Trade has been going on for millennia. The world runs on the industrious buying and selling of people all over the planet.
However, the trading world has been hit by a new and innovative invention: e-commerce. Simply put, e-commerce refers to the buying and selling of goods (or services) over the internet, and more and more companies are re-orientating their businesses to embrace the new kid on the block.
So, what can e-commerce do for you?
Embracing e-commerce allows you to break away from all the restrictions and problems that a physical shop has to deal with. There are no opening or closing hours, the amount of products you want to display is almost infinite, and customers are no longer prevented from browsing your stores by virtue of where they live.
E-commerce also provides business owners with the chance to indulge in some marketing and self-promotion, especially harnessed in tandem with social media, and also to gain some insightful market research, by tracking which products are the most viewed, bought and so on.
In addition to that, it simply makes your business more efficient, cutting down on many of the costs associated with running a physical shop – such as staff. You will also be able to eliminate wastage and excess produce by only creating what there is demand for.
However, customers can be, by their nature, a decidedly cautious bunch. Even when engaging with an honourable and reputable online business, they may need or want certain internet security software measures in place before parting with their hard-earned cash.
This is where rapid SSL comes in.
SSL (secure sockets layer) is a protocol which enables the encryption of internet data. This is a detailed and mathematical process, involving the coding and decoding of information, like a very long and complex password.
This password is then used to protect the payment details and so on of any online customer, so that entering their credit card number on your e-commerce store doesn’t represent a security risk.
The use of SSL merely reflects the growing maturity of the e-commerce industry, and as the competition starts to utilise it, so should you.
