E commerce
Online shopping is a booming business Flickr/ Elaine Smith

E-commerce is a big business that continues to grow by leaps and bounds annually. For instance, back in 2015, only 7.4 percent of total retail sales worldwide were made via e-commerce sites. Now, two years later, the percentage is at 10.1. By the year 2021, it is expected to be at 15.5 percent, more than double what it was six years before.

If that doesn’t grab you, think about what this means in terms of dollars. In 2015, when e-commerce was responsible for 7.4 percent of total retail sales globally, this equated to $1.55 trillion USD. In 2017, it jumped to $2.29 trillion USD. By 2021, it’s expected to be at $4.48 trillion.

Because the trend is clearly on an upward scale, accounting for a high amount of money spent annually, this generally brings about one main question: Why is e-commerce such a big business?

E-commerce is hot for consumers

For starters, e-commerce enables shoppers to buy products from anywhere around the world. Are you located in Canada, but want a pair of sneakers in Australia? No problem. Just jump on an e-commerce site and order them. Or maybe you’re in France and want home décor but it’s made in Mexico? That’s doable, since there aren’t geographical boundaries for online stores.

Another reason e-commerce is trending is that more and more people prefer shopping online. As of 2016, 1.61 billion people made purchases via their desktop computer or mobile device. This saves time and also enables them to shop around for the best available prices.

E-commerce benefits businesses, too

From a business standpoint, there are benefits to entering the e-commerce space. One is lower expenses than a traditional retail store. Instead of paying for a building and its utilities, making sure you always have a certain number of people on the sales floor, all you have to do is create a website that handles customer transactions automatically and seamlessly. This can save you thousands (if not more) each and every month.

E-commerce also helps increase customer engagement with your brand because everything you do is online. This puts your business in the perfect position to easily communicate with your customer-base so you can learn more about them, their problems and goals — using this information to give them the products they want the most.

Making e-commerce work for you

Because the numbers are on the rise, many businesses are jumping on board in an attempt to get a bigger piece of the revenue pie. However, it isn’t as simple as putting a business online and hoping that customers will show up.

The key to making this type of business work and drive sales through the roof is to create and follow a plan. When it comes to specifically starting e-commerce businesses, the plan needs to address the type of products that will be sold, how you’ll keep the website optimized to continue to attract customers, and what you plan to do to constantly provide a stellar user experience.

The easier you make it for customers to do business with the e-commerce site, the more likely they’d continue to use it, giving you a bigger chunk of the e-commerce pie.