Before you think about doing online business, it is better to have an understanding of what is a business in general.
A business has an owner, products and customers. The products are sold to the customers and in return the business owner gets paid.
The word "online" creates a hi-fi image in the minds of people.
They immediately think about PC and Laptops being used.
The word online indicates 'being connected to the Internet'. This also gives a
high tech image.
These days, with the increased use of smartphones, people are still not aware that, they are already online. They are already utilising various online services.
A typical service in cities, is the booking of cabs and autos. OLA and UBER are two popular services used by people.
These two services are used from a smartphone. But the phone must be connected to the Internet.
More and more people are shopping from their smartphones using apps. All these apps work only when connected to the Internet i.e. when they are online.
When you run your business primarily online, it becomes an online business. This means the business operates many of the routine tasks online.
Typically the business has a central website. The website has the business facilities that allow prospects and customers to interact with the business online.
Some of the main facilities are
Downloading brochure
Posting an enquiry
Receiving response for the enquiry
Viewing product details
Placing orders
Making payments
Customer service
These facilities were considered to be high tech a decade back. But now, these facilities can be provided with appropriate programming of the website.
With the help of a consultant, a business owner can set up a business website and allow the website to do all the routine tasks.
Being an online business, the website is accessible to customers throughout the world, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. This is a major benefit for the business as the business is available anywhere, anytime unlike traditional shops.
Based on the business owner preferences, the website can be made mobile friendly also. This helps customers to interact with the website from their smartphones and the website is appropriately designed to suit the device being used. These type of websites which adjust themselves based on the device used i.e. PC/ Tablet/ Phone are called Responsive websites.
Apart from this, the business owner can also do administration
and view reports of the business performance at the website using a separate
section.
The main benefit of going online is for the flexibility of place and time along with the savings in cost.
So, enterprising people who wanted to run their own business from home or a small office can benefit the most. It is a boon for them.
They can create a product of their own or sell another person's product and make a busines out of it and operate from home.