Why current startup entrepreneurs should choose online business over physical business

Starting a business throws an entrepreneur in several critical decision-making moments. Decisions made, determines the success or failure of the venture. It clearly shows why decision making remains a critical skill for every entrepreneur. In the case of startup entrepreneurs, the level of uncertainties in the proper direction of the business remains high. With the massive technological transformation, online/virtual businesses are rapidly getting embraced, some entrepreneurs opting to run their ventures both online and usual brick-mortar. Some have as well strengthened their physical businesses with little regard to the online presence. The decision to embrace virtual business or start a physical business is a step that fresh entrepreneurs are grappling with every day.

Besides making the ultimate choice for the direction of the business, it`s prudent to consider several critical factors surrounding the business idea that you might be about to execute. You must find that inner satisfaction from the venture, the business should meet the needs of the customers, a good business should be legal by all means. The highlighted factors play a massive role towards the success of a business whether brick &mortar or virtual in nature.

Taking a quick swipe at the current occurrences at the business arena, the forces of physical and virtual businesses continues to shape up. Business challenges, efficiency, market changes, cost-effectiveness, profitability, security, demographic limitations are some of the factors at the center stage of the forces. Business unsustainability has been a challenge for many SMEs with a larger number of them closing down every day throwing the owners out of the business or adjusting their business models. A keen observer will definitely identify that physical businesses make the larger percentage of the ventures increasingly becoming unsustainable. The few that have managed to survive have definitely increased their investment towards the online presence. Considering the current business industry, it `s wise to reassure every fresh entrepreneur grappling with the decision of going virtual or physical that lots of positivity and opportunities lie online considering the technological transformation.

It`s also important to note that not all can be purely operated online, the actual nature of some business will demand a physical presence in a given location and time as well as on regular basis. In a quick comparison with online business, the physical businesses are disadvantaged by extending their market base, audience and opportunities currently enjoyed with companies with the online presence. In this article, I will weigh into the discussion and provide my passionate opinion why startup entrepreneurs should currently embrace virtual ventures over the physical businesses.

Internet growth continues to provide massive opportunities and future of the business; internet users and usage is rapidly growing over time, it directly translates to consumers and customers whose number is increasing online. Majority of audiences are using smartphones, tablet, laptops, and desktops worldwide. These growths provide businesses with the opportunity of wider reach of customers beyond the physical boundaries, interact more with the customers and get instant feedbacks, fit into the customer’s needs of service efficiencies and needs such as e-commerce, mobile transactions with greater value to your business. Marketing strategies are shifting to online platforms with valuable returns and measurable insights of the market. Traditional marketing techniques are quickly getting overshadowed considering the fact that customers are predominantly internet users.

Better margins with minimum operational costs; Startup businesses must always look for ways of cost savings to boost the profitability. The online business model reduces start-up costs as the purchase of physical assets, utilities and expenses such as rent, furniture, fittings, travel costs etc. More attention is placed on creating valuable and relevant content with a massive outreach at a lower cost but a higher return on investments.

A virtual business provides freedom; online entrepreneurship is increasingly getting embraced by business owners and employees. Currently, employees are requesting employers to provide the option of telecommuting in order to boost their productivity. With the technological changes and cost-effectiveness of remote working, employers are adopting the new concept. As a startup entrepreneur, online business gives you the opportunity to operate and manage your business from any location and hire any talents, experts beyond the geographical limitations to the advantage of your company. The business operations aren’t limited 8 am to 5 pm as the case of many physical enterprises, there are 24hours free from any limitation to run the business. With limited employees and infrastructures to manage, the business owner gets the ample time to direct energy to the productivity of the business.

Wider market coverage; the more your business gets a bigger market base and meets the customer’s needs, the greater the business revenues. Online presence will ensure your start-up gets the global coverage to potential customers. Content marketing, social media marketing, and other digital marketing strategies are inexpensive to new businesses but have a greater marketing insight and return to new businesses than the traditional marketing techniques.

Current customer`s needs are centered around convenience, efficiency and quick responsiveness; Today`s customers want to limit physical movements to stores and offices for services and products, they want to make business transactions from the comfort of their homes, offices. It presents a massive opportunity for online businesses to satisfy and exceed the needs by guaranteeing convenience and quick responses to the customer’s needs every time.

For startup entrepreneurs, going online should be out of the question considering the internet transformation and market patterns. It`s viable for fresh businesses to strategically boost their online presence in order to cut down on operational costs, fight adverse competition from veterans by reaching to a wider market base and responding to consumers current needs.

How to keep up to business relevance in 2018

The business environment is always in constant change that pushes every entrepreneur to be on the watch out with an eagle eye to guarantee its survival, profitability, and relevance. Meeting customer`s needs and exceeding their expectations is always a center-stage in shaping the right business model to ensure productivity. Competition and technological advancement are proving to be some of the leading factors that are shaping up and shaping out much business. Time has truly changed and every business owner regardless of nature and size is thinking of how to improve profitability, growth, and development, create the value of the business as far as the society of the operation, engineering and re-engineering better business models among many other business needs.

Sustainability of businesses mostly SME`s have been in the spotlight over and over again. Every day we get to read newspaper headlines, television bulletins, business blogs pointing out a massive number of small businesses closing down, downsizing operations, reporting financial losses among many heartbreaking business stories. Harsh business environment engulfed with unfavorable government policies plus other regulations have been blamed for the predicaments. Although some of these challenges require external interventions, a greater chunk of the job must be done by entrepreneurs themselves to shape up their business and live up to the business revolutions.

In many cases, a good number of businesses have suffered stagnation. To some entrepreneurs not having the ambitions of growing big is a choice while others have consistently tried to grow broader but with little success. A section of these ventures continues to shrink its operations on their way to oblivion. An effort is truly required to give a ray of hope to the many businesses struggling with relevance and productivity. It`s out of the question that you can have a vibrant and successful company today and completely out of the industry tomorrow, it explains the blatant fact that what may work now may not work in the future. Entrepreneurs have to be agile, flexible and creatively manage the rapid changes in real time.

Constant creativity and innovation; Business leaders have to always stay awake and live true to the market shifts. Businesses extremely married to their products/services and business operations with little regard to the changing customer`s needs plus competition sets a better ground for extinctions. Business should always strive to involve creative/innovative personnel that believes in the company`s vision. Provision of a conducive environment that breeds the innovative culture that resonates throughout the company should be a priority. Business models are productivity tools that may be in check whenever a need arises, it goes long way in enhancing critical business aspects from the product/service, internal/external customers, technology, finances to marketing.

Consider delegation of duties and professionalism; As an entrepreneur, you can`t respond to all business needs and functions on your own. It`s viable to delegate other duties and management roles to more competent an professional personnel to handle some tasks, it helps achieves productivity in all business aspects more so areas where the business have been lacking the required skills to spike success. Assembling a competent team to manage daily functions and processes seamlessly even in the absence of business owner will be a move in the right direction.

Keep up with the trends with the potential of developing your business; It`s always important to understand your industry and aware of every factor that keeps influencing the business operations. Opening eye to trends having potential impact to your business such as technological advancement, culture, economics, competition, policies/regulations, customer taste, and preferences will place the company in better position to make adjustments and developments in time. Watching and responding to the industry trends should be part of business life to increase chances of business survival. It is important to note that, it`s of zero value to acquire information on the trends without proper tools or structure of integrating it into the business lifeline to achieving targeted results.

Shift ahead; always take some time to interrogate your business and question its relevance tomorrow. Plans and strategies should be developed to grab the competitive edge to always stay ahead of the competition. Understanding the customer needs/pains and working round the clock to develop products/services that satisfy the needs as well exceeding the expectations.

Stand positive when change knocks; resistance to changes is a challenge that many businesses deal with due to future uncertainties, unclear communication, delinking from the comfort zone. It is upon the business to professionally handle the change process, everyone needs to understand the need for change and involved in every step to promote togetherness in achieving the company`s vision.