Main Street Matters By Michelle Owens - Executive Director, Tybee Island Development Authority/Main Street
Online Sales: Blessing or Curse for Local Shops?
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | SEPT 2020
Online selling allows a business to earn passive income 24/7/365.
During hurricane season, businesses could continue earning revenue
even after its owners have boarded up the windows and headed for drier
ground.
Getting started can be daunting, so here are four important considerations
for businesses making the foray into online sales.
1. What’s Your Product? Figure out what you can sell online. If online
sales haven’t been a part of your primary business model, that’s ok. Start
by putting your bestsellers online. If you think your business isn’t suitable
for online sales, think again. Any business can offer an online product,
even if it’s just an e-gift card. Some restaurants have started selling
online cooking classes, logo aprons, and specialty food products.
2. Do you need an App for That? About 72 percent of all online sales
are now made with a mobile device. It’s great to have a website that can
process sales, but the money is better spent on technology that will make
it easy for customers to purchase with smart phones and tablets.
3. What’s Your Selling Platform? There are lots of options for an online
shop. Some businesses prefer to sell through a third party service like
etsy, eBay and Amazon. Others prefer to build out online stores with
e-commerce sites like Shopify and Square. There are also services that
will print and ship items like t-shirts and mugs on demand. The best one
depends on your specific business needs.
4. What If You Need Help? If the world of e-commerce is new to you,
don’t try to navigate it alone. Free assistance is available through local
small business centers. The Georgia SBDC offers free webinars on
various topics, including e-commerce basics. Sign up for these trainings
at https://www.georgiasbdc.org/training/.
During times of upheaval and uncertainty, consumers want to support
their favorite businesses, and the businesses need that support. By
having products available online, it benefits everyone.
This pandemic has turned me into an accidental money launderer and
online shopping addict. I’ve discovered that when ordering groceries and
other household goods online, it’s so easy to slip in a new pair of yoga
pants or my trillionth set of watercolor paints and make it look like I
spent the money on necessities.
That way, when my hubs, the family budget keeper, asks, “What was
this $300 charge to acme-corporation.com? I can casually say, “Oh that
was toilet paper and stuff.”
I happen to know for a fact that I’m not the only pandemic-induced
online shopaholic padding the weekly grocery bill. Facebook memes are
circulating about this very topic, so I know it’s a thing.
Now more than ever, consumers are spending their money online. Even
laggards on the technology adoption curve have cast aside suspicions,
plugged in their credit card numbers and hit the “buy now” button.
This is crucial intel if you’re a small business. Every small business
should be asking whether or not they’re maximizing online sales
channels.
Why? Because according to Forbes Magazine, just over 306 million
Americans have been affected by stay-at-home orders due to the
pandemic – roughly 95 percent of the U.S. population. This is driving
a level of online shopping urgency equivalent to Cyber Monday, when
retailers offer extreme markdowns to kick off holiday shopping.
Digital Commerce 360, which tracks online sales trends, reported
recently that online sales in the U.S. increased 76 percent between June
2019 and June 2020. While these sales increases have slowed somewhat
with widespread business re-openings, it’s clear that high levels of
online shopping are here to stay. In this time of pandemic, nothing is
more comforting than clicking that “buy now” button and knowing you
didn’t have to leave your sanitized sanctum to shop.
While online shopping trends might seem like a curse for physical retail
establishments, it’s really a blessing. For a seaside city like ours, where
business can be interrupted by everything from hurricane evacuations,
to off-season slow-downs, to traffic accidents, e-commerce can be
especially beneficial.
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