Introduction
Can sports betting be profitable – Do you already know how eCommerce works and its ways to monetize? If you want to start selling online, check out this post. Do you remember what life was like before the Internet?
Not so many years ago, before the appearance of the Internet, we would not imagine that an era would come where it would be necessary to learn
how eCommerce works
that there would be various models to monetize online purchases. Learn about all the modalities in this article!
Before its appearance, when you needed to buy a product or hire a service outside of business hours or during a holiday, the impossibility of completing that task undoubtedly generated frustration. You had to wait until the next business day and find some free time to go to the physical store. Still, you ran the risk of getting there and running out of stock or finding completely different prices than anticipated.
With the evolution of the Internet and advances in data security, payment and delivery technology, it is now possible to buy almost anything with just a few clicks and without leaving your sofa. And when we say “everything,” we really mean “everything”: from plant compost to grand pianos. These the results of the “revolution” called e-commerce.
But after all, what is eCommerce and why start one?
E-commerce is any type of sale and/or financial transaction made over the Internet. And taking advantage of this nostalgic moment, did you know that the first product sold via eCommerce was a Sting CD?
Now that you understand its root concept, you are probably wondering how does eCommerce work? How does it become sustainable? This is a good question both for those who have never started a business and those who already have a physical store and want to expand their sales throughout the country (as well as abroad). In fact, due to its high demand, today there are very easy-to-use tools such as Website Builder and WordPress that allow you to sell on the Internet quickly and without programming knowledge!
Another reason to invest in eCommerce, once we understand how it works and what makes it profitable, is the market’s growth potential. Thanks to the growing number of Internet users and mobile devices such as smartphones, consumers are increasingly attracted to the convenience and ease of online shopping.
What is the profile of the consumer who buys in eCommerce?
There is a lot of information about the profile of virtual consumers, and, of course, it varies depending on the type of product or service you sell. In general, those who buy in eCommerce are extremely hyperconnected, looking for convenience and low prices.
According to the Locomotive Institute, 6 out of 10 consumers look for prices and product information online before buying. This is relevant information to consider when planning strategies to attract customers, promote campaigns or even produce content to describe your products.
Online shoppers also use more mobile phones: more than 32% of online transactions were made through mobile devices in the first half of 2018. This data demonstrates the importance of thinking about consumers’ mobile experience, reducing the time it takes to load and making usability more friendly both on the product pages and the shopping cart (checkout).
You may also be interested in 5 Tips to write a product description in your online store sales!
What are the best-selling categories in Latin American e-commerce?
In the first half of 2019, the Health, Perfumery and Cosmetics category moved to the Fashion and Accessories category in several orders. However, the products related to telephony and cell phones generated the highest profits for e-commerce in this period.
Although there is no official list of best-selling products on the Internet, we can get a good idea by looking at the rankings published by large virtual merchants. In Mercado Libre, for example, “women’s shoes” and “men’s shoes” were among the most searched products, followed by “cell phones” and “notebooks” during the first weeks of March 2019.
Another substantial virtual shopping mall is eBay, which also published a list of the most purchased products by foreigners in Latin American e-commerce. The data shows that “ smartwatches ” and “comics” were some of the most purchased products in virtual stores by consumers in the US, Canada, the UK, France and Germany.
Therefore, if you are in the stage of choosing a product to sell and you got here trying to understand how eCommerce works, it is essential to consider the following: even if some products have a lower selling price, they can go out faster yo, ur stock than those with added value. For example, lipstick can be sold more quickly than a cell phone; however, the competition to sell smartphones is quite significant.
What are B2C, B2B, D2C and Marketplace? What model to adopt in your eCommerce?
Who has never bought online and found it curious to read next to the product description that it “sold and delivered by the XYZ store “?
This happens because large companies such as Mercado Libre, and Amazon, among others, function as virtual malls; they are the famous “Marketplaces”. They lend their “virtual showcases” to merchants so they can display their products, and, of course, they charge a commission for that. To finally understand how e-commerce works, come with us a little more.
As we will see,e in addition to marketplaces, there are other types of eCommerce which adopt more than one sales format, as we will see below.
B2C (Business to Customer)
This is the most recurrent modality in e-commerce. In it, a company sells products to the final consumer, hence the name ” Business to Customer ” or, in a literal translation, “Company for Client”.
B2C Features :
- Shorter and simpler purchase decision process.
- Direct transaction (between consumer and store) without intermediaries.
- Purchase influenced by need or emotion.
- Lower average purchase value (MXN 1,651).
- Audience: broad and less loyal (price and priority).
- B2C examples: Spotify, Nike and IKEA.
Well-known in the retail market and traditional industry, the “Business to Business” model, in which a company sells to another company, has also migrated online.
