in physical stores. Finally, selling online can help retailers to increase their profits by reaching more customers and selling more products.

Which e-commerce platforms can be used to start an online retail store?

There are many e-commerce platforms that can be used to start an online retail store.

Some of the most popular platforms include Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

These platforms offer a variety of features and tools that can help you create a successful online store.

Shopify vs Woocommerce has been the most common comparison to build online stores.

Shopify is a platform that enables you to create an online store.

It offers a wide range of features and benefits that can be extremely helpful for businesses that want to sell products online.

One of the biggest advantages of using Shopify is that it is very easy to use and set up. Even if you don’t have any technical knowledge, you can still create a professional-looking online store with Shopify and Pagefly.

Another benefit is that Shopify provides excellent customer support. If you ever have any questions or need help, you can always contact their support team and they will be more than happy to help you out.

Lastly, Shopify is very affordable.

They offer different pricing plans depending on your needs, so you can find one that fits your budget.

Overall, Shopify is an excellent platform for creating an online store and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to sell products online.

Bigcommerce is a platform that enables online retail stores to operate more effectively and efficiently. The benefits of Bigcommerce for online retail stores include:

Bigcommerce provides a comprehensive set of tools and features that allow online retail stores to operate more effectively and efficiently.

Bigcommerce offers a wide range of customization options, allowing online retail stores to tailor their store to their specific needs and preferences.

Bigcommerce integrates with a variety of third-party services, which makes it easy for online retail stores to add new features and functionality to their store.

Woocommerce is a powerful ecommerce platform that enables online retail stores to sell their products and services easily and effectively.

Woocommerce provides a number of benefits for online retail stores, including the ability to manage inventory, create and manage product listings, process payments, and track customers and sales.

Woocommerce also offers a number of features and plugins that can further extend the functionality of an online retail store.

Overall, Woocommerce is an excellent choice for any online retail store looking to sell products and services online.

More about Shopify
Table of Contents