Among its many other features and advantages, the Internet has allowed everyday people to not only create their own space on the web, but also to gain popularity and even compete with already existing establishments. This phenomenon can be seen in many areas including music, media, art, video, various services, and selling products of all kinds. With the rise of the Internet, a family beekeeping business can compete with the nationally known Burt’s Bees products, a stay at home mom could sew dolls clothes to rival the popular American Girl outfits, or a creative college student could create and sell unique jewelry to pay her way through college! Business Link cites reaching a global audience, competing with larger businesses, and being able to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week all as elements that make success as an online seller a reality.
One of the biggest advantages to having an online store is that anyone can claim a place online for little or no money. Instead of the high costs of having to buy or rent a physical store or vending space, entrepreneur’s can launch an online business for a fraction of the cost. Elias Georgi discusses the cost factor in his article "7 Advantages Of Having An Online Home-Based Business":
"Apart from web hosting monthly payment, there is hardly any additional expense to buy or sell online. Your customers see, check, compare your/competitors’ products & order and pay online. Isn’t that great! You can either keep the benefits for yourself or pass them on to your customers. You couldn’t possibly do this in an offline business. An online home based business also incurs the lowest transaction fees compared to offline transaction fees."
Another great thing about online selling is that it can be started while the business owner is doing something else—for example, while they are in college, working a separate full time job, or managing a house full of kids. As time goes on, if the business is a success, the owner may be able to quit their day job, or when they graduate from college simply focus all of their time on managing and expanding their online business!
Another advantage of online stores is that a business owner doesn’t necessarily have to hire employees—it can easily be started independently. If the business becomes very successful, the owner may need to get help to manage it all, but for starting out all one needs is a product to sell and a bit of computer smarts to set it all up. Along with this, an entry on the Business Identification Blog points out that:
"Selling online we can save on costs of hiring local personnel, facilities, etc. Moreover, the promotion and advertising we can do on the Internet, which is much less expensive to make promotion or advertising in traditional media."
Online sellers may choose to start a business independently, but more often, sellers will create an account with an online marketplace such as Ebay or Etsy, where they can establish their name and gain credibility in the online world. Successful businesses will eventually gather loyal customers who will continue to buy from them if/when they decide to move to an external site. Many online sellers will maintain a presence on online marketplaces as well as their own external site.
This has been a brief overview of the advantages and appeal of online businesses…stay tuned for more in depth looks at some of these topics as well as so much more about the aspects of online businesses!
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