Edit: From 1 April 23, PSG has been reduced to 50% for all sectors.
Along with the rapid advancement of technology, it is inevitable that digitalisation becomes crucial for greater efficiency. Catalysed by the Covid-19 Pandemic, the popularity of e-commerce has increased significantly among businesses and consumers. Here are some of the reasons why your ecommerce journey should start now.
1. Shift in consumer spending behaviour
Beyond the restrictions of location and time, online shopping brings consumers a whole new shopping experience. The convenience of shopping anytime, at the comfort of their own homes, with their purchases delivered to their doorstep is enticing for many consumers. Shopping online also allows consumers to compare prices more easily before making a purchase. Due to the pandemic lockdown and the new normal of working from home, consumers have also gotten used to shopping online instead of going to the physical stores like they used to.
To remain competitive, SMEs should seriously consider e-commerce, to provide consumers with the ecommerce option. Post pandemic, even with the opening up of the economy, it is unlikely that consumer behaviour and the habit of online shopping will revert to how it was like before. For businesses that do not have an online presence, they will be losing out on many potential customers.
With travel restrictions in place and travelling plans disrupted, more people become accustomed to shopping online. Going online allows businesses to easily go global, allowing their brand to reach an even wider target audience and more potential customers in comparison to a physical store.
2. Digitalising the company increases efficiency & resilience
Utilising the right digital tools can reduce the energy put into completing repetitive and manual tasks. This allows employees to focus and work on strategic tasks which can aid the company’s growth.
It is especially during the uncertain times of a pandemic where SMEs need to remain flexible and work towards embracing and enhancing the company’s digitalisation efforts. Technology allows the company to reach a wider audience and attain data-driven insights into areas such as customer interests and needs. This would mean that businesses can conduct analysis on their website traffic and find areas for improvement to increase their sales. They can also better tailor their customer experience for successful conversions. This Covid-19 pandemic has also shown how fragile physical stores alone can be for a business. Upon a lock down, these shops would be forced to close. However, the SMEs that have gone online and ventured into ecommerce would have suffered less of a blow. In fact, some of these businesses even experience greater traffic since everyone was cooped up at home and spent more time on the internet.
3. Support and grants available
In April 2017, the Government launched the SME Go Digital initiative in attempts to simplify digitalisation for SMEs. However, according to a survey by QBE Insurance, there was still a gap between awareness and the uptake of government support. Out of the 65% of SMEs who were aware, more than half of them opted out of these initiatives due to fear of fraud.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Singapore Government has since announced four Budgets totalling S$93b in support measures and this includes the SME Go Digital initiative. There are some changes made and the initiative now aims to aid businesses in addressing continuity challenges and support them in staying connected to their consumers while being physically apart.
With such grants and support, along with the advancement of technology, it has become much easier to venture into ecommerce and to break into the online digital market. Investing in a custom built website by an agency specialising in ecommerce can grant businesses a competitive edge when entering into the highly competitive ecommerce market. EFusion Technology is an IMDA Pre-Approved Solutions Vendor. This means that with the Productivity Solutions Grant, businesses can have up to 80% funding for their eCommerce website
Conclusion
It would have been hard to imagine the impacts of a virus like Covid-19 just 2 years ago. It is even more surprising that this pandemic was what catalysed the acceptance of digitalisation and ecommerce. It is crucial for businesses to plan for the future and to start their ecommerce journey now.
If you are looking to venture into ecommerce or build a custom website for your business, feel free to contact eFusion Technology where a fully in-house team will commit to the success of your ecommerce journey. With 19 years of specialist experience and a large client base, you may wish to check out their portfolio here
