How Ecommerce Affects Small Businesses
With the digital era, comes a lot of changes not just in the way we communicate but also the way we buy and sell products and services. Since its inception, the internet has had an impact on a lot of things and business is one of the many areas which have been totally revolutionized.
Today, at-least one in every 3 people in the world, has either bought something online, or offered some sort of service through the internet. This is indicative of how much ecommerce has grown over the years considering that in 1998, only 5% of all businesses worldwide, had embraced the internet and ecommerce.
This internet revolution, has had both a positive and a negative impact on businesses. The businesses which embraced technology and incorporated ecommerce into their models early enough, have reaped and continue reaping the benefits of ecommerce. On the other hand, those businesses which are lagging behind in embracing ecommerce, are reeling from the effects of their prosaic approach in business.
Today, we want to particularly focus on the impact of ecommerce on small businesses. How has the internet changed the way small companies and startup businesses are operating? Has ecommerce been a reprieve or anything but? Here is a look at the impact of ecommerce on small business and why small businesses need to embrace the same without hesitation;
How Ecommerce Affects Small Businesses
Small businesses can be defined as businesses with few employees generally under 100, are most of the time privately owned and more often than not, focus on a single product or service. These businesses haven’t quite had a foothold in their respect markets and have very little influence on the said markets.
Ecommerce has had both a positive and a negative impact on businesses worldwide. Some small businesses view ecommerce as a tool developed by the big established market leaders to help them reach an even wider audience and kill off competition from startups while other small businesses view ecommerce as a platform to show themselves to the world and put up a fight against the big established market leaders.
Positive impacts of ecommerce on small businesses
Small businesses reach wider audiences for less
In the past, businesses had to set aside thousands of dollars to market themselves and reach their target audiences. This favored the big established companies who had the budget and capability of setting up marketing campaigns while the small capital-less businesses languished in unpaid loans.
Social media, search engines and other modern day business marketing platforms are way cheaper than traditional media marketing platforms like TV and Radio. This means that small businesses have a good chance of marketing themselves for less.
There is no need to set up large brick and mortar facilities
With ecommerce, small businesses don’t require large physical facilities and offices to run their daily activities. Business don’t need to hire out expensive office and shop spaces. Businesses can be run from very small offices or from home as a lot of the displaying is done online on the businesses’ websites. This means these small businesses can save and use the funds elsewhere.
Tracking progress and stocks is easier
Thanks to the numerous ecommerce tools available to small businesses, tracking of stock and the progress of one’s business, is way easier than it was before. Since almost all the transactions are digitized, tracking the progress of the business is way easier than it used to be. This means that owners can understand the commodities and services which are on demand and focus more on them for the better of their business.
Easy and sustainable scalability
Ecommerce has really made it very easy for small businesses to scale and sustain their growth. The availability of informatics and data make it very easy for businesses to track their growth and predict their growth or lack thereof.
Negative impact of ecommerce on small businesses
Giants with enough marketing budget are still outsmarting the startups
Although the digital marketing platforms are relatively cheap, they don’t provide a level playing ground for both small and established businesses. To successfully run an online campaign, a business needs enough budget to not only initiate the campaign but also sustain it over a period of time. This is where the small businesses feel a little aggravated.
Verdict
It is clear that ecommerce has done more good than harm to small businesses. It contradicts the archaic status quo that businesses can’t grow their profits infinitely. Any small business that is serious about its growth, must therefore embrace technology and incorporate ecommerce into their model.
Fortunately, companies like us here at Runrex, are at your service and are looking to help you in the journey of digitizing your service delivery. We offer an array of services which help small businesses to increase their online presence and reach a wider audience. Give us a call today and we will get you started on this amazing ecommerce business.