Every single minute, 1.1 million dollars are spent in online shopping in 2020. Yet most websites remain informational / brochure style sites only (unable to take online transactions). Less than 1 percent of all the websites out there are ecommerce websites, and fewer than 10 percent of those sell more than $1,000/year.

Even though record numbers of people have taken to the internet as a result of Covid-19, this means there’s still tons of room for growth. If your website is not providing the ability to take online transactions and collect payments, you are leaving money on the table.

Perhaps you are thinking, “but I don’t sell retail products to consumers, so an ecommerce website doesn’t make sense for me.” It doesn’t matter – every business sells something, even if it is services or information. However your business makes money in the offline world, you can duplicate this in the digital world.

Every business sells something, even if it is services or information. However your business makes money in the offline world, you can duplicate this in the digital world. Click To Tweet

In fact, I believe that EVERY business needs to have more than one stream on income from their website.

Think for a minute about a news site. How do they make money? Most news sites generate income from advertising, either from ads they sell directly or through a pay-per-click program like Google AdSense. Some have a subscription model. They might also sell sponsored content listings. Or perhaps they sponsor online events and charge both vendors and participants to attend. Maybe they do collaboration deals with their email list. That’s at least 5 streams of income for a business that most people think of as a content driven website model.

What about service-based business like a health care provider, an attorney, a plumber, electrician, mechanic, etc? Each of these businesses could be selling online appointments and diagnostic services via a webcam and collecting funds for doing so. They could sell information in the form of online classes, ebooks, and memberships to gated content. If appropriate, they could do many of the same things as a news site with ads and sponsorships. And, they might even consider selling various products that compliment their services such as dietary supplements for a health care provide or auto parts for a mechanic.

The most common types of E-commerce websites are digital product E-commerce websites, physical goods E-commerce websites, service-based E-commerce websites, and dropshipping E-commerce websites. But there are all kinds of things you could sell online including:

• Tickets to events
• Rental of equipment
• Rental of facilities
• Online courses
• Digital, downloadable products (books, videos, pdfs, templates, checklists, infographics, planners, etc)
• Online appointments and other services
• Other peoples products (affiliate links)
• Multi-vendor site (like eBay)
• Online directory listing (like Yelp)
• Memberships
• Print-on-demand merchandise
• Drop-shipped merchandise
• Your own products
• Re-sell products
• Ads

Types of E-commerce Models

There are four types of E-commerce models, including business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), consumer to consumer (C2C), and consumer to business (C2B).

1. B2B: – This model is used when businesses sell services or goods to other businesses (Example – Alibaba)
2. B2C: – In this model, businesses sell services or goods to consumers (Example – Amazon and Walmart)
3. C2C: – In this model, consumers sell goods or services to other consumers (Example – eBay and Craigslist)
4. C2B: – In this model, consumers sell their own products or services to organizations or businesses (Example – photographers sell their photos to businesses)

Here’s the most compelling argument of all as to why your website needs to be more than just a digital brochure: According to KommandoTech, 95% of all retail sales will be conducted through eCommerce in 2024. Nasdaq says by 2023 90.8 % of all purchases will be conducted on retail websites. Covid-19 has accelerated this trend and it is not likely to be reversed, even when the pandemic dies down. The time to create an ecommerce website is NOW!

Nasdaq says by 2023 90.8 % of all purchases will be conducted on retail websites. Click To Tweet

 

Fortunately, there has never been a better time in history to do this. Technology has made it so that anyone can create an online store for a reasonable price.

This is the reason why I am offering my program, “Monetize Your Expertise.” When you register for this course, you will end up with a fully-functional ecommerce website, that you will know how to manage yourself so you can take advantage of the ecommerce trend that is rocking the world. If that doesn’t work for you, give us a call at 303-688-6560 so we can explore other options with you. Remember, the time to act is now!