Still undecided about whether or not to join e-commerce? Get all your questions answered by REDUNIQ.
O e-commerce offers more and more benefits for companies, whether small or large.
According to a 2019 report by Ecommerce Europe, online shopping figures will continue to grow, including in Portugal.
There are more than 75,000 companies currently selling goods and services online in Europe. European e-commerce turnover in the Business to Consumer (B2C) sector, is growing at a frenetic pace, at around 13% and reaching 621 million euros in 2019, with the average spend per consumer exceeding 1,460 euros. This is a real wake-up call for businesses that are still considering joining the e-commerce.
E-commerce in Portugal
The countries that contribute most to the total revenue, which is around 363 billion euros, are the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Ireland, France, Luxembourg and Germany.
As for Southern Europe, which includes countries such as Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Malta, Turkey, Spain and Portugal, the figures from this study are as follows:
- Internet penetration: 77%
- Percentage of online shoppers: 47%
- Average annual spend: €1,030
- Average spending growth: 6.36%
As far as Portugal is concerned, the Internet penetration rate is around 75%, of which 50% shop online, having achieved a turnover growth of 9.73% compared to 2018, representing around 2.78% of Portuguese GDP.
It is also possible to observe consumer behaviour data, such as the online payment method most used, the most popular delivery methods and the favourite retailers.
In terms of The most commonly used payment methods are debit cards, followed by credit cards, MB WAY and PayPal..
75% of Portuguese choose to receive their parcels at home, 25% prefer to receive their parcels at their workplace, 19% prefer to pick them up at the post office, 10% at parcel shops and 11% at retail shops.
Benefits of e-commerce for business
- Reach without borders
E-commerce can offer you advantages that physical shops cannot.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and no geographical limits: this is the main advantage of e-commerce. There are no opening hours, holidays or specific locations. Online shops are open and available to customers all the time, anywhere in the world.
Even if your physical shop is closed on Saturdays and Sundays, you can continue to sell and attract more customers through your online shop.
- Reduced operating costs
An e-commerce platform does not have a fixed monthly rent for large spaces, equipment, furniture or staff. An online shop has much lower costs than a physical shop, although you will need to make an initial investment in photographing all the products, providing information about the company and the products/services, regular maintenance of the site, costs of setting up the platform or integrating an online payment solution.
In this context, a REDUNIQ offers two solutions for those who want to launch their business online:
- The first is aimed at those who have the capacity to launch a website and want to integrate a payment solution, through a e-commerce platform on your website;
- The second is aimed at those who don't want to have such robust e-commerce solutions. In this case, there is the option @PaymentsYou can send a simple link by email to your customer so that they can make the payment and, once the payment has been made, you will receive a confirmation and the amount will be automatically paid into your bank account.
A REDUNIQ promotes the security of all transactions through Visa and Mastercard's 3DSecure protocol.
- Unique customer experience
One of the most attractive points of e-commerce is being able to work on the relationship with the customer, providing them with a better shopping experience through your online business.
This improvement can be achieved through more competitive prices, offering discounted and exclusive prices for online customers, and making the act of buying faster and simpler.
As well as customers being able to locate your products and all the information about your business in a few clicks, you can record their behaviour and offer products that match their profile.
Payment methods should also be as simple, fast and secure as possible in order to convey greater credibility and agility to customers.
Here, you can count on REDUNIQ to help you simplify online payment methods. With REDUNIQ solutions, E-commerce or @Paymentsas mentioned above, accepting Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards.
REDUNIQ's online sales solutions are governed by the highest security standards in existence today: the 3D SecureThe new system, developed by leading international brands with the aim of making online transactions more secure.
- Follow-up and monitoring
Any online business can be controlled and measured through data analysis systems, which provide information on the current performance of your e-commerce platform, such as turnover, traffic, volume of transactions, average ticket, among others.
This data is indispensable for being able to adjust your business strategy, as well as your marketing and sales efforts, more and more to your customers' needs and demands, thus reaching more and better customers.
In addition to this data, through an e-commerce platform you have access to your customers' behaviour: which products they look for most, how they get to your site, which days of the week you get the most traffic and what time of day is best to communicate with them, among other things.
- Targeted communication
With the data obtained in the previous point, you can get to know your target audiences better, target your communication and segment it according to the client's needs.
By way of example, when a customer subscribes to their newsletter and shares personal details such as name, age, gender, profession and location, e-commerce companies can draw up a list of their customers. persona and target your communication campaigns more closely to the profile and data of your consumers.
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