Entrepreneurial expats in Spain embrace e-commerce

There’s a new slant on becoming an expat in Spain, with e-commerce the latest fad with entrepreneurs.

E-commerce is now establishing itself as yet another way to take advantage of Spain’s low cost of living, friendly environment and mostly spectacular climate. The industry is attracting increasing numbers of tech-savvy expats whose CVs don’t fit into the norm but who’ve a strong instinct for entrepreneurship. Over the past decade, buying online has become the easiest and most convenient way to shop whilst also saving money, as online stores are invariably cheaper, especially for luxury items. Most individual entrepreneurs choose niche markets, as they can’t compete price-wise with the massive online sites retailing household goods, high-street style fashions and suchlike, with E-commerce especially attractive for those into design and collectors’ items.

Basing an e-commerce site out of Spain is sensible decision, especially as Brexit is likely to play havoc with those selling internationally from their websites. Other advantages of e-commerce include access to massive new overseas markets, 24/7 sales, and a far less expensive set-up than a local shop, allowing better prices to be offered to your online customers. The two major cloud-based platforms for e-commerce entrepreneurs are BigCommerce and Shopify Plus, with the former able to be accessed in150 countries worldwide and the latter serving 175 countries.

BigCommerce offers bespoke advantages, but its website themes are expensive and its incremental fees are also on the high side. The Shopify Plus package’s reputation depends on its finer points, such as increased scalability, with its fast responsiveness of average web pages a key factor in client engagement and click-through rates. For newcomers to the field, customisation only requires basic tech know-how, making upgrades far easier as well as website owner-controlled. There’s a wide choice of themes, and the set-up is comparatively straightforward. Both platforms offer flexible pricing packages, making it easier for those on low budgets to get going, but Shopify seems to be the best bet for newcomers to this sector.