4 Benefits To Retailers Selling Online

There are many benefits for retailers who sell online. Perhaps the most obvious benefit is that it provides them with a larger market to sell to. With an online presence, retailers can reach customers all over the world, rather than being limited to selling only to those who are local to them.

In this article, we’ll discuss:

The benefits of online retailing
The differences between brick and Mortar and an online storefront
What’s better? Brick and mortar or an online storefront

Benefits of online retailing

1. Increase your product offering

Online retailers often use drop shipping when selling products; this is where third parties stock and store the products they sell. This technically means that they don’t own the product they are selling. When online retailers aren’t looking after the stock they are selling, it allows them to offer a wider range of products for their customers without the extra warehouse or fulfilment costs.

If you do choose to use drop shipping, we recommend choosing a provider that has an order management system (OMS) in place. At Mintsoft, a number of different providers use our software as it allows them to White Label their goods to make them appear to be directly shipped from your store. Doing this helps strengthen your brand and improve the customer experience.

2. 24/7 Ordering

In today’s world, competition in online shopping is fierce and customer expectations are high - which is why it is important to make it possible for orders to be fulfilled at all hours of the day. A major benefit of online retailing is that customers have 24/7 access to your products, shopping at a time that suits them.

Choosing to have order management software in place means that you won’t have to be sat monitoring orders 24/7 as it will do it for you. For example, if a customer purchases something from your online store that is currently selling through eBay, the OMS will handle all the paperwork and admin for you.

3. Automated inventory management

Successful online retailers will have an order management system in place so that they can wave goodbye to the time-consuming chore that is manual stock checking. An OMS will automatically update stock levels across all the marketplaces you are selling from.

Alongside making your inventory management easier, it also helps you analyse your inventory at the click of a button. This can include:

You can view straight away if an item is popular, and if it isn’t, and proactively adapt to the demand to increase your online footfall or web traffic.
The reporting tools also work with marketplaces by giving you live snapshots of each platform. This means that you know where profit is being made and you can use resources and inventory more effectively.

4. Sell on multiple marketplaces and reach a wider audience

One of the biggest benefits of selling online is that you can sell through unlimited marketplaces and having an OMS makes it easy to sell across an array of them - allowing you to reach a wider audience.

Popular marketplaces include Amazon, Ebay, Not On The High Street (NOTHS) and Etsy, which help you to sell to customers that may not have found your products otherwise. Make sure to do your research and find a marketplace that your target audience is likely to be using. For example, if you’re selling unique products for a specific niche, NOTHS or Etsy is probably a better choice than Amazon.

What’s the difference between brick and mortar and online retailing?

The main difference between brick and mortar and online retailing is that brick and mortar stores are physical locations where you can go and shop in a town, city or shopping centre, while online stores can be visited online or via apps to purchase items or services.

What’s better? Brick and mortar or an online storefront?

Below find a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of a brick and mortar store and an online storefront:

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Brick and Mortar	The ability to view the product in person instead of waiting to receive it in person. The ability to receive immediate customer service. The ability to have a more personal and interactive shopping experience. The ability to support local businesses.	High overhead costs: Rent, utilities, and other overhead costs can be expensive for owners of brick and mortar stores. Limited reach: A brick and mortar store is limited to its physical location, so it can be difficult to reach customers outside of the immediate area. Difficult to change: Once a brick and mortar store is open, it can be difficult to make changes to the layout, product selection, etc. Competition: There is often strong competition from other brick and mortar stores, as well as online retailers.
	Advantages	Disadvantages
Online storefront	Availability: Is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whereas the physical storefront has limited hours. Reach: Retailers can reach a global audience, while a physical storefront is limited to a local audience. Expenses: Requires less overhead and start-up costs than a physical storefront. Maintenance: Easier to set up and maintain than a physical storefront. Exhaustive: Provides more detailed product information than a physical storefront. Customer loyalty and testimonials: An online storefront can offer customer reviews and testimonials so prospective ones can see all the reviews on one page. Whereas a physical storefront cannot.	Interactivity: You can't physically interact with the product before you buy it, though emerging technology is helping to solve this issue. Extra fees: You may need to apply shipping costs (and sometimes customs/ import fees) associated with online storefronts to be invoiced to the customer. Waiting times: Sometimes there may be slight delays for a customer, though by providing tracking details, the customer can be informed of the progress of their order.

Essential tools to help your business grow online

There are a range of tools and resources that can help ensure your business achieves success online, including:

Order management software - an essential tool to keep track of your inventory, orders, tracking and shipping.
Warehouse management software - allows you to view, assign and complete tasks under one area, resulting in increased productivity for staff.
Shipping management software - has many benefits, where shipping times and increased order accuracy has a positive impact on customer retention and satisfaction.

To see more of our tools to help you grow online, check out our features page to grow your business.

Next steps

There’s no need for it to be difficult to manage multiple marketplaces, and that’s why Mintsoft is designed to be easy. Developed with ecommerce in mind, it’s quick to get going, and simple to use. Get in touch today to book a free personalised 1-to-1 demonstration showcasing exactly how Mintsoft can help you start selling online quickly, simply and reliably.