Ever since the introduction of the internet, consumers never had to go to the store anymore. Instead, they can order, purchase and make payment for the goods via online and delivered to their home: this is called E-commerce where merchant and consumer buy and sell without any physical presence or transaction. Since we are approaching 2018 with only a few days left, you might be thinking of venturing to e-commerce, changing your offline business to online because everyone else is doing it. Well, if you do, you must first evaluate your business.
- Can you explain your product/service?
Don’t get me wrong, I know you can explain but can you tell it via online? The online environment is different than the offline. Imagine that you are trying to sell something that can’t be touch or see literally, how are you going to convince your potential customer? The fact that you need to be convincing and backed by information, you also need to be creative. Putting an informative description on your website about the product allows your customer to gain information about the product characteristics, price or material. The addition of creativity as a bonus is to capture customer attention
Note that this is crucial, information plays a very vital part in e-commerce. Without proper knowledge, the customer would not even bother to check your products and just leave your website. So before anything, check whether you can explain your product well or not. There’s no point selling something you can’t show and at the same time can’t tell.
- Can your customer pay?
This a critical question you need to ask yourself, can your customer pay you and how are they going to pay? As an online business owner, you need to decide what payment method you are going to provide. Here is where e-payment role comes to life. Venturing to e-commerce means that you are going to reach the more potential customer. Thus, some of your customers might go somewhere far from your store, and It is inconvenient for them to come to your shop just for the sake of paying.
So you need to seek a payment method like e-payment. E-payment will ease and assist you in payment: this is one of the essential needs and wants that you as an entrepreneur need to fulfill. Keep in mind that one payment method is not enough unless it has multiple features because there is some customer that prefer cash.
Particularly customers in Malaysia. Malaysian are known to use cash a lot in any payment. E-payment is considered as the second option and usually for the wealthy one. Due to this, MOLPay, a payment gateway company based in Malaysia itself, introduced MOLPay Cash. A payment method through a gateway using cash. Fascinating right? What MOLPay Cash offers is the customer can buy the product online and can pay it by cash at any 7-Eleven outlet and Petronas Petrol Station too. So remember, providing a payment method is very important as it makes your online business more convenient and preferred.
- Is your product/service unique or unique compared to others?
Often the key to success to online business is the uniqueness and speciality of product or service you offer. A unique product/service attributes are useful for offline and online business because it creates difficulties for your rival and competitor to copy. An online store is a cruel world, competitors without shame will copy your product just for the sake of competing and profit. By making it unique, you are denying your competitor the chance to copy it.
Differentiated capabilities of a product/service will affect customer decision. One can easily choose another product for its unique feature or specialties. That is the norm of the world. The comparison often made by the customer in order to choose the best. Every difference counts because it’s their money that will be spent on your product/service. So, to them, every cent count.
Comparison usually focuses on the quality of the product/service, the price, the shape (for the product), and features. If your product lacks class, then you should focus on your rate. But excellent product/service are both high in quality and price. You also can add shipping as a unique feature of your business for example free shipping.
