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:
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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’!

 

Last Modified : February 7th, 2008 Filed under : retail TAG(s) : ecommerce hosting solution, retail business, store owner, website Navigate : Previous post / Next post