What If The Ultimate Location Was Online?

Choosing the right location for your business is a strategic decision that will affect your company’s future. The right location needs to consider essential factors: 

• How easy it is to reach your business using the local infrastructure
• A cost comparison of your location 
• The achievable curb appeal
• Potential impact on local and remote distribution
• And finally, how close your customers are

Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed mindsets when it comes to location decisions. More and more businesses are wondering whether a physical location is still necessary. What if the digital sphere were the ultimate location for your business, both for your processes and your customers? Let us consider what the implication of a digital-only location would be. 

Your customers rely even more on eCommerce

The pandemic has encouraged many companies to move online to survive. Brick and mortar shops struggled to adjust. But eCommerce ventures grew dramatically, increasing online sales’ share by up to 19% in 2020. The trend is global, spreading through most countries and sectors. In the USA, the online share jumped from 11% to 14% in 2020. The U.K registered the most significant growth, from 15.8% to 23.3% in 2020. The demand for eCommerce has grown exponentially during the pandemic. However, with demand comes also high competition. While your customers are now online and want to be served online, your competitors could seize the opportunity. To maximize eCommerce growth, it makes sense to move to high-performance platforms such as Amazon that can handle the traffic. Digital growth expert eSpark helps develop branding and online sales for the hard-working platform. With over 5 million marketplace sellers on Amazon, you know being online is not enough to be profitable. 

Your employees don’t want to go back

Even though offices are ready to open their doors, many employees are trying to negotiate permanent work from home arrangements. Over 8 in 10 Americans are not ready to go back to the office. They enjoy working from home and spending time with their loved ones. Productivity concerns are not relevant anymore. Employees have already proven they can tackle their workload and even more at home. Additionally, cost-wise, businesses can benefit from a permanent virtual office as it prevents location-related expenses. 

Additionally, creating an online business culture gives companies access to an international pool of talent. Experts can come from anywhere. While it might take a period of trial and error to establish the right process, the benefits can be huge. 

Everyone is online all the time

Finally, the last reason why it makes sense to embrace the digital sphere as your business location is the opening hours. Your customers could be buying at any time of the day or night. But in a typical shop, customers need to come during opening hours. Being online means you can remain 24/7 available without reason. You can provide information through your website. You can also create a dedicated FAQ page or a chatbot to tackle queries. More importantly, it also means that customers can still order anywhere and at any time. Online becomes synonymous with always open. 

In conclusion, growing your business presence online is a no-brainer. While not every business can benefit from an online-only presence, the digital location can boost both talent and customer exposure. Competition becomes more significant online, yet the right strategy can help you get noticed. Is a fully online business right for you? 

24 Hour Sign: Unsplash - CC0 License 
Man on phone: Unsplash - CC0 License