According to a U.S. Online Retail Forecast from Forrester Research, online shoppers will spend $327 billion in 2016, a 45 percent increase from 2012. This incredible leap in online shopping is driving any new startup or remaining businesses not yet selling online to consider selling all or part of their inventories online to consumers, other businesses and more customers.

This comes at a time when retailers worldwide are in Chicago for this week's Internet Retailing and Conference Exhibition. At this point in the Internet cycle, selling online should be part of any business plan. Companies that do so will join an already large population of global online sellers.

While thousands of sellers are expected at the industry gathering in Chicago June 4-7, no definitive number exists on the total number of online retailers selling worldwide. However, Internet Retailer magazine editor Don Davis estimated last fall that there are about 25 million small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) selling online.

Online shopping works well for business-to-consumer transactions as well as business to business commerce. Benefits to businesses include opportunities to adjust pricing, create daily promotions and specials, offer deals to premium customers and more. For consumers, shopping through eCommerce helps to save time and money from driving to stores, gives greater variety and allows price shopping comparison.

Better Shopping Sites

Because of improved web offerings, mobile compatibility and better products, businesses are helping to fuel today's growth of eCommerce sales, notes the Forrester report. Online electronics retailers, costume and novelty sellers, and specialty clothing retailers like Macys.com, all do a good job of providing items online for sale. And as more businesses add or move sales channels online to increase awareness (and, of course, profits), consumer expectations continue to get upgraded regularly when it comes to their e-shopping experience.

Using the Human Touch

Consumer expectations continue to evolve online for more product transparency and social connectivity from sellers. With more businesses jumping into the crowded e-marketplace, what ways can small businesses compete with larger competitors and major players selling a large variety of products and services?

To help, here are four things small businesses can consider when joining the online marketplace:

1. Differentiate Your Offering — It’s tough to compete with major brick-and-click retailers with big budgets and well-known brand names. Many experts believe it would make more sense find an underserved, niche market to offer exclusive products in creative ways.

When coming up with potential specialty products and categories to serve, consider these findings from Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide, which ranks e-retailing businesses by 2012 web sales, while exploring a decade of trends across industries:

• The apparel and apparel accessories categories represents some of the fastest-growing brands, as ranked by Internet Retailer.
• One of the fastest-growing brands is an online outlet that sells electronic cigarettes and bills itself as America's top electronic cigarette retailer.
• Many sites sell commodities like cheap laptops, but opportunity lies in harder-to-find products like fish aquariums or collectible action figures.

2. Research and Pick a Marketplace — There are several benefits to selling products in large and established online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay. For example, selling through Amazon to its nearly 85 million unique monthly visitors, creates a potential boost to customer acquisition, visibility through product recommendations and, most importantly, sales.

While there are some drawbacks to selling through large online marketplaces, including sales fees and restrictions or communicating with customers, many retailers find online marketplaces good venues to unload products of all varieties for discounted prices.

3. Build a Good Website — Awesome eCommerce sites are a first step to selling more online. Sure, you can use larger online marketplaces, but having a great site for customers is always the right thing for businesses. A 2013 study by global management consulting firm Accenture revealed that companies that give customers a great shopping experience online at its site or via a mobile app will win loyalty and drive even more sales.

A small business website that is both search- and mobile-friendly, along with a seamless shopping experience through an all-in-one shopping cart tool, helps the search for products. There several free and paid services for small businesses to use to help small businesses develop a search-friendly website, including Google Webmaster Tools, Raven Tools and Sheer SEO. To build a robust and customized shopping cart tool, check the web for resources like BigCommerce and Volusion.

Shipping is a big consideration. Ship products from the shopping cart, with UPS WorldShip and FedEx. Both offer free tools for small business. Paid-for third-party options also exist for small businesses to offer discounts while managing shipping and customer relations.

4. Get Social and Offer Incentives — Many retailers now use social platforms to boost interest for products and increase sales at its site. Social media also offers a platform to manage customer service inquiries and run contests to attract attention. Today, if you're not on social media platforms, it's absolutely time to start.

Several paid-for third-party providers and apps offer options to build and manage social media contests and promotions, such as North Social, Strutte and WildFire. These services will also help to follow any and all Facebook guidelines and Twitter policies needed to run a social media contest.

Selling products and services online takes a great deal of time, consideration and strategic thinking. Leveraging unique products for under-served audiences, finding the right marketplace, having a solid website and extending the reach of communications and promotions through social media can help small businesses enter and succeed in eCommerce.

Author Bio
Murray Lunn is a freelance writer specializing in content marketing for online businesses; his work includes business blogging, product development, and brand development.