A Decade of Deterrents Defeated (Part 2)

ed. note: Part 1 of “The Promise of Ecommerce - A Decade of Deterrents” has been published as a guest article on a variey of websites across the internet. If you would like a copy sent to you via email, please leave a comment below and I will send you a copy right away.)

In Part 1 of this article we discussed how 80% of small business retail contacts were now investigating the opportunities of an ecommerce hosting solution. This is due to an exploration of declining store profit, supporting online spending research, and social proof.

This article, Part 2, explores the change in the technology that drives an effective eccomerce hosting solution, dispelling the myth that ownership of a full-featured website has to be either expensive or time intensive.

Factor 2. Available Budget: The Money vs. Time Factor

Until recent advances in technology and server-side software (and making those tools available to the masses) setting up shop online was restricted to big business. The dream of owning an ecommerce capable website for small business was nothing more than that - a dream.

In recent years (and even unscrupulous sales persons today), website consultants and developers have been known to quote $8,000-$30,000 to small retail shops hoping to offer just a sample of their products to online shoppers. These figures contain a massive mark-up to the developer as well as being completely out of reach to most small and medium sized business owners.

The alternative was more costly in the long run – to learn to ‘do it yourself’.

Books promise to make online business simple and load the shelves of your local Chapters.

Countless tutorials on ecommerce exist online.

Do It Yourself ecommerce from the ground up is not a reasonable solution. This is a task too large for retailers and entrepreneurs already tied to daily business activities. Small business owners who work within the business have minimal time for training, development, or innovation. A busy store owner has little time to even absorb this new way of doing business - much less undertake the tasks involved.

Changing the Speed, Cost, and Ease of Ecommerce Enabled Web Sites

In the past, making sense of ecommerce has been an exercise in frustration. There was software to learn, services to subscribe to, new terminology to grasp - all while running a retail business, serving customers, managing advertising campaigns and doing bookwork.

Considering that a full-service, ecommerce website is similar to an online franchise of an existing store, is it any wonder the average retailer can’t manage on their own?

Whether the investment is financial or sweat equity, there simply hasn’t been enough of either to turn the dream of an ecommerce website into a reality for most small businesses.

Thanks to recent technological changes however, the time and money ‘bar’ has been dramatically altered. Faster, cheaper, easier.

In my own small community, a 1500 square foot shop launched a full service website - complete with photos and descriptions of 400 products with an automated checkout process. Due to a systematic and organized action plan this new website was launched, seemingly overnight, during the shop’s busiest time of the year - during the Christmas holiday rush.

Furthermore, the retailer, a self-confessed computer newbie, was collecting money and shipping product within the week from her full featured website.

High costs and huge learning curves – two deterrents to retailers for the past decade – are finally coming to an end.

Conclusion and Further Investigation into an Ecommerce Hosting Solution

If you would like to see the multi-page, 400 product, ecommerce-enabled website created in just a few days as well as receive a copy of the action plan the store owner followed, please show your interest by leaving your name and email address in the form below.

Name:
Email:

Please note that this is presented by special arrangement for a limited time only. By keeping the link as “invitation only”, visitor statistics to the showcase site are neither skewed nor tainted. This allows us to reliably monitor ‘hits’ from actual target market visitors vs. retailers looking for an effective ecommerce hosting solution.

Also, 123webs.com is 100% anti-spam. You will need to confirm your request for imformation, before the information can be transmitted. Your email address will not be shared or compromised by any means as a result of your request.

We’ll see you soon, on the ‘inside’!

A recent report by Nielsen (Center for Media Research), states that forty-nine percent (49%) of consumers in the United States are reducing their overall household and recreational spending to compensate for the rising cost of gas. Similar studies are surfacing for Canadian households and spending as well.

People may be reworking their budgets and habits, but ecommerce spending continues to rise 20% annually. These two facts may explain why your retail store is seeing a decrease in walk-in traffic while making a strong case for offering your own products or services for sale online and becoming a successful e-tailer.

The article further reports that 70% of consumers are combining shopping trips and errands, 41% are eating out less, and 39% are spending more time at home.

“Our research shows a jump in consumers shopping on the Internet as a way to deal with high gas prices…a wake-up call for manufacturers and retailers alike to step up their ‘direct-to-consumer’ efforts to utilize the Internet to communicate directly with consumers in 2008…”

Now more than ever consumers are looking to the Internet as a convenient, economical alternative to using fuel. Shouldn’t they be finding your business when they’re looking for products to buy online from the comfort of their home?

According to a recent research study by The Nielsen Company, more than 85% of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase. That’s a 40% increase over the past two years. (This falls directly in line with other research companys’ findings - 20% increase annually.) Read the rest…

One of the services my clients use and are thrilled with is the online payment processor available through the small business website solution I promote and work within.

For years I promoted PayPal, even though their fees were high, but when I discovered an online payment system that was easy to work with and had low fees I jumped in to investigate.

The thing about PayPal is that it is one of the most trusted and recognized online payment networks for both shipable and digital products. On the other hand, having your own merchant account (and not filtering your customers through a third party) gives your business credibility beyond belief! Read the rest…

You have some great products available for sale but you’re limited to drive by, word of mouth, or random walk in traffic.

You’ve heard about the online shopping craze - now that everyone seems to be ‘over’ the credit card theft scare and credit card companies are more helpful about this issue - but you don’t have a clue, or time, to set up a website that accepts orders for your products.

That’s where we come in. Saving you time and money - at start up and into the future.

How do we do it? I’ll show you…

Here’s How this Story About Home Decor Stores Started

A few years back a friend of mine and I started making products for craft and home decor sales and found a huge interest in our community for country decorating items.

I was more focused on art and business, she had all the talent and interest in home decor so we stayed friends, but persued our own interests in business.

She decided to turn her love of decor into a local shop (probably a lot like yours) and has done very well over the past few years - even though we live in a tourist town and the winter months are relatively quiet here.

Her regular, seasonal customers return every year, but they are always asking her to put more of her merchandise online so they can shop from home. Read the rest…

I love to tell the story of a local shop owner in my community.

A home decor and gift retail store, specializing in primitive and country decor.

The brick and mortar store is owned by two very smart women - a mother/daughter duo who share and work well off each other’s talents. One has a sharp business mind and manages most of the bookwork, while the other has the creative “what’s hot right now” touch.

Neither one knows much about the internet, online business, internet marketing, website hosting or any of the other geek and technical jargon that is so prevalent on business websites today (should you choose to go looking).

They have heard plenty, however, through their association with me and my relentless spewing of online business research and statistics…

Let’s face facts though.

They don’t want to know all that technical jargon. They don’t want to learn new terminology and software programs. Read the rest…