Making money with an e-commerce website can be a great way to supplement your income or even make a full-time living. According to the statistics, many people have taken a hobby or discovered a product they liked and then turned it into a successful e-commerce website.
Similarly, people who start blogging have been able to turn their passion into a profitable business through affiliate marketing.
What is the difference between e-commerce and affiliate websites when it comes to websites?
An e-commerce website is a website that sells products directly to customers. When website visitor comes across an affiliate site, they are directed to an e-commerce website (or membership site – something that does the selling). When you run an e-commerce website, you’re either selling your products or selling products that have been dropped shipped to you. Dropshipping is a business arrangement with a manufacturer or warehouse in which your orders are sent to the manufacturer or warehouse, and the product is then shipped to you.
Ultimately, the majority of e-commerce website owners are responsible to their customers. This is one of the reasons why many people decide not to run an e-commerce website. Although you can easily outsource customer service, the fact remains that if it’s your company, you’re ultimately responsible for the outcome.
Compared to an affiliate website, there are some disadvantages to having an e-commerce website.
1. If there are returns, complaints, or even lawsuits, you are almost certainly a party to them. So yes, affiliates could be named in a suit. Still, the affiliate’s relationship with the product or service vendor is much more distant from the relationship with the e-commerce website owner. As a result, your product may be at risk of being misrepresented by affiliates who sell it, and you may be held liable for any mistakes they make in promoting your product.
2. You must start from the ground up to establish a marketing presence. It is possible that your product is new or that it is not well-known in the market, and that it will take time to generate sales. You can, however, sell existing products if you agree with the manufacturer, wholesaler, or drop-shipping company that provides you with products that are already well-known in the marketplace.
3. You must keep track of inventory levels and ensure excellent customer service is provided. The responsibility for anything other than sending referrals via links and codes does not fall on your shoulders when you are an affiliate.
4. Generally speaking, being an affiliate result in lower start-up costs for you. You are not required to develop a product or service. Sure, you can drop-ship or create a digital product to sell that is inexpensive or free – but starting with an affiliate website typically costs less money than starting with an e-commerce site (depending on the type of e-commerce you go into).
Advantages of having an e-commerce website over having an affiliate website
There are several advantages to being an e-commerce website owner that you don’t get to take advantage of as an affiliate. The names of these are as follows:
1. You can determine whether or not the product will be available. Affiliate marketing puts you at the mercy of the products you promote, so be careful what you wish for. Almost every day, a website you’ve created to promote a specific product or service will need to be redesigned entirely because the product or service is no longer available. Even worse, if you make a website dedicated to a specific product or service, and that product or service is no longer available, your website will be rendered useless unless you can find something comparable to promote on your site.
2. When you run an e-commerce site, you keep 100% of the profits. So if you set the price and save 100% of the profits, this is a no-brainer (unless you have your affiliates who pay a percentage of the sales they refer to you).
3. You can make money by promoting vendors through affiliate marketing. To put it another way, you can create an affiliate programme and pay affiliate commissions to affiliates who promote your product or service. This is a significant advantage of operating an e-commerce website because you can obtain many links to your site and a substantial amount of non-fixed-cost advertising. In addition, because you only pay for advertising when a sale is made, it is not a fixed-cost item to purchase.
4. You have complete control over the customer service and product quality. Although this requires more effort, it can result in better word-of-mouth and lower refund rates. For example, if you’re an affiliate marketer, you can have the best pre-selling website in the world. Still, if the vendor provides poor customer service, it can harm the affiliate marketer’s sales in ways that the affiliate marketer cannot control. For example, if the number of returns or refunds for a particular product or service becomes excessive, the affiliate marketer may choose to stop promoting that product or service.
End of the day, when it comes to selling a product in high demand, operating an e-commerce website is probably more profitable. However, developing a successful outcome is not easy, and you may launch a few duds along the way – which can be costly or result in a significant waste of your time and resources.
I own and operate two e-commerce websites as well as several affiliate websites. I enjoy both, but affiliate marketing is my preferred earning money overrunning an e-commerce website. Customer service is not my favourite thing to do. I prefer writing, promoting, and doing SEO. This means that while I will continue to operate my e-commerce websites, I will devote more time to affiliate marketing efforts.
Following that, if affiliate marketing is something you’re interested in, look at these WordPress themes for affiliate marketing.
Alternatively, if you’re interested in e-commerce, you can use one of these e-commerce website templates to get your online store up and running quickly and easily.