E-commerce has grown exponentially over the past decade or so. This business sector was booming even before COVID-19. However, it has grown even faster since the pandemic began. E-commerce platforms, such as Amazon and eBay, have truly made their mark on the world. They each generate billions of dollars in revenue every year.
By signing up with e-commerce platforms, you can now potentially have a global market without even stepping foot outside your home country. E-commerce has been given a significant boost by the COVID-19 pandemic. When strict lockdowns were in place in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, consumers were left with no choice but to make purchases online. Even everyday groceries were being purchased online. Although COVID restrictions across the world are far more relaxed now, people have realized they can do business online. With e-commerce platforms, you can now sell just about anything online.
However, before you set up your online enterprise, make sure you have a dependable internet connection. The last thing you need is a selling transaction not going through just because of a substandard internet connection. Check MetroNet availability in your area to get a 100% fiber-optic connection for an optimal online experience.
Now let’s check out some of the major players operating in the e-commerce sector. Read on to learn more.
eBay
eBay may not be the biggest online marketplace, but it is among the oldest players in the e-commerce industry. It is extremely useful for selling niche products that tend to appeal to only a small demographic. eBay users tend to fall in the 35 to 50 years age bracket. So it has a fairly old customer base that has a knack to buy specialist niche products.
eBay usually charges a low processing fee of 10 to 15 percent of the listed price. So this is a good place for fresh entrepreneurs to sell products that are not considered to be mass-market ones.
Cdiscount
Cdiscount is a relatively new e-commerce platform. It is headquartered in France and has over 10 million active users. Vendors can open their store on Cdiscount without paying any upfront charges. They also do not require merchants to have a minimum sales volume. You can trade new and used products in multiple categories and add infinite merchandise to your product catalog.
Cdiscount also has an order fulfillment on-demand option for their vendors. Sellers can ship their merchandise to company warehouses when orders are booked. From here, Cdiscount will take responsibility to deliver orders to the end-user. They have a standard delivery time of 24 hours once they receive merchandise from sellers. This is a good place to start if you wish to intend to tap the European e-commerce market.
Amazon
Not only is Amazon an e-commerce giant, but it is also among the largest business enterprises in the world. No discussion about e-commerce can be complete without mentioning Amazon. It generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue every quarter. In the last quarter of 2020 alone, they generated $125 billion in revenue. This figure is higher than the economies of several low-income countries combined. Amazon has an outstanding logistical network. They transport packages across the world to more than a hundred countries. So having a merchant account on Amazon will mean you will have access to a global market.
Amazon has a lot to offer to its merchants. Sellers can either fulfill orders on their own or they can choose the Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) option. With FBA, Amazon will be responsible for product packaging, storage, and shipping. This means merchants will only need to concentrate their efforts on creating a market for their products. Since Amazon operates on a global level, they also offer services that supplement foreign sales, like tax and tariff payments.
Summing Up
E-commerce is bigger than ever before and is projected to grow even more in the foreseeable future. As long as you have internet, you can potentially sell to a global market from the comfort of your home. However, running a successful online venture is not easy at all. This is a highly competitive sector where customers have numerous sellers to choose from. So do your homework before you enter this field.
