When is an Instagram or Facebook account sufficient for a business, and when is an online store essential? Let's figure it out.

✨ Assortment and quantity of goods

First, you need to consider what exactly you're selling and in what quantities. Handicraft sellers with fewer than 10-15 items in their inventory likely won't need an online store with complex functionality.

The opposite situation is when you have hundreds of products in stock from several brands at once: different sizes, colors, materials.

Social media, unlike a website, hardly gives customers the opportunity to filter products by price and other characteristics, compare them with others, and add several sets to the shopping cart at once.

✨ Search traffic

These days, almost everyone with a smartphone searches for information online. "Ok, Google" solves many problems. And if you don't have a website, search traffic will miss your business.

Without a website, you limit the sources your customers can use to find you, limiting them to social media alone. This means you're losing potential customers.

✨ Risk of loss of personal data

Are there any guarantees that you won't lose personal data and messages from clients if your social media account is blocked?

Technically, you don't own your account; they belong to Facebook and Instagram. The website is your personal property, as is all the information about the company and your clients stored there. There's no risk of losing personal data.

✨ Marketing automation

As a rule, everything on the website is automated: a feedback form, an online chat where requests are received and processed by a chatbot, and a CRM system.

You can place an order, select a delivery service, and pay in just a few clicks. It's convenient, saves a lot of time, and builds customer trust.

Conclusion: If you have a small selection of inexpensive products, social media is the perfect way to start selling online.

If your products are expensive and plentiful, you'll need to present them beautifully and easily to attract customers, and an online store is the perfect solution for this.