1. Faster buying process

Customers can spend less time shopping for what they want. They can easily browse through many items at a time and buy what they like. When online, customers can find items that are available in physical stores far away from them or not found in their locality. For example - Rajesh is a customer who goes to a store to buy a washing machine. After searching, he realises that he cannot find the product he needs. He logs onto a popular ecommerce marketplace and finds the washing machine. What is even better is that there is a special offer price and it can be delivered to his home. This is where ecommerce comes to the rescue for many shoppers. They go online, search for an item, get a fast response and can buy it just as quickly.

2. Store and product listing creation

A product listing is what the customer sees when they search for an item. This is one advantage in ecommerce meant for the seller. This online business plus point is that you can personalise your product listing after creating them. The best part? Creating a listing takes very little time, all you require is your product name or codes like EAN, UPC, ISBN or ASIN. Sellers can add many images, a description, product category, price, shipping fee and delivery date. So, in just one step you can tell the customer many things about the item. Creating your listing shows the buyers what you have. Rules for product listing • Use high quality resolution images. Blurry images distract and confuse customers. • Maintain image dimensions. Usually ecommerce marketplaces will recommend a resolution format. • Provide multiple product views. Some sites even let you include a 360-degree view of items. • When adding product variants – such as lipsticks in different shades – ensure each variant has its specific image.

3. Cost reduction

One of the biggest advantages of ecommerce to business that keep sellers interested in online selling is cost reduction. Many sellers have to pay lots to maintain their physical store. They may need to pay extra up front costs like rent, repairs, store design, inventory etc. In many cases, even after investing in services, stock, maintenance and workforce, sellers don’t receive desired profits and ROI. How this is different with online stores? - With an ecommerce store, a seller can reduce how much is spent in store upkeep. An ecommerce store is affordable and requires less investment when compared with a physical store. This is also a good opportunity for individual and small scale sellers who want to earn an income but don’t have the required start-up capital.

4. Flexibility for customers

An important advantage of ecommerce to business is that sellers can provide flexibility to customers. One highlight is that the product and services are ready 24x7. The result is that seller can offer his item any place, any time. Customers are always present on an ecommerce marketplace - They are likely to return for repeat purchases online because of the conveniences they get. These conveniences include free shipping (usually on a minimum cart value), express order delivery, deals and discounts, subscription advantages. They also share reviews on the things they buy. Good reviews result in two extra benefits of ecommerce. One is that buyers gain trust in your store based on the number of positive reviews. The other is that it can help you identify your best-selling items.

5. Product and price comparison

In ecommerce, sellers can compare the products using tools or on their own. This gives them a good idea of product alternatives available, the standard rates, if a product need is unfulfilled. Comparison is faster online and covers many products - It helps to save time when making this comparison, as all details are available on the shopping site. In a physical store, sellers may not be able get access to so many details –they only have better knowledge about their own inventory. This is one more benefit for the customer too. When people see many items ready for purchase, they feel more confident about spending.