Printable View
I am planning to open up a small business here in Alberta, mainly focusing as a specialty store containing products from my country, Philippines. I have heard a lot of using the Net - E-commerce to reach the global market.
Is this an effective way as an added marketing strategy for a small business owner like me?
Thanks for your inputs.
MikeM
In a word...Yes!
Using a webstore to grow your small business (especially on a global scale) is virtually mandatory. Your website and webstore will build the credibility and respect essential to making an impact.
-BEC
Short answer - Yes! It takes research and planning to find your target customers. You can't just throw up an ecommerce site and expect thousands of customers (at least it's very very rare). Also, it's pretty much an ongoing process of adjusting marketing strategies and waiting to see if they payoff. Good luck!
Sure :-)
But e-commerce is no allround-solution to get a bad business idea working great. If there is a market for your products, you can increase sales by e-commerce. Sounds simple, but some business owners which are in trouble with their businesses think they just need an online store to get rich over night...
My recommendation is to start with a small business website with an overview about your products and your phone number or a web form to fill in for getting in touch with you. This just needs some basic HTML knowledge and a formmailer CGI script.
If you see that your business develops, you can think of getting an online store - either managed by yourself or a hosted solution like http://www.kingcart.com (they have a great responsive customer service and support our affiliate management software, this is the reason I mention them here - there are hundreds of others as well).
Absolutely! Ecommerce has helped my small business reach thousands of customers in countries thousands of miles a way. There is no other way to do such a thing.