If you have a small business, developing or growing your eCommerce presence will pay huge dividends in the next few years.   eCommerce is the fastest growing retail channel online sales in the US are projected to reach $603.4 billion by 2021.

So, whether your business offers actual products or it offers services, taking the time to invest into creating an online shopping cart in addition to your general online presence will make a big difference to your bottom line.  And, there is one massive reason for this.

Search Engines.

The reason?  People LOVE to shop. They might not always be in the mind to purchase, but they are always interested in knowing what is available, and what deals they might be able to take advantage of.  Think of car dealerships.  The cars are always there, ready for purchase, but the dealerships seem to always have some sort of ‘deal’ going on. They know that buyers are always shopping and that as they continue to promote special deals and sales, that will eventually push those really ready to buy into making the purchase.

In addition to generating more sales and customer acquisition, the search engine process helps increase brand awareness. Again, people are always shopping.  Making them aware of your business and what it offers might not spur them to buy right away, but it will make them aware of your business, which leads to sales down the road.

Search engines also see more ‘foot traffic’ each day than a sidewalk.  So, while you are putting up a promotional sign in your small business’s front window, you should also have something in the virtual world that tells the people online that there is a special sale happening for your goods or services.

Finally, search engines are increasingly designed to be more and more helpful to the individual using them. They are learning what interests and content you would most like to see.  So, a search engine can show your content, site, services or products to the people that are most likely to buy.  It makes the search engine more useful to that person, and therefore more advertisers will use that search engine, and the search engine makes money.  Its in their best interest to customize the experience for the user, and you can take full advantage of that by having an online presence that includes your website but also the option to purchase the products or services you offer via a shopping cart.  

This applies even if you have clients that need highly customized proposals tailored to them.  You can still offer very basic service packages online, which triggers the search engine boost for a shopping cart function, and drive more traffic.  Then, its merely a matter of promoting on your site the option to have the package customized and offering the option to contact you for further details.  You still get the traffic because you have shopping options, and that traffic will turn into sales when you’ve optimized for it.