E-commerce — or retail on the Internet — is an integral part of the market today. It is becoming increasingly important and in some cases completely replaces stationary sales. Find out more about your options in online trading.
As already indicated, it is ecommerce for electronic commerce and includes online trade. Other names include e-commerce and e-commerce.
This involves selling and buying products and services on the Internet. In addition, e-commerce also includes the associated e-mail traffic.
In 2023, e-commerce turnover in Germany is almost 95 billion euros. Musical instruments, sound recordings and toys are the most traded on the Internet. Almost any product can be sold online. And, of course, increasingly food. Here it was in Germany in 2023 over 3.9 billion euros. The trend is rising sharply!
Nowadays, it is therefore a matter of course that retailers also sell their products in a online shop offers. In addition to analog trading, electronic trading is also required. In addition, it is possible to sell products exclusively online. Since it is easy to sell their products on the Internet, every provider has big competition. A strategy is therefore needed to assert oneself in the diversity of competitors.
You have various e-commerce systems to choose from for your sales.
Want to sell your own products? Do you print textiles or make jewelry that you now want to offer for sale? To do this, you can open an online shop. Or you sell the goods, for example, at Etsy, a marketplace for creative goods. We will summarize for you what options you have, what advantages and disadvantages there are.
You can use an online shop to sell the goods. This is useful if you have a store that you want to expand to include an online shop. An online shop increases your presence, but also requires some marketing and time. If your sales only take place online, you can increase your reach with social media. Many also use Instagram as a sales platform.
You do need to deploy and configure your own shop. However, this is no problem with the appropriate software. You can get help with this, for example, at Shopify, Jimdo, Freight pilot. In contrast to Market Place, you can run D2C under your own conditions. “Direct to Customer“means that you manage your products yourself and ship them to your customers. You are also not in direct competition with your competition. You can also give your products more personality and have all options for your marketing.
In addition to the classic online shop, you can also buy your goods on Internet marketplaces sell. Such marketplaces include Amazon, Otto or Kaufland. They are not to be confused with second-hand platforms such as eBay classifieds, Booklooker or Medimops. For groceries, there are sales platforms such as Message in a bottle, weekly market24 or crunchy.
To increase your awareness, it can be helpful if potential customers find you and your products on such a platform. On the one hand, this is easier, as you only need to register as a retailer on the platform. However, you also enter into a contract with the online marketplace. You must therefore accept the platform's terms and may have less revenue than if you run your own shop.
Alternatively, you can also go to Dropshipping fall back. You offer a web shop, but do not store your goods yourself. The shipment is carried out by a third party provider. When you've received an order, you hire the third party to deliver it. This takes payment for the storage of your goods.
Since the third-party provider is exclusively responsible for storage and shipping, sellers must build and promote their brand themselves. A typical example of this method is amazon FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) The advantage is that you don't have to store the goods yourself. However, as a salesperson, you must find out trends or test products yourself. You also watch the competition and do the marketing for the products. The lack of contact between the goods and the seller is a disadvantage. As a result, the manufacturer and product have little individuality on the market, which can damage the brand. If the dropshipper delivers bad goods, the brand bears the damage.
However, as a founding e-commerce company, it is also an advantage to be able to test its products with dropshipping. The risk of losses is low. Dropshipping works with furniture and clothing, as well as any trendy product. However, due to strong competition, it is not so easy to assert yourself on the market and operate an e-commerce company on a permanent basis.
Using Amazon as an Internet marketplace means that you, as a seller, produce the product yourself or are at least responsible for procurement and storage. With Amazon FBA, on the other hand, you usually don't come into contact with the product itself.
Depending on which type of e-commerce system you use, there are different customer relationships that can have advantages and disadvantages for you.
B2C stands for “business to customer” or consumer and describes the business relationship between companies and consumers. The company that sells products to consumers also has a connection to them.
The business relationship affects you in particular if you do not offer your own online shop, but only use digital marketplaces for sales. In addition to financial disadvantages, you don't benefit from being close to the platform's customers. You also completely transfer the buying experience to another company and only reach your customers indirectly. In addition, you have few opportunities to properly present yourself or your brand to your customers. They only notice you and your products through the presentation of the sales platform.
For example, the online shop of the Market Place is primarily advertised and not your brand itself. This doesn't necessarily contribute to your reputation. You may also not receive full information about your customers and their buying behavior. This means that you can also slightly personalize their buying experience. However, personalization is an important marketing strategy that helps to prevail over the competition.
In the relationship”Direct to Customer“Or consumers, on the other hand, are you in direct contact with your customers. They buy directly from you in your online shop, not via a digital marketplace. The sales steps that are normally available are significantly simplified. The usual route with B2C is to deliver the manufacturer to a wholesaler, then to retailers via a distributor. In the end, consumers come into contact with the manufacturer's product.
In addition, you are not handing over the delivery to another company or supplier. This means that you have the entire process in your own hands. You make the buying experience as good and individual as possible. In addition to your products, you also offer other services and interesting information about your products and related topics. Based on their interests, you suggest content and products to your customers. You can also design your shipping however you want. You set the payment methods and shipping costs yourself without any commitment from a company.
The consumer-to-consumer relationship exists when both business partners are end users. Corresponding e-commerce platforms are, as mentioned above, Medimops, ebay classifieds or Kleiderkreisel. You don't sell your things in used condition commercially. All you need is accounts on the platform and not your own online shop. Selling food via C2C relationships with a platform as an intermediary is rather unusual.
The relationship Business to Business means the relationship between companies. Personalization is also important here. Efforts to attract business customers are just as important. Companies must give their business customers a good Customer Experience offer to secure the business relationship. The companies will then of course offer their own online shop.
In practice, the term B2B is sometimes ambiguous. Such a business relationship exists, for example, between a beverage manufacturer and the company from which it orders paper for labels or bottle caps. The line with B2C partners is blurring, for example, among food retailers who, on the one hand, sell their products to private customers. On the other hand, they also supply food retailers (LEH) with their products.
If you have a online shop with imprint (!) If you have or have several sales channels, it may be helpful to have a ERP software to use for your e-commerce. It can evaluate customer data for personalized shopping and bundles your channels if you use multiple sales channels. It also automates your work processes and creates delivery notes. You can also have invoices created and be informed about orders and your inventory. Software examples are here Xentral, Weclapp or? Of course Freight pilot!
It is convenient for customers to be able to order online. They also expect this opportunity. Sellers must therefore deal with how to advertise their products and launch their online business. They must also follow trends and current requirements. Due to the high level of competition, they also have no choice but to personalize their shopping. As a result, buying behavior is being monitored more and more by artificial intelligence. Customers can see this as either an advantage or a disadvantage. Vendors can also take advantage of the fact that their customers lose track of the order quantity and their budget. Trading on the Internet is therefore both a curse and a blessing for both sides.
Because of its flexibility, online trading has become very important from a sales perspective. How important shopping at a distance is has Covid pandemic shown. If people need to reduce contacts for a variety of reasons, they still don't have to stop shopping. You can order anything online, be it clothes, medicines or groceries. However, the inclusive function also results in a larger number of orders and deliveries. This pollutes traffic and the environment. An alternative that is being used more and more is”Click and Collect”. Customers order online and pick up the goods at the nearest branch. As a rule, they receive their order much faster and there is less packaging.
In addition to the disadvantages, e-commerce has many advantages, which prevail from a buying perspective. And the forecast for e-commerce remains positive!
E-commerce — or retail on the Internet — has become an integral part of today. It is becoming more and more important. The unanimous opinion: In the future, e-commerce will partially, if not completely, replace brick-and-mortar retail!
For storable products — such as fashion/fashion or electronic items — this future forecast is definitely not unlikely. When it comes to fresh food, the trend towards complete marketing via the Internet is rather critical. It is more likely that customers will use their preferred sales channel. Therefore, only the food marketer who offers all sales channels — delivery, mail delivery, retail sales, pick-up points — will be prepared for the future.
Good that it Fracht pilot There is. In fact, FrachtPilot supports all sales channels. From farm sales with cash register, about Parcel delivery and Pick-up station, until online shop with ordering app. As a grocer, you are ideally positioned for the (digital) future!
Ready to find out more? Just get in touch with us. Let's have a personal conversation with you to see if FrachtPilot It is also suitable for your company. Of course she is guidance free of charge and without obligation.
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