The Pros And Cons Of Starting An eCommerce Business

February 18, 2024

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Have you thought of starting an eCommerce business but aren’t sure whether it’s worth it in 2022? This post will show you the Pros and cons of starting an eCommerce business in 2022.

As with starting any type of business, there are always positives and negatives. Still, virtual business models like eCommerce are growing in popularity due to the lower threshold of entry and the broader accessibility of the market.

Read on to discover the pros and cons of starting an eCommerce business and decide if it’s the right move for you.

Table of Contents

Pros

There are many good reasons to start an eCommerce business.

Easy to get started

It’s relatively to start an eCommerce business. You don’t need nearly as much startup capital as a brick-and-mortar store.

If you buy stock on demand, you won’t even have to build up a large inventory.

With an eCommerce store, you can find your products, build a website, do some marketing, and start selling.

Easier Marketing

With eCommerce, you can often get your customers’ information easily (just remember to ensure that your forms are secure).

You can offer discounts when customers sign up for your email list and gather emails when they place orders.

From there, you can advertise through email, which is highly effective. You can even retarget customers to remind them of products they viewed or recommend products.

Easy to scale

It’s much easier to grow an eCommerce business than a brick-and-mortar business. When you’re ready to expand, you can hire new employees, add more products, and ship to more places.

With a brick-and-mortar, you’ll have to invest much more to build and supply a new location.

Cons

Before starting an eCommerce business, you should consider the following factors.

Competition

The eCommerce market is highly competitive. You’ll have to do a lot to stand out from the competition.

Unless you offer something unique, you’ll also be up against Amazon, which dominates the market. It may take time to grow your business until it’s profitable.

Shipping

Managing shipping can be a pain, primarily if you ship internationally. You’ll be responsible for packing things up, making labels, and getting everything to the post office.

Alternatively, you can hire someone to take care of it, but it may be costly.

Some people prefer brick-and-mortar

Even though online shopping continues to grow in popularity, a large segment of the population still prefers brick-and-mortar stores.

Some people enjoy the experience of buying things in person, while others only accept certain types of items online.

To avoid these issues, you’ll have to offer something people can’t get anywhere else. Otherwise, you will compete with physical stores for the foreseeable future.