Why you don't need to be technical to start an Ecommerce business in the Caribbean

On May 14th, 2020, an analysis by Comparisun stated that Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos was in line to become the world's first trillionaire by 2026 if his wealth kept growing. Jeff Bezos is currently the richest man on earth, with a net worth of over US$145 billion.

How did he get here? Amazon began in 1994 as little more than a simple online bookstore. From those humble beginnings, Amazon has become the largest online eCommerce retailer and one of the world's most influential and recognizable brands.

Amazon is the most valuable internet retailer in the world. It is the most valuable retailer period, having surpassed Wal-Mart back in 2015. It is also the third most valuable company in the world, topped only by Apple and Microsoft.

Bezos realized early on that eCommerce was a powerful business model and capitalized on it swiftly. Now the cat is out of the bag, and businesses worldwide recognize that eCommerce has revolutionized retail.

In fact, online shopping is one of the most popular activities, with online sales projected to increase from US$1.3 trillion in 2014 to US$4.5 trillion in 2021 (Statista, 2019). And the impact of COVID-19 has only served to boost the impact of eCommerce.

Ecommerce penetration rates, which are currently at 15%, are expected to increase to 25% by 2025 (MarketWatch, 2020).

Furthermore, experts predict that the impact of the coronavirus will not just be a short-term boost to eCommerce but one that's here to stay. This is because people expect ease of use. In addition to the convenience and benefits of contactless payments. Both of which are likely to cause a permanent behavioural shift towards digital purchases.

But What Exactly Is Ecommerce?

Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling goods or services using the internet and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.

Given that the consumer dynamic globally is shifting towards online retail, there are increasing benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who get into eCommerce.

Your business doesn't have to be a retail giant to capitalize on eCommerce.

"When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That's a minimal life....Everything around you was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again."- Steve Jobs, founder of Apple.

And believe it or not, you have more in common with the late billionaire than you may think – Jobs never wrote any code for Apple. He did not know technology. He was not an engineer or software developer – he was more renowned for his business savvy and strategic, creative mindset. He was merely a man with a vision, so if you have an idea of how your eCommerce venture will be, you're already halfway there!

"He did not know technology. He'd never designed anything as a hardware engineer, and he didn't know software. He wanted to be important, and the important people are always the business people. So that's what he wanted to do." – Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple on Steve Jobs.

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