The Growing Importance of e-commerce: Why It’s Crucial for Digital Growth

As customer convenience further emerges as the new loyalty threshold, e-commerce as a channel into local markets is quickly becoming an everyday customer expectation.

Despite recent years of ongoing uncertainty, the home and building supply industry has experienced a boom in e-commerce channels brought on by the pandemic. Customer buying trends continue to gravitate toward engagement with online content and the convenience of online purchasing. As they do, business leaders have been forced to evolve their strategies toward online offerings that go beyond the national websites of their vendors. It’s quickly becoming a requirement to fully represent all product offerings to meet online shoppers' expectations.

According to Visa’s 2019 report, Digital Transformation of SMEs: The Future of Commerce, e-commerce transactions accounted for 5.4 per cent of all retail spending in 2019, a proportion that will reach 5.7 per cent by the end of 2023. Visa said that in response to these evolving consumer preferences, SMEs will need to implement digital solutions to improve sales, acquire new customers and reduce costs.

In today’s post-pandemic world, the importance of e-commerce as a channel to local markets has become a necessity. In fact, according to ECI Software Solutions’ 2022 State of Lumber, Building Material, and Hardlines (LBMH) Report, 63 per cent of industry professionals consider e-commerce to be the most crucial focus area in running their businesses.

While some in the industry have adopted an e-commerce software solution, many are lagging. For others, just the idea of e-commerce feels outside their realm of traditional customer engagement. However, given the growing importance of e-commerce and the accessibility to easy-to-use tools and sales opportunities it provides, businesses can no longer afford to look past having an online presence. SMEs therefore must embrace digital growth by adopting or expanding their e-commerce strategy to stay competitive.

The growing importance of e-commerce

Just a few years ago, a typical online presence would suffice if it included store hours and a few photos from vendors. Many businesses receive some benefit from inclusion on their supplier’s national site for a percentage of their product sales. However, as customer convenience further emerges as the new loyalty threshold, e-commerce as a channel into local markets is quickly becoming an everyday customer expectation.

E-commerce has become an essential part of how we do business and shop. Whether it be to engage customers, track trends or make more informed business decisions, you need to rely on e-commerce, especially small and mid-size retailers. It’s no longer enough for you to sell only in-store and over the phone. E-commerce is critical to increasing revenue and better connecting with customers.

As these trends continue to grow, business leaders must consider if their business is prepared to meet customer expectations through digital channels. An e-commerce solution that provides the opportunity for an omnichannel customer experience should be considered the minimum viable solution. This will make running a business easier and deliver more convenience to customers while providing scalability and increased profits.

Achieving digital growth with the right e-commerce solution

Having the right e-commerce solution, such as ECI Solutions’s Spruce ecommerce, enables small and mid-size retailers to compete with large retail chains. Not only does the right solution open an online sales channel that can turn visitors into customers, but it can also serve to educate consumers and drive project sales—saving everyone time and money. Not to mention it allows customers to easily shop safely and securely.

More than ever, builders and consumers want to research and purchase items at their convenience. Without a robust online presence, suppliers could lose customers and potential sales to competitors who offer the ability to conduct product research before they buy and complete their purchases online. Today, convenience drives loyalty. That means meeting customers at the level of ease they’ve come to expect from online purchasing on any mobile device. An e-commerce site optimised for all devices—whether desktop, mobile, or tablet—has become a competitive requirement.

Taking convenience a step further, the right e-commerce solution can make day-to-day operations easier for building suppliers. An e-commerce solution integrated with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and a product information management (PIM) system can automate many manual efforts. This includes processing online payments, managing product information, and streamlining services like click and collect.

The PIM system can serve as a database where all product information is stored and synced across all sales channels, relieving the tedious manual labour needed to manage multiple vendors and sales. Having fully automated processes eliminates the risk of potentially costly manual errors that can result in profit loss and product waste. Additionally, you now give staff time to be more efficient and effective, allowing them to focus on building new and long-lasting customer relationships.

Adopting an e-commerce solution

For those who have yet to make the full digital leap, it might seem optional to put forward the effort in building an online presence. However, we are in the era of online purchasing, and those who choose to overlook building an online presence will risk losing new and current customers to those with an online store.

When ready to adopt an e-commerce solution, it’s important to explore solutions that merge seamlessly with business management systems—which can track finances, supply chain management, daily operations, orders and sales, and so on. With the right vertically specific tools, creating an online presence that can service both tradespeople and consumers does not have to be difficult or intimidating.

Talk to the experts at ECI Solutions to start your digital transformation journey.

This article was published in the March 2023 issue of Hardware Connection (pages 34-36).