Before setting up your online store, it is essential to know a series of advantages that the Internet provides us compared to traditional commerce:
Presence in the market : thanks to the Internet, we can show the products/services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Global Market: we do not have geographical barriers, therefore the company has the possibility of reaching a wider audience through electronic commerce.
Personalization : The company has access to better information about the user, which allows it to personalize products, services and offers based on the needs of users.
Costs : it is one of the most important advantages offered by electronic commerce compared to traditional commerce since it can cause a reduction in stock, as well as a reduction in costs in the preparation of catalogues, brochures, etc., by having all that online information.
Flexibility : the company can make quick adjustments to adapt to changes in the market.
Improvement of the company's image: offering users the possibility of buying and getting to know the company through the Internet, generates trust in users, which translates into a better perception of the company's image.
Finally, another of the advantages to highlight when creating an e-commerce is the possibility of creating your online store on such useful platforms as WooCommerce and PrestaShop with Bulk Url Opener to access many websites at same time.
With both platforms we can fine-tune our e-commerce by configuring countless variables, such as the configuration of the shipping cost in PrestaShop.
With this configuration we can include the shipping costs according to a single amount, depending on the amount or geographical area and depending on the weight of the product.
Important metrics to measure e-commerce
Once the platform has been defined, as well as the strategy to follow in our e-commerce, it is necessary to know how to measure how profitable our store is.
For this reason, in this e-commerce guide we show the most relevant metrics that must always be kept in mind in order to measure the profitability of our online store:
Cost per Acquisition or CPA: this data will define the cost that the company generates to get a client or sale. To achieve this, we divide everything invested by the number of customers/sales achieved in a given period of time.
Average cart value : To calculate this metric, all we have to do is divide the total amount of sales by the total number of orders placed in a given time.
Conversion rate : This is one of the most important metrics since it determines the percentage of visitors who carry out a conversion (purchase, download a document, add the product to a cart, etc.). Currently a conversion rate between 1% and 3% is considered a good percentage in e-commerce.
Return on Investment or ROI: return on investment is another of the most important metrics to take into account when measuring e-commerce. This metric tells us if our business is being profitable or not. The higher the return on investment, the greater the benefits obtained. This metric is calculated by subtracting the investment made from the income obtained and dividing the result by the investment made again. The result is multiplied by 100 and there we will obtain the return on investment in percentage.
Cart abandonment rate – Another interesting metric to look at is the cart abandonment rate. A high percentage of abandonments can alert us to possible problems on the web such as slow loading, error in the purchase process, little variety in the payment method, etc.
Although there are countless more metrics to analyze the profitability of our online store, these five that we highlight are the main ones that must be taken into account when analyzing the viability of our e-commerce.
Types of Electronic Commerce
Within this vast world of e-commerce, companies play a very important role in defining the business model that best suits their own needs.
Depending on the final objective of each company, we can highlight six types of business to take into account when creating our e-commerce:
Business to Business or B2B: this type of business is one of the most common within electronic commerce. In it, commercial transactions take place between two companies, that is to say, final consumers or individuals are not involved, only companies are involved. The clearest example of a company with a B2B business model is one in which a wholesaler sells to a retailer.
Business to Consumer or B2C: Like B2B, this type of business is another of the most common in the world of e-commerce and, furthermore, it is one of the most used. In this case, commercial transactions occur between a company and a final consumer or private person. Companies are responsible for the entire process of purchasing and distributing products and/or services and, on many occasions, they use the dropshipping model.
Business to Employee or B2E: on this occasion, the business model consists of carrying out commercial transactions only with the company's employees and through the Internet. In order to encourage employees and strengthen relationships with the company, the prices of products and services are exclusive to employees.
Consumer to Business or C2B : this type of business is not one of the most common within electronic commerce. Transactions are made between a person who offers their products and/or services to other companies or organizations. Freelancers are a clear example of a company that does this type of business, selling their services to another company.
Consumer to Consumer or C2C: in the C2C business model, transactions occur between final consumers without the involvement of companies. In general, this business model is used in second-hand products, which are reused and where the price is usually lower.
Government to Consumer or G2C: Finally, we mention the G2C business model where the government allows end users to carry out procedures through an institutional portal. This business model stands out for its great security and is very common for paying taxes.
In short, there are a wide variety of valid business models to create our e-commerce which open up a wide range of possibilities for commercial exchanges between large, medium and small companies, as well as with individuals and even governments.
We hope that this information is useful for you to get started in the world of electronic commerce and thus start promoting your products and/or services on the Internet. Shall we start?