Full-time workers setting up online retail stores

[latin_sydney]

great statements here...

statements i say to clients:

the internet takes more time then bricks and mortar retail
no ranking is guaranteed....... EVER
a website that is not updated will DIE
blog short blog often
if you are not going to blog then don't have a blog
if you are not going to facebook then ..........
twitter most times for SMB's is for twits
can you survive 12 months without internet income?

tim

 

[Shane]

bottom line is people want to buy online BUT if they know the shop is in their local town they REALLY want to buy online, it gives them security of purchase.

NOTE: regional towns, but i do think it would work in cities

i'm about to work on a melbourne CBD website to prove this method as well.

tim

I think there is definitely something in this.

My company converts online leads from our home state (Qld) at a rate almost double that of leads from the other states, which all have quite similar rates.

This is despite 99% of our clients only having contact with us via phone and email, and the fact that we are selling a service, not a product.

So despite there being no real benefit to them dealing with a local company, the numbers show that our clients still choose to.

We've actually toyed with the idea of setting up a Sydney or Melbourne office to see how it affects the conversion rates for NSW and Vic.

I may have gone a bit off track, but I do agree with you Tim.

 

[johno69]

We've actually toyed with the idea of setting up a Sydney or Melbourne office to see how it affects the conversion rates for NSW and Vic.

You can get Skype numbers for each state now and run multiple instances of Skype at the same time. You can also get a business address for not much per month too if that helps the local conversions.

 

[Shane]

You can get Skype numbers for each state now and run multiple instances of Skype at the same time. You can also get a business address for not much per month too if that helps the local conversions.

We use a 1800 number, so the phone numbers shouldn't be an issue.

Virtual office addresses have been suggested in the past, but I feel like they're a little misleading. I don't want a client to call up and say 'hey can I drop into your Pitt St office to run through some paperwork this afternoon?'

 

[James]

I have one client who works 4 days a week, they use to also run a 7 day a week (shop) and also 24/7 online store. They have since decided to make the move to running the online store 24/7 and close down the off line store. They have also set up in house parties to sell their "items". they found that in the end inner CBD store prices and profit margins were too high. And the bulk of $$$ profit is been made by the parties and online store, Overheads are far lower.

 

[James]

We use a 1800 number, so the phone numbers shouldn't be an issue.

Virtual office addresses have been suggested in the past, but I feel like they're a little misleading. I don't want a client to call up and say 'hey can I drop into your Pitt St office to run through some paperwork this afternoon?'

Agree that people actually want you to come to a physical location near them.

Especially Medium - Larger business, I notice from the clients I work with the ones which are larger still want Bi-Weekly meetings at their office.

Yet some smaller clients do not want meetings they want just to have a skype call for example.

 

[petermeadit]

I have a client who is online only. However they do have a factory and sometimes operational meetings are held there.

They also rely on distributors retailing their products in stores across the country, so the product can be purchased off the self.

The product has a online presence which is both for sales but also brand strengthening and they don't compete on price with their distributors, but rather the site can be referenced as the authority site.

Seems like a practical way of going virtual, and it is working pretty well.

 

[findtim]

Agree that people actually want you to come to a physical location near them.

Especially Medium - Larger business, I notice from the clients I work with the ones which are larger still want Bi-Weekly meetings at their office.

Yet some smaller clients do not want meetings they want just to have a skype call for example.

agree... kinda... I feel it just gets down to what you tell them your service is, I mostly have SMB's and I use to go see them but @ 7 years ago I stopped doing that and lost @ 30% of my clients because they felt I no longer valued them, but all future clients didn't have that expectation as I told them I wouldn't come see them.

I only have 3 what I would call large clients, and they are cool with email and phone, occasionally they want face to face, maybe once a year and they fly me to wherever they want me at their expense.

also when I do my own trips I try and "bundle" a few meetings in as showing your face for some reason does help.

but i'm now talking about my service, not a product so my original point about regional bricks and mortar TRUST stands

tim