If you’re looking for alternative ways to start out your business, you’ve probably thought about choosing the eCommerce route. It’s something that can be set up quickly and easily, but there are disadvantages that follow, too. It really depends on your goals and what you want for your business, and how ambitious you want to be.
You have a few options when starting out your own eCommerce business, but you should know that some carry more risks, as they carry more investment. You could start off starting up your shop on a bigger site like Etsy, but you lose a percentage of the income – or you could start your own website and work from there.
Finding a platform
When you’re losing a cut of the profits to the hosting site, you might wonder what the point of going with them is. Well, first of all, the investment you would be putting in would not nearly be as much as it would starting up your own website. There’s far less risk involved, but that’s not all. You’re putting your market on an already established eCommerce site – so your products would show up while people are browsing for relevant items. You gain a lot of exposure, and you pay a percentage from your profits for that exposure.
Your own website
If you’re not happy with the idea of putting your business on a hosting site, then you can always have your own website made, or create your own with a website builder. Having a website made for you can take quite a bit of investment, and then you would need to have it hosted with services like www.nestify.io.
You need to make sure the services you pick are reliable, else you risk your site going down, data being lost, and even customers being lost. That’s not something you have to worry about when using another business’ platform, as they’re the people paying for the services.
Online exposure
If you’re going to sell online, then all of your customers are going to have to be found through the internet. If you want people to know about your business, you need to find more ways to spread information and promotions on what you’re selling – especially if you’re starting your own website. Having a platform of your own means you don’t lose a cut of your profits, but it means instead you need to find ways to bring in more potential customers to see what you’re selling.
Interaction
Unlike running a physical store, you don’t need to worry about a large portion of the interaction between you and your customers. When you buy items online, you rarely contact the owner of the business unless there’s a problem or question about it – the rest of the time the order is handled automatically. This means you don’t need as many employees to handle customers and stock the floor. That can be both a downside and an upside depending on how you view customer service and how personal you want your business to be.
