What is the Purpose of Ecommerce Websites? – A Blueprint

The year 2020 has been a roller coaster ride so far. The continuous disasters, the spread of novel coronavirus, altogether, have created havoc among the people. The need for ecommerce has become more than essential now. People now know the importance as well as the benefits of online ecommerce. It has become a part of our daily lives. More and more people now order food, clothes, groceries, home appliances, and much more, online, using ecommerce. Moreover, the use of net banking, credit cards, UPI payment, and other online transactions is increasing, day after day. Ecommerce has been so integrated into our lives that it becomes near to impossible to imagine life without it. In this blog, we will be discussing ecommerce websites and the purpose it serves.

What is an ecommerce website?

An ecommerce website caters to the exchange of goods and services for electronic transaction of money as well as Cash-On-Delivery (COD). Trading has been practised for a long time serving to the demand and supply chain. Ecommerce website, unlike the traditional websites, helps in purchasing the products that are displayed in the product lists. People can visit the website, choose the products they like, enter the required details, make payment (or choose to pay later), and purchase goods and services in a jiffy. Ecommerce website facilitates online transactions with the use of data and fund transfer. Earlier ecommerce was managed partially using phone calls and emails. However, today, all the processes can be done with a single website.

How many types of an ecommerce website are there?

There are mainly four types of ecommerce websites or better say, you can categorize ecommerce websites into four, they are as follows:

B2B (Business to Business): The electronic trading of goods and services between two businesses is facilitated by a B2B ecommerce website. Here, goods or services are sold by one business to other businesses.

B2C (Business to Consumer): The electronic trading of goods and services between a business and a customer is catered by a B2C ecommerce website. Here, goods or services are sold by one business to a consumer.

C2B (Consumer to Business): The electronic trading of goods and services between a consumer and a business is hosted by a C2B ecommerce website. Here, consumers sell goods or services to other businesses.

C2C (Consumer To Consumer): The electronic trading of goods and services between consumer and another consumer is done on a C2C ecommerce website. Here, one consumer sells goods to services to other consumers.

What is the purpose of an ecommerce website?

There are plenty of purposes of a website, most of which can be confined to one goal, earning profits. An ecommerce website implies a virtual store where visitors come to the store, pick the products of choice, and become customers by purchasing them. Individuals earlier visited the brick the mortar store that was promising and trustworthy, inclining more towards major brands. However, the online ecommerce business has opened doors to businesses of all kinds. All businesses can now sell online with the right use of the resource.

The first step to grab a visitor’s attention is to create a beautiful website. You must invest your time in genuine market research and in building a creative ecommerce website. If you are not technically armed, you can consider using ecommerce platforms such as Builderfly that can do the job for you. It is a completely customizable, do-it-yourself platform that provides you with ready-to-use templates and themes to design your store without being a technical expert. Moreover, you can create a mobile app with distinct design, manage your selling platforms, and focus on marketing, all from one dashboard.

The more you focus on your ecommerce website, the higher will be your revenue as well as profit generation. The earlier you enhance your conversion rates, the more you’ll be able to benefit from your ecommerce website. As an online seller you might already know that with the help of an ecommerce website, you can sell physical as well as virtual products. If you were selling in a brick and mortar store, you have the option to show different products to your visitors, explain them the features, help them compare products, and sell the products directly. However, in the case of online ecommerce, how do you plan to make your products reach the right customers? Here’s when an ecommerce website comes handy. A sharp ecommerce website designing can help your products get the views of the right viewers that can potentially convert into your loyal customers.

An ecommerce website helps in reaching such remote customers which otherwise would not even know the existence of your physical store. You can say the world becomes your audience with an ecommerce website. All you have to do is create a stunning ecommerce website and market it using the right strategies (including organic ways, paid advertisements, marketing campaigns). We have listed down a few points that dictate the purpose of ecommerce websites:

1. The online sellers can get a wide range of customers from around the globe.
2. You can get feedback for your services to improvise and boost your services.
3. The seller and the consumer can interact with each other regarding the products or services.
4. The consumers can get the details of the product you sell and your brand story (if you have invested your time in marketing).
5. It saves considerable time for the consumers; no endless walking to find products, no waiting in traffic jams, no hanging outside the trial rooms, and no waiting for billing.
6. Consumers can purchase online from anywhere at any time using your ecommerce website.
7. Websites help in marketing the products with detailed product descriptions, high-quality product images and videos, rich content, and sleek designing.
8. The right use of SEO and content can help in scoring the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
9. With the use of cookies, you can collect consumer data including the demographics that can be used for target marketing.
10. You can add unlimited products to your ecommerce website and categorize them to sell efficiently.
11. An ecommerce website can be responsive to provide customer convenience.
12. You can include live chats, messages, and provide other contact details of your business on the ecommerce website.
13. Including a feedback form can help you get direct feedback from your customers.
14. A good website design along with strong content can help you build online traffic to boost sales.
15. A website can help you in creating brand authenticity and consumer trust.

How is an ecommerce website different from traditional websites?

There are many differences between traditional websites and ecommerce websites. To start with one, an ecommerce website can facilitate a business entirely online including the supply for consumer demand, sales, and management which is otherwise not possible with traditional websites. Ecommerce websites can be automated to a greater extend as compared to traditional websites. For instance, the transaction process, redirection of consumers to the right landing pages, all these processes can be automated in an ecommerce store. An ecommerce website can aid in consumer interaction and serve the customers with real-time updates, statistics, and so on. Lastly, ecommerce websites help in creating a brand image which is not the case for any regular website.

Things to consider while creating an ecommerce website

We have already discussed some essential points to consider for creating an ecommerce website. However, here are a few highlights that can help you build a stunning online ecommerce website:

1. Focus on the content of your website; it must be SEO-friendly, keywords-rich, creative, and easy to understand.
2. The ecommerce web design must be considered to get more consumers, sales, and revenue. Your website design must be able to navigate your customers to the products they are interested to purchase.
3. Your website design and content must be well-structured in an impactful framework to provide your customers with what they need without any trouble. Remember, your website can speak louder than the quality of your products.
4. Invest your time in building organic traffic as well as publish paid advertisements. Also, you can consider important marketing tactics such as target marketing, remarketing, omnichannel marketing, and so on.

The debate for creating an online ecommerce website and not creating one is still prevailing. However, the results so far indicate increased sales and revenue for the businesses that owned an ecommerce website. To create a website for your business or not to create is completely dependent on your business requirements. However, after going through the purposes served by an ecommerce website, we won’t suggest you to skip creating a website. Buckle up, it’s time to sell more!