Can you get to develop your brand at marketplaces like amazon, eBay or Alibaba and why you should use Webstore™ over ecommerce platforms like shopify, WiX, and Square?

Ecommerce business is an electronic commerce where transactions happens electronically by selling and buying goods, merchandize, commodities, supplies and many more items as well as digital services. As per Stats Canada, retail e-commerce sales reached a record $3.9 billion in May 2023, which is nearly 10 percent of total world wide sales and it is continuing to grow. 

Now, in choosing to sell via a marketplace, small business owners often forfeit their right to be identified as a brand. One should not forget that brand is the most essential part when customers make buying decisions. Customers always remember store brands and they refer your store brand to others. Unfortunately, you cannot develop a brand when you sell at already established marketplaces. It means, after several months of your marketing efforts you will be back to ground zero level because all the time you were promoting marketplace brand and not yours.  With Webstore™ you can easily start developing your brand, so customers remember your brand and with that, you will be creating an environment to become loyal.  This sounds costly and not doable with conventional ways of doing business, but with the advent of modern technology, webstore™ has now made your dream affordable and possible. As per statista Germany, retail e-commerce sales amounted to approximately 5.2 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide. This figure is forecast to grow by 56 percent over the next years, reaching about 8.1 trillion dollars by 2026.

Common mistakes done when starting an ecommerce store?

1. Never start an online business without a brand name, logo and tagline.
2. Running business on existing market places such as Amazon, eBay, Alibaba and social media marketplaces. At these marketplaces actually you are developing their band and not your brand, therefore, even after 5 years of your efforts people will  remember their brands and not your brand.
3. It is a myth that Starting an online store with big named platforms such as Shopify, WIX, Square, Selro you will advantages in making sells in short time.  
4. There are no shortcuts in branding unless you  throw away tons of money in marketing. You need to put time and efforts to develop your brand.
5. During starting stages, you need support and guidance, therefore big named platforms are already overwhelmed with customer concerns and in reality, they do not care or have a time to support and guide you. 
6. Never use platform where you need a special coaching to operate the software and you need to hire someone to integrate essential plugins, tools or features such as live chat tool, shopping cart, multi-currency, or subscriber’s form  etc.
7. Ecommerce platforms like shopify, WiX, or Square can be a bit slow and lethargic in recognizing the value of your vital recommendation. But Webstore™ team carefully read every recommendation put forward by the loyal clients and weigh the value of the feature recommended by the loyal clients and they try to implement the things those are usually not common at marketplaces new to ecommerce industry.

Shortcomings of starting a business at established marketplaces.

• Build your own marketplace: At already established marketplaces, you have to agree with their terms and fees. Established marketplaces care about their brands and their business, and your product may get pushed down if your competitor pays more to get their products listed on top of the list. This is very common in any marketplace, and you do not want to run your business on the terms set by a third party. With Webstore™ you can run the store on your terms, decide when and which products should be on top of the list. Also, A proper online presence of your company also enables meaningful contact with customers through live chat or email conversation.
• Cut-throat competition: Marketplaces are full of competition. At established marketplaces, suddenly new competitors start sprouting with products similar to yours and you may lose business because someone else is selling similar products for slightly cheaper price. When small business owners are unable to differentiate on branding, customer experience, service levels, or anything else, the only thing they can compete on is price. You will have no control over this and this drives down the revenues and margins of the business owners. Sometimes it’s the only way to differentiate! 
  Marketplaces can provide a good opportunity for business owners to make fast sales. They provide a tried and trusted way for new retailers to get online. However, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. There will always be new entrants to the marketplace, perhaps who undercut on price, which the established retailers will have to compete with.
• Getting banned:  Any merchants selling on established marketplaces have to face one scary scenario: You can get banned from selling on marketplaces. When you sell upon others’ rules, your exposure can seriously be impacted by their changing algorithm or whatever the rules allow. If things are going well for you, that’s great - but imagine when things go wrong, getting things back to normal is very difficult, almost impossible and you may lose money, loyal customers and may have to start again from ground zero level.
• Marketplace fees on rise: Due to their rising popularity and ever increasing complexity of their business rules and policies, marketplace service providers often tend to increase their fees and it is a compulsion on vendors. So you are left with no choice than paying their ever increasing fees.