According to data from Statista Research, global retail e-commerce sales will exceed 4.8 trillion U.S. dollars by 2021. For a growing number of those e-commerce businesses, third-party platforms are being used to increase brand reach and accelerate sales growth. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs are using these third-party platforms without a clear understanding of the impact these platforms have on a small business’ finances.
Exorbitant Platform Fees
Third-party platforms can charge a merchant on average 20–40% of a sale’s value for their services. If a merchant doesn’t want to absorb that cost, the fee is usually built into the price the e-commerce merchant charges their end user customers. This increased cost can have a direct impact on sales, since it is difficult to build a large audience for a brand when the cost of their products/services is higher than merchants not using a third-party platform.
E-commerce merchants understand that running a business is a difficult venture. Between getting a product/service to a wide audience to achieve product/market fit and saving money on business costs, building a thriving e-commerce business is not for the faint of heart. E-commerce merchants must have a good marketing budget in place, but they also need to be conscious of the costs required to maintain solid profit margins. With third-party platforms requiring e-commerce merchants to pay an average of 20–40% for each sale as a fee for using their platform, small business owners can have a tough time keeping their up-and-coming venture afloat.
Luckily for today’s small business owners and e-commerce entrepreneurs, Serve is here to offer a better option. Instead of paying a larger percentage of each sale to a third-party platform, Serve charges business owners a very low 5% fee. This allows business owners to keep their profit margins high and put the extra money back into their business.
Customer Acquisition
Another problem with using many of today’s popular third-party platforms is that business owners often rely on the platform for customer acquisition. When a third-party platform acts as a middleman between the consumer and the business, it can be extremely difficult to build a solid relationship with customers.
Serve lets businesses connect directly with their customers. Businesses are able to benefit by being on the Serve platform both as a means of building profitable relationships with their target customers and by using the Serve platform to fulfill orders.
Order Fulfillment Awesomeness
Thanks to the Serve Platform and our Global Workforce, businesses no longer have to hire delivery staff to fulfill their orders. They don’t have to sign up to multiple platforms in an effort to reach a larger audience. Through Serve, on-demand service providers are ready, willing, and able to fulfill orders. With Serve, all orders are put on the platform so service providers can accept them. This makes it easier for business owners to concentrate on growing their companies by using just one platform instead of many.
If this is the year you go all-in on building a profitable business, we invite you to check out the power of the Serve Platform for yourself. Review our Serve white paper and peruse our Serve blog to understand the multiple benefits of using Serve to grow your small business. You will be impressed at the potential of Serve to be a significant driver of opportunity for your company!
