If you build it they will come…

Wrong. I meet so many people that labor under the belief that if they open a website that sells their wares that the orders will just start flooding in and they can retire and watch the checks roll in. Sorry. It’s not quite that easy. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t invest in eCommerce for your small business. It just means that in most cases you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

The problem isn’t you.
The problem isn’t your company.
The problem isn’t your product.

The problem is that no one will buy from you because no one can FIND YOU. What’s worse is that if your offering is truly unique, will people even know to be looking for you?

Would you open a store out on Rural Route 12 just past the pig farms and expect customers to find you?

There are two general solutions to this problem which I’ll explore in this article….creative online marketing and supplementing brick-and-mortar sales with eCommerce.

The Needle In the Haystack

I don’t care how unique you think your offering is. Chances are that there are 100s if not 1000s of other online merchants that are either selling the same thing you are or something similar enough that it might as well be the same thing. Don’t believe me? Try a Google search for some of you products and see how many hits you get.

Now that I’ve set the expectations at a reasonable level, what are some ways to overcome this?

1. Remarkable and unique product(s)
2. Persistent online marketing tactics - something I’ll cover soon…stay tuned
3. Blogging (and another reference - selling with your blog)
4. Search Engine Optimization
5. Online Advertising - something I’ll cover soon…watch this space

eCommerce as a Convenience 

Another method of leveraging eCommerce for small businesses is offering online ordering as a convenience for your existing customers. For example, let’s say that you own a small confectionary shop and you have a base of loyal customers. Offering them a way to purchase your wares online can be an avenue to success. But how does that help you? Aren’t you just trading a face-to-face transaction for an online one?

Yes, you are, but let’s think about it for a minute…

What are the advantages for your customer?

• They can order product outside of normal business hours. 
• They can save the gas money from coming in to buy (especially with gas the way it is right now). 
• They can research your product mix before coming in. 
• They can check for new offerings before coming in.

What are the advantages for you?

• You’re gathering vital contact information that you can store and add to your database for CRM (you are doing this right?). 
• Your customer base can grow beyond a geographic region, organically. That is, your existing customers can refer you to people they know far away by providing them the URL to your online presence. 
• Handling online orders is more efficient from an operations point-of-view…meaning that you can increase the overall number of transactions you can handle without increasing the size of your storefront or the size of your retail sales staff (though you still need the production/inventory and back-office capacity).

Takeaways

In short, eCommerce for most small business owners should be seen as a supplement to their primary business model as opposed to the only channel to market. Second, it takes a lot of work to be findable and stay that way.

What are some other ways that you have been able to find success going online with your small business?

Welcome back again!