The moving of a business towards on line presence, from a completely physical existence is a proof of growing trend of adopting on line technologies within organizational processes and operations. The major reasons in this regard, according to most of the experts, is the cost effectiveness and simplicity that an on line platform offers to the business, for the purpose of their promotion, capturing customers, increasing sales and profits, along with competing successfully in the market. Although the benefits are numerous, businesses need to understand the differences between the traditional and on line method of doing business, in order to make the most of their online business.
Although the ultimate objective behind both running business traditionally and on line is the same i.e. to gain profit and compete in the market, the ways of operating the business by these two modes are significantly different from each other. Let’s see whether running an on line business is same as traditional business or not, and if not, what are the ways that make them different from each other.
- Audience:
Traditionally, businesses used to emphasize upon a limited audience. And the only mode to enlarge the audience is to increase into fresh areas, by creating numerous stores and outlets. The main benefit that an on line business can have over this technique, is that the audience might be even more substantial, nearly everyone who possesses a computer. Hence if you are running business on line, you can expect more traffic.
- Segmentation of Audience
If you are running business in a traditional manner, then you have to select the right locations to exert a pull on your preferred customer base. Your strategy must focus on accurate examination of demographic factors of your segment in order to locate them. But in on line business, you can design the segmentation strategy with more freedom and expansion perspective, because here you would also be addressing people other than your segment.
- Upfront Costs
For running traditionally conducted business, you will incur heavy cost, in terms of marketing, promotional, and distribution strategies. The establishment of warehouses, outlets, showrooms, print media advertisements etc collectively make your cost too high. While conducting business online, the cost of having a physical storefront, marketing through physical means, delivery of products through physical channels, etc can be saved. Additionally, the cost of having extra staff for this purpose can also be reduced.
