Why Aren't You Selling Online?
December 23, 2008
You would not believe how often I run into this:
Clients want to optimize their site for the products that they sell in their brick and mortar store. But... they don’t sell them online for whatever reason.
Why not?
In this day and age, there should be no reason why your website can’t directly sell any product or service to visitors. People want to buy it, and they want to buy it now. They don’t want to be re-routed to a manufacturer’s website promoting the awesomeness of a product they can’t get unless they go to an authorized retailer. A quick search on Amazon, Buy.com, or any number of discount E-tailers will often give the customers who used your website to research a product a place to purchase it. That’s extra work for them, and lost revenue for you. Most consumers who purchase products online would rather purchase from a trusted source over a discount source that they have not purchased from previously.
The costs of selling online are minimal, especially when compared with the costs of selling in a physical location. Yes, these costs can still be high in some cases - if you require large warehouses and distribution networks. But most small to mid-sized online E-tailers don't, so chances are good that you won't either.
In evaluating any business to start an online marketing campaign, sometimes we need to come up with new goals to increase your profits. Selling online is the most obvious if you aren’t doing it already.
