Whether your offline store is doing well or not, we hope that you can be open minded when exploring the possibility of setting up online store. In fact, the potential for online store may far exceed what you can expect.

According to statistics by the U.S. census bureau, the quarterly eCommerce sales report indicates that eCommerce sales has picked up steadily over the years. /p>

Research carried out by Nielsen//NetRatings also shows that eCommerce is picking up over the years.

With these findings, we believe that you may need to explore eCommerce solutions, sooner or later. Below are some obvious benefits of eCommerce compared to normal brick and mortar retail store:

a) Low setup cost - Normally its only less than SGD5k to set up a full fledged store.

b) Low monthly maintenance - There is no rental fee like your offline shop. Once the store is completed, you may manage the entire store on your own with little recurring yearly cost like domain name and hosting charges.

c) No boundary - With an online store, you can reach anyone in the world with an internet connection. The market potential is really unimaginable.

d) No employees problem - After a store is established, you do not need anybody to look after the store. As we have mentioned, everything is automated. When there is an order, you will receive email notifications.

e) 24/7 operational - Your customer can shop at any time of the day/night, while you may be sleeping.

f) Reduced marketing cost - More customers are actively searching for products online, especially IT products. With a good exposure online, you can cut down the cost of advertisement which you may have spent on other media.

g) Customer data collection and storage - A main benefit of eCommerce store is that it allows you to collect and store valuable customer information such as gender, age, purchase information. These data can greatly help you to improve your store performance.

h) Easy maintenance - You do not need to be physically present at the store. Once established, you are provided with web based administration account to manage the store on your own.

Above are only some of the obvious benefits. While we believe that offline stores still represent the bulk of retail sales, eCommerce solutions should not be overlooked. We hope this article is useful for you when considering an eCommerce store.