3 Reasons Your Canadian Small Business Needs E-Commerce

By today’s standards, it only makes sense for small business owners to sell their products online. Actually, allow us to put it another way. These days, it doesn’t make any sense for small business to not sell their products online! Online shopping continues to grow and there is certainly no end in sight for its rising popularity. This is especially true in Canada, as we pointed out in our last blog.

As a Canadian small business owner, you need to invest in e-commerce. Here are three reasons why:

1. Canadian consumers demand it. It’s time to face the music. Canadians love shopping online. And, as a Canadian business owner, it’s certainly time that you pay attention to this growing trend. By not allowing your customers to make purchases from your website, you’re practically encouraging them to spend their money elsewhere. Statistically, most of them will research American companies to locate the items they would have otherwise purchased from you.

According to the Business Development Bank of Canada, “Canadian consumers are buying more and more goods online. Yet while most Canadians are online, many Canadian businesses aren\’t there yet—meaning much of our spending is going to companies in the United States. In fact, Statistics Canada says that just 10% of small businesses were selling online in 2012. At the same time, Canadian consumers spent an estimated $21 billion on online purchases.”

2. It allows you to become a 24/7 operation. The doors of your brick-and-mortar place of business have operating hours. As a result of this traditional convention, you are unable to make money during the hours when your doors are closed. With an e-commerce solution, this is never the case. Your doors never close. By having your website effectively operate as a 24/7 store, you become a round-the-clock provider of your products.

“E-commerce makes it possible for a business to be open and easily accessible round the clock without any increase in overheads,” reads DOCreativeStudios.com, “Transactions and payments can continue being made automatically, without your supervision. In case the small business deals in digital goods, the business becomes totally automatic – full transactions, including purchase and delivery, will automatically be carried out online.”

3. It won’t cost you much to invest in e-commerce. Most small business owners are regularly concerned about saving money. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, it’s important to note that spending money in certain areas can be very advantageous ways of making more money in return. Furthermore, investing in e-commerce isn’t as expensive as you may assume. The BDC notes that “it’s never been easier or cheaper to get started in e-commerce.”

Canadian POS Corporation offers a very affordable and effective e-commerce solution. Known as InternetSecure, our e-commerce solution enables you to easily and securely accept and process all credit cards – Visa, MasterCard, Discover Network, American Express – from your website. For more information, call Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.