With ecommerce sales continuing to rise year after year, it's imperative that every business takes steps to bring their products online, both on their own web stores and through major ecomm retailers. It's easier than ever to find new avenues to sell your products, reach new markets, and even fulfill your orders. It may seem like the hurdles involved are still too great, but with brick-and-mortar sales struggling, ecommerce strategy is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity.
Behind the buzz about ecommerce growth are real stats, and our friends at TrackingCourier.com have put together an infographic to provide a quick overview of the state of ecommerce, the big names in the game, and some of the challenges and potential for anyone getting into ecommerce.
What are three major takeaways from this infographic?
1. While US-based Amazon may be the biggest ecommerce player globally, and the US ecommerce market will continue to grow steadily, there are dozens of massive retailers around the globe that are growing even faster. With billions of internet users outside of the United States, ecommerce is driving innovation and sales in countries like China and India which are already rivaling Amazon.
2. While the US market is already heavily saturated with ecommerce retailers, there are international opportunities to sell to less crowded digital markets that have an ever-expanding customer base. Brazil, Myanmar, and India are just three examples of rapidly growing markets, but no matter where you target with your ecommerce efforts, there are pros and cons. Newer markets have less competition and more opportunity for explosive growth, but fewer users and more logistical challenges. While you face more competition and smaller growth potential in older markets, it is much easier to start your efforts and reach a large, established customer base in more established markets, like the United States.
3. The most important advice is to do your homework before you get involved in ecommerce efforts, either local or global, to make sure you understand everything involved, all the costs, potential roadblocks, and best customer targets. Ecommerce is not an easy path to success, but consistent work and creating a plan ahead of time will help minimize the issues you run into while getting your program off the ground. Finding the best retailers to sell your products is a major key to ecommerce success and will help ensure you don't do all the setup work just to watch your products sit unsold in your warehouse.
Global ecommerce is growing quickly and it looks like it will continue to for the foreseeable future. It's not a foolproof formula to bigger sales quite yet, but the right strategy and planning can minimize risk and maximize your potential. If you haven't considered taking your products online, it's time to get serious about it. If you are looking for help getting your ecommerce efforts going, we'd love to help! No matter what, ecommerce is going to continue to grow in 2016, and there's no reason you shouldn't be a part of it!
