Whether it’s down to short-term necessity, a long-term shift or you just want to expand your reach, there are countless reasons to move your business online. However, there are also some key considerations when doing so.
In this post, we’ll explore the trend of businesses moving online and key considerations…
Since the UK was put into lockdown on 23 March 2020, there has been a wave of previously offline businesses moving online. From restaurants to retailers, countless companies have been deemed non-essential and forced to close due to social distancing measures. The one exception being that they can continue operating online and delivering to their customers’ homes.
However, looking at the bigger picture, there are also lots of businesses going online regardless of the COVID-19 outbreak. With half of UK retail sales expected to be online by 2028, this is more than just a trend. As fewer and fewer people head onto the high street, the necessity to move online that we have experienced during lockdown could become a permanent fixture.
The first requirement to move your business online is the platform – namely, a website. While the larger well known online sales sites are useful for small scale reselling, they do take a cut of your sales and don’t provide that same brand identity as your own website.
Given that over 80% of UK businesses have a website, chances are you already have something in place. However, the crucial difference is it needs to be something you can sell on and take payments directly through your website.
The next step is digital marketing. Without your brick-and-mortar store, you won’t have the same presence as you had before. The alternative? An online presence. Here are three ways to achieve that:
If you’re planning on selling and marketing digitally, you’re going to be using a lot of assets. From product pictures and descriptions or brand guidelines for your site and social media, you need somewhere to store these various files securely. Crucially for your team, it’s important that those files can also be well organised and easily retrieved.
At iBase, we specialise in digital asset management software that makes it easy to manage assets for your online business. From the simple drag and drop interface to metadata for organising, searching and retrieving, our system can save you time, effort and money as you move online.
Contact us today for a free, no obligation Express account.
