5 Reasons Why Fasteners Should Go Online

These days, if you don’t take your business online – even if it is just to compliment an existing brick-and-mortar store – you’re going to be falling behind.

According to a report from Shopify, retail eCommerce sales are expected to reach $4.5 trillion on a global scale by the year 2021. Considering that just four years ago, the global market was valued at $1.3 trillion, you can see for yourself how significant the trend is – and how it’s still growing.

But the fact is that where eCommerce is going to really shine is when it comes to purchasing products that aren’t a commodity – like fasteners. 

Any person can venture into their local grocery store or corner market for a gallon of milk, loaf of bread or case of water, but when you need to place an order for custom fasteners, do you know where to go? Yes, there’s the big box hardware stores, but just as so many consumers have already discovered, the ease of making an order online largely outweighs the errand of going to the physical store itself.

Here’s a look at some other benefits when it comes to eCommerce for fastener retailers:

• Inventory management: One of the biggest benefits when it comes to an eCommerce website for fasteners is that the platform allows for much easier and more seamless inventory management.
  By automated tracking purchase data and other factors, you’re able to understand your stock and make smarter purchasing decisions.
  This helps keep inventory properly managed and minimizes wasteful spending.
• Advanced digital marketing: Here’s another cool aspect of an eCommerce platform: You can keep tabs on your client base’s buying habits. This, in turn, allows you to better market toward them and communicate with them based on their projected needs. This helps build loyalty and long-term relationships.
• You’re always open: Big box stores are only open during certain periods of the day. But your eCommerce platform is open every hour of the day and every day of the year to serve your customers.
  What’s more is that your customers don’t need to drive to see you, they can order from their computers, mobile phones and/or tablets whenever they need to place an order. It’s this sort of convenience that has led to such an uptick in online purchases.
• Detailed information: When you purchase a specialty product like a fastener at a store, you’re limited to the label information located on or near the product, and the knowledge of any sales associates.
  But when you offer products online, you have the ability to be much more detailed in specs, applications and other information to enable confident purchasing decisions. You can even include how-to videos.
• The world is your client base: Forget about marketing to a certain geographical area like brick-and-mortar stores do, when you operate online, your client base is unlimited. Essentially, your business can serve a worldwide clientele if it grows and scales, and if you have the desire.