Moving Main Street Online: the Transition from Brick and Mortar to ...

Main street businesses have been taking an interesting turn lately, and moving their shops online. Sure, they?ll keep the store open, but many places now have online stores that are bigger and more specialized than their small shops. And many of them are succeeding with this business model too, but not all of them. Online sales account for 7.9% of all retail sales in the U.S., and online revenue streams reportedly grew 11.9% according to the 2011 Internet Retailer. Here are a few tips in case you?re a small to medium sized business owner considering the possibility of online retailing.

1. Control the Product Selection: In this economy you have to make sure that if you spend money on it, you can make money on it. This goes for all areas of business, but is especially true if you are trying to expand online. Consider your business plan before you jump on the bandwagon. Determine what your brick and mortar store sells well, and why. You need to specialize the products both for quality and in order to lessen the number of direct competitors you have. Local specialty businesses can use their knowledge and their products to create pleasing and informative content for their online store.
2. Price it Carefully: There are two problems to consider here: minimum advertised price (MAP), and shipping costs.
   1. MAP is something that most who aren?t online retailers haven?t heard of, but it is important. It represents the lowest possible price to advertise your goods at. You can sell for less, but if you choose online advertising, you better make sure you know the MAP. MAP is good for smaller retailers, even if it seems collusive, because it ensures that the big stores can only compete with you on non-price issues, like quality and service.
   2. Also consider the problem of shipping. It costs you money, but it better not cost too much or you?ll price yourself out. On the other hand, if you calculate too low, you?ll have to pay the difference out of your own pocket. The key is to watch what your shipping supplies cost and determine the most efficient way to get orders out; from packing, to carrying, to the carrier you use, efficiency is key.
3. Make the online experience as good as the in store experience: You?ve had your brick and mortar store for years, and people keep coming back. You make the experience of coming in the store more pleasant than the big box stores, and that?s what sets you apart. Online businesses are no different. One of the key drivers of repeat business in eCommerce is customer service. From having a customer service representative available for phone or chat conversations, to a user friendly and eye pleasing website, and most importantly, getting the order right.
4. Choose a Web host: So you want to start an online business, well you?re going to need a website, and a web host. There are a lot out there, so you?ll need to choose carefully. A lot of people jump on the first host they find, but I don?t recommend that. Shop around. Talk to them about bandwidth, the back-up server capability, the number of crashes similar websites with that host have had. Also, does the host offer a deal on services to help you build the website, or create email accounts to your site (those are VERY important, when was the last time you emailed a business with an ?@yahoo.com? tag?). You wouldn?t lease the very first storefront you found, would you? You need to shop around for your web host and your domain name.
5. Get a secure card processor: It is so important to have good customer service, but its even more important to make sure your customers feel safe, and that they don?t have to leave your system to buy a product. Rather than paying PayPal or rerouting them through some other processor, Alpha Card Services uses a secure Gateway to process a transaction. Without a safe feeling at checkout, you?ll never make a sale. But a secure checkout process is another thing that you can deal with just like you deal with it in your brick and mortar shop: Alpha Card Services.

Think carefully before you go to an online business plan. But when you do, with a little hard work and some help from us, we can build an experience as good as the one in your store!

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This entry was posted in Marketing and tagged advertising, brick and mortar store, marketing, mobile, technology by alphacardservices. Bookmark the permalink.

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