Businesses in Mauritius have been suffering from the sluggish Mauritian economy for nearly a decade and it does not seem like this is going to change overnight. As most entrepreneurs try to find new ways of growing their businesses, traditional shops have one solution that is almost certain to bring growth quickly: sell online.

E-commerce has developped into a multi-billion sector worldwide over the past 15 years but it’s only recently that established Mauritian businesses have started venturing into the online selling game.

361 was the first major retail outlet to sell online on their website 361.mu and the brand has known double-digit growth rates thanks to the pioneering spirit of the management and an efficient digital strategy. (Full disclosure: Eruption is the digital agency powering their website and their digital marketing efforts)

But why choose to sell online? The advantages of e-commerce are numerous, the more obvious ones being:

• It allows you to do business without geographical limitations.
• Eliminate travel time and cost for your customers
• Potential clients can locate products quicker – an electronic catalogue offers convenient ways to display products and provides abundant information
• Proper search-engine optimisation (SEO) means the website will be referenced by search engines like Google => new customers
• An e-shop remains open all the time and has lower operating costs

Combining “brick and mortar“ and online business models – some use the term “click-and-mortar” – gives the best of both worlds to businesses. If you have a traditional shop and you are not selling online, it’s about time for you to seriously look into e-commerce.

It will give you a competitive edge and a differentiation factor agains your competitors who are not selling online. An online store will always attract more visitors than a traditional outlet => more clients => more profitable business!