Businesses that invest in their own e-commerce websites benefit from an increase in customer transactions and sales, according to entrepreneurs who participated in an Aug. 31 webinar organized by听GoDaddy, a domain registrar and web hosting company.听
, a healthy snack line, gets 43% of its sales from its website, with retail partners contributing an additional 12%. The brand launched its website in June 2018, several months after relying on Google Forms.听
鈥淲e wanted to carve out a place on the Internet, and then from there branch out to brick-and-mortar retail partners,鈥 said Christina T. Lagdameo, co-owner of Honest Junk. 鈥淥ur website is the biggest proponent for our sales. Everything falls around it. Once they [customers] get to the website, it鈥檚 a captured audience.鈥听
Social media鈥檚 primary role, Ms. Lagdameo added, is to drive customers to the business鈥檚 website.听听
Pearl Janine De Guzman, owner of marketing service company听,听compared听having a website to fishing in one鈥檚 own pond and relying on social media platforms to fishing in a pond that鈥檚 not yours.听
鈥淲hen that pond gets saturated, you鈥檒l need to find another one to fish in. Why not create your own?鈥 she asked. A website, she added, allows a business to nurture customer relationships through lead magnets 鈥 content given away in exchange for contact information 鈥斕such as e-mail newsletter signups.听
She advised small businesses that aren鈥檛 tech savvy to use a hosting platform that makes it easy to maintain the website from the backend.听听
Finding one need not be costly, said Jade Christian听Tamboon听of GoDaddy.听
鈥淧roduct-based businesses probably need a bit more of an investment because of the [digital] infrastructure required, but any business owner can benefit from having a dot com,鈥 he said. 鈥淎 domain can cost less than P1,000 a year.鈥听
GoDaddy鈥檚 senior security analyst Ben Martin, meanwhile, said security should be a priority from the get-go: 鈥淢ost don鈥檛 think about hacking until they get hacked, and then the sky falls and they panic.听听
While GoDaddy takes care of the server security, businesses are responsible for website security and reducing security threats such as phishing, malware, and credit card theft.听
Compromised websites are blacklisted by antivirus companies and penalized by payment processing firms. Businesses that own them also suffer from听a听damaged听reputation.听
鈥淐lients won鈥檛 trust your website anymore, and that鈥檚 what it comes down to at the end of the day,鈥 Mr. Martin said.听
According to听, Filipino entrepreneurs are looking to learn more about digital technologies that can help drive sales for their businesses. Forty three percent (43%) of survey respondents expressed interest in having a website, while 38% said they are interested in e-commerce portals. 鈥斕Patricia B. Mirasol
