An e-commerce website offers enormous potential benefits to your business, whatever its size. The benefits include:

Access to a global market - the internet allows your business to access a huge market of potential customers worldwide.

Cutting out the middleman - you can sell directly to end-users.

A level playing field - if you are a small business, you can show yourself to be as professional and credible as your larger competitors.

24-hour business - with a website that accepts payments online, you are always open for business to customers even if your office is closed.

Greater customer satisfaction - an e-commerce website can be a powerful tool for building customer loyalty. A well-designed website puts the customer in charge of the relationship - they can buy, browse, ask for help or track the progress of their order when they want.

Reduced marketing costs - word of mouth can be incredibly powerful on the web through e-mail recommendations and search engine ratings. You can achieve a great deal through organic growth by treating customers well, keeping them informed about your activities and benchmarking yourself against competitors.

Better customer information - giving online customers passwords to your site saves them having to re-enter their details every time they shop. But it also gives you information about buying habits to refine your marketing, pricing and purchasing strategies.

Streamlined business processes - increasingly companies are integrating their business processes. Orders come in to your website, card details are processed, goods dispatched and stock re-ordered seamlessly, dramatically reducing the cost of each sale.