Interesting analysis out from the States this week shows that of the top 500 online retailers, currently just 5% have mobile commerce (m-commerce) applications. There’s no doubt that m-commerce has a long way to go, but you only have to look at how ecommerce websites have multiplied since the turn of the century to feel confident that the prediction of  50% of US retailers having m-commerce in 5 years is probably correct.

m-commerce applications

Whilst m-commerce might just be developing, what about the surprising number of retailers who still don’t even have an ecommerce website?. Why not ? Online sales growth may be slowing (latest stats out from IMRG show growth at 8% in the UK in May), but all analysts agree that online has become fundamental to the way we shop and that growth will continue to outpace offline retail.

If you are still sitting on the fence, here’s a few reasons why you must have an ecommerce website:

- Do you really want to let the competition at home and overseas continue to steal your share of the online market? How much do you risk losing out on when ecommerce is rapidly moving to 20% of total retail sales?

- In terms of consumer perception, it’s probably damaging in 2009 NOT to have a website shop. Doesn’t it say something negative about the state of your business that in this day and age you still don’t have an ecommerce website?

- The value of ecommerce extends well beyond the revenue you make in the short term. It’s all about customer engagement and understanding more about what your customer wants - information that is so much harder to obtain via offline retail. Customers will email you testimonials, they will send you product reviews, you will be able to track all sorts of things about the way people shop for your product. All this data will help you target your communications with them and keep them engaged and coming back to your ecommerce website.

Testimonals

- For all you smaller retailers out there, you can no longer say that the costs of getting a website shop are prohibitive or that you don’t have technical expertise. ecommerce websites now cost less than £20 a month to set up and run (compare that to the cost of opening a new high street outlet). The technology is no longer an issue - the increasingly popular browser based , ready to use ecommerce website software is far more user friendly than earlier ecommerce platforms.

Economical ecommerce Packages

If you still haven’t got a website shop, contact Tiger Commerce today and we’ll show you how easy it is to take advantage of the online opportunity.