3 Steps to Determine if an E-commerce Site is Right For Your Business

I was hanging out with some friends the other night. We were all gathered around a television. 4 friends were staring at their mobile devices. 2 friends were typing away on lap tops. It’s safe to say we are spending a ton of time on our digital devices. That includes purchasing products and services right on the devices.

From a business perspective, as an owner you are looking at whether an e-commerce enabled website is a good investment. We will discuss 3 steps to determine if it is:

1) Analyze what you are selling & understand the buying behavior.

It’s good to understand how your typical customer behaves. For example, if you are selling tee shirts, you can put yourself in your customer’s shoes and begin to understand they buy shirts online and with their phones.

Alternatively, if you have a sprinkler service, you can begin to understand that most people will do a Google search and then call. In this case, an e-commerce site may not generate incremental value.

2) Understand the Complexity of Your Product/Service

If you are selling a product or service that has complexity, you may want to hold off on an e-commerce site. Take a look at the typical sales process and cycle. Do you get a significant amount of questions? Are these answers easy to convey online? Does your sales process require many touches with difficult technical information? These are the types of questions to ask to understand the complexity. If you have a simpler product or service, it may be a good fit for an e-commerce site.

3) Are you willing to commit to paid advertising to your e-commerce site?

Facebook Ads provide incredible opportunities to really target your ideal customer and then drive them to your e-commerce site to convert into sales. Are you willing to invest the resources to really play well in the e-commerce arena?

By looking at these 3 steps, you can determine if an e-commerce site is right for your business. Please contact us for more help in determining if an e-commerce website is right for your small business.