Not all businesses lend themselves to selling their products online, but if you are a retail enterprise and your market is one that is likely to browse the internet regularly for your goods, having an e-commerce site could be just what you need.
While retail used to be customer facing and relied on having excellent sales pitches, a great looking store and window displays that could entice passers-by through the door, the world of shopping has completely changed.
Indeed, according to the latest Retail Sales Great Britain: June 2018 report, recently released by the Office for National Statistics, online sales accounted for a huge 18 per cent of all transactions in the last year.
Internet-based sales rose by an impressive 14.3 per cent between June 2017 and June 2018, with transactions in department stores leading this growth, experiencing a 22.6 per cent increase over the last 12 months.
It is not just shopping from department stores that Brits enjoy doing though, as food sales grew by 13.3 per cent; textile, clothing and footwear stores saw an increase in online sales of 16.6 per cent; and household good store purchases rose by 15.8 per cent.
Even businesses that are not involved in retail might be inclined to hire professional website designers in Kingston to transform their pages and add an e-commerce facility to it, as non-store retailing has received a 10.3 per cent boost since June 2017.
Therefore, those companies that do not have a high-street presence, sell goods to customers, or own a product-based business could still sell online. For instance, you could have an e-commerce site if you sell tickets to events, if you offer services, or if you provide classes that require advanced payment.
Brits are very used to paying for things online these days and have become extremely adept at using PayPal, or their credit or debit card to place a quick transaction. Indeed, many prefer to do it this way than remembering their cards or cash to pay in person.
Earlier this year, Post Office Money reported that a quarter of Brits have made an impulsive purchase of something they saw on social media, and 47 per cent of these do so on a monthly basis.
This amounts to an annual expenditure of £1.6 billion across the UK, showing just how huge the e-commerce industry in the country is, as well as how important it is for companies to have a social media presence.
The findings revealed that spenders are also likely to buy something more expensive than they had intended to when they see it on social networking sites, with one in seven people admitting to ‘financial upgrading’.
Men are guiltier of doing this than women, with 17 per cent of males tempted to spend more on products compared with 12 per cent of females.
As well as adding an e-commerce facility to your website, it is a good idea to invest in your social media strategy, as this is a great way to promote your business to a host of possible clients.
Indeed, nearly half of all the people in world have a profile on social media sites (3.028 billion), giving you a huge pool of potential customers to target with your marketing campaigns.
