Anyone who runs an eCommerce business imagines finding success and living the dream. 

However, many new business owners fail to factor into their plan how to scale up as they gain new customers. Fortunately, cloud computing offers opportunities to grow your online store and protect your digital property easily.

Global electronic retail sales make up about 19.7% of all global retail. Statista predicts the eCommerce market share will hit 24% by 2026. When the pandemic hit in 2020, people got a taste of online shopping, sending numbers higher than ever before. Consumers soon realized the convenience of ordering digitally. They aren’t likely to return quickly to old methods now that the height of the crisis is past.

Cloud computing gives you the ability to scale your company up as natural growth occurs. There are numerous key ways cloud computing benefits your eCommerce business.

6 Fantastic Ways Cloud Computing Can Benefit Your Business

1. Lower IT costs

One of the most significant benefits of putting your store in the cloud is you’ll work with a third party that already has IT experts on staff. You won’t need to keep a separate IT staff, or you can reduce the number of employees in the department. You’ll spend less money on benefits and even on small things such as water usage or paying for more office space. 

The expense of hiring a highly trained network expert to run your online store adds up. In the world of IT, you often get what you pay for. The most skilled people come with a hefty salary. Add up the cost of providing benefits, days off, and other perks, and you can see how you’d save money by utilizing a third party.

Most third-party cloud computing providers also hire only the most highly trained individuals. Using a cloud provider gives you access to experts you might need help to afford. Pooling your resources with other small businesses via a provider gives you access to the top employees in the industry without the hefty price tag of hiring one full-time. 

You can take advantage of cloud cost optimization opportunities as many providers offer tools and services to help you optimize your cloud usage and reduce unnecessary expenses.

Additionally, incorporating cloud finops strategies can significantly enhance cost optimization efforts. Recognizing FinOps principles aids businesses in navigating cloud spending more effectively, aligning financial accountability with cloud investments. This approach ensures not only scalability and efficiency in utilizing cloud resources but also promotes a culture of cost-awareness across teams.

2. Manage your supply chain

Big online retailers such as Amazon and Walmart have changed consumer expectations. Customers demand delivery faster and more efficiently than at any time in the past. If you want to keep up, you must figure out how to work efficiently.

Putting your inventory in the cloud allows you to see what you have in stock, order before you run out, and even track packages to make sure they arrive on time. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) lets your company grow without missing a beat. With the best ERP software in Canada, you can separate budgets for different departments, automate restocking, and schedule outbound shipments with the touch of a button.

Other perks include integrating with your suppliers’ systems. You can see if they are getting low on an item you sell frequently and place an order before they run out. You could automate refilling low inventory and tracking payments, and numerous other tasks.

3. Protect data

Most cloud providers have excellent security measures in place. They serve multiple customers, so they can invest in the most up-to-date, top-notch protections available. The last thing you want is for a hacker to compromise your customers’ data.

With all the added online shopping and people taking their information digitally, hackers realized the increased opportunities for cyberattacks. Companies are also now more responsible than ever before for keeping customer details safe. 

For example, if you do business with anyone in the European Union, you may fall under the General Data Protection Regulation Act and be subject to fines if you don’t take steps to secure data. 

Not only will your clients’ information be safer, but you’ll also protect your proprietary data from those who might steal it and use it against you. You also won’t lose everything you have during a natural disaster or a major computer crash.

4. Integrate with your website

Cloud computing integrates seamlessly with your eCommerce website. What shows as in-stock online syncs with your cloud database. Creating and keeping an eCommerce website updated requires untold hours. Anything you can do to automate the process gives you more time for marketing and other tasks.

When all your systems work together, you also gain a decisive edge. For example, if you get a new product, you can run a report showing which customers bought similar products in the past and send out a note with a unique link for a discount to just those clients.

You’ll find keeping up with the supply chain is also easier when you have a better handle on inventory. Automate ordering of popular products when a stock falls below a certain point so you never miss out on a sale because you are out of a favorite item. 

5. Improve collaboration

A big part of gaining an edge over your competitors is figuring out how to be more creative—getting your brand name out there and keeping a consistent and high-quality appearance matters.

You’re competing with eCommerce stores worldwide, so being able to have a second set of eyes on an ad campaign or bringing in a graphic designer to tweak your site’s typography matters. With cloud computing, you can create areas where you store work and different people work on it.

No longer do you have to wait for someone to email you changes. You simply sign into the cloud and pull up the latest version of the work. You can then make decisions or changes on-the-fly. Since everything gets updated in real-time, others working see what you’ve adjusted.

You’ll also get changes and new products to market faster than ever before because of less waiting around. People can add their thoughts in minutes rather than hours or days. Even in an office setting, you might wish to keep collaboration digital to speed up the process and keep notes accessible for future reference. 

6. Speed up page load times

How quickly your site loads has a direct impact on your bounce rates. Moneyzine recently reported the average website loading speed is 10.3 seconds, yet Google has stated before that pages should load in two seconds to keep customers happy. The mobile experience is even worse, with many sites taking 15.3 seconds to load.

Make your website as fast as possible, and people will be more likely to stay on the site and eventually convert into customers. Cloud-based computing offers things much quicker than traditional hosts and isn’t dependent on a small machine in a faraway place.

Placing your website on a powerful cloud server gives you a better base for fast load times. You’ll also gain reliability you might not have with traditional servers. Ideally, the servers will also be more reliable, so people won’t be kicked out of their shopping cart or lose a page in the middle of a transaction. 

Conclusion

People are adjusting the way they shop. More and more people turn to online methods to get customized options and save money. Think about the average shopper of today and compare their needs with those of your buyer personas. 

Mobile apps may respond best to a cloud-based storage system, and customer data can be accessible to anyone in the marketing department, even those working remotely. 

Implementing a cloud-based system for everything from inventory control to your website takes your business to the next level. You’ll be able to scale up easier, collaborate with others and know your information is secure in a remote location.