The rise of e-commerce

The rise of e-commerce. 

With the increase use of technology and technological advancements made in recent years, e-commerce platforms are sprouting up everywhere. 

What makes e-commerce so appealing and what distinct advantages does it have over the traditional brick and mortar shops?

For one, e-commerce achieves the Anytime, Anywhere maxim. Shoppers are able to access websites/apps/platforms anytime and anywhere, as long as he/she has an internet connection. 

In comparison, the brick and mortar shops are limited by their fixed location, their physical store is only at one particular location (unless it is a chain store and has stores in all corners of Singapore), and operates only during limited operational hours (unless again it operates a 24 hours establishment). Brick and mortar shops are also burdened with the logistical and storage costs of their inventory, and having to pay relatively high rental for the use of the shop space. Also, they need to hire staff to man the operations, check the inventory, do customer service, and do the actual retailing. 

All these high overhead costs, the e-commerce platform has none or very little exposure to it. All it costs is a one time fee to set up a website, incur the hosting fee and maybe annual maintenance fees. Oh, if the platform handles payment, it need to host a payment gateway, which will take a % cut from the online purchases made. What about the logistics part? Well, that is a massive headache, and if you can solve that with a viable and cost effective solution, you're on your way to e-commerce heaven. Did I also mention the need to do heavy marketing to acquire a large user base? Well, that is another large piece of the puzzle. Many e-commerce platforms are still figuring out what works. Oh, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you've got to figure out what works and make it work for you too. 

At the end of the day, you got to find the right solution and need and that will inform you on the best choice of retailing. Is it the e-commerce route, or the brick and mortar way? 

Well, for iWish, we are going the e-commerce route. 

Wish us success on this journey. 

Leveraging on technology as an enabler for gifting.

#iWish

iWish - Gifting Made Easy! (electronically)

www.iwish.com.sg