Online Selling in the Credit Crunch
With all the talk about the credit crunch, house repossessions and household-name companies going under, you could be forgiven for thinking all businesses are in grave danger, that no one has money to spend, that at the very least business owners are battening down the hatches to weather the storm.
The story, however, like all stories, is not that simple, and certainly the economic situation presents opportunities as well as challenges.
For a start, we’ve seen growing evidence of people who, fed up with years of running the rat race only to have the rug pulled from under their feet, are now striking out on their own- and for those needing to fund a new venture, interest rates have never been lower. Of course, any serious new business needs a web presence, which in turn means that many people starting out will consider an ecommerce solution.
Ecommerce Solutions
Ecommerce has been around for a while now, but it continues to be an attractive proposition because of the relative lack of overhead for businesses, certainly compared with the cost of renting premises and engaging in the traditional retail experience (especially in these days of poor performance across the retail sector). Any business should think in terms of what makes it as easy as possible for their potential clients to purchase from them, and more and more people are purchasing online these days, preferring to buy what they want when they want, from the comfort of their home, giving themselves time to compare products and making a considered judgement. It certainly makes for a better experience than battling through crowds of shoppers (usually on one of your few days off a week) and staggering around with shopping bags.
Testing the Market with a Standard Site
Other businesses, with perhaps less to spend or a more cautious perspective on their market, may find it better (at least initially) to test their market with a standard informational site rather than a full-blown ecommerce solution, and offer the ability within that site for customers to make payments via Paypal. For an untested market this can be a good ploy, as the site will typically cost much less, and the client has the opportunity to do a certain amount of marketing of their product or service and see how many sales they generate through the site. Granted, the volume of sales is unlikely to match that of a full ecommerce solution coupled with a large marketing and SEO project, but for those with a limited budget and a marketplace that requires some initial testing, this can be an ideal way forward in the short to medium term.
Common sense, clarity and confidence are essential to riding the difficult conditions in the market, and selling online has stood up relatively well to these current testing times. Certainly it can provide a useful way of withstanding difficult market conditions, and it gives businesses a new shop window and an alternative outlet which can turn out to be very profitable.
