Selling Online? You Better Start...

Listeners of our daily business radio show have heard me talk about the need for "brick & mortar" stores to open up their online sales business.  It's nothing new.  We've been banging that drum for over a decade. At one time getting into the compact tractorbusiness...simply to prove to agriculture that online sales would work.  It did.  While that was years ago...new data suggests that if you are notselling online you may lose market share because the future will be very different.

Nielsen Research recently conducted a study of online salesand offers some projections.  The short story is that from 2004 to 2008 online sales rose by 25 - 30 percent.  And, while online shopping, today, is fairly modest, with only 7% of total retail sales being done on the web, the future looks very different.

In the report Nielsen Research says there are compelling reasons to believe this growth will continue and even accelerate to a 200% growthbetween now and 2012.  Why?  New technology now makes it easier and more simple to buy online.  New social media technology makes it easier to communicate and share information with existing and potential customers.  New technology allows for seamless transactions and lower fees.

Bottom line my friends...if you are NOT selling online today...you will tomorrow.  This is not one of those issues you can judge based on your buying habits.  While youmay shun online purchasing here's a bet your children or grand-children don't.  That is the future and if you are not ready for it, expect to lose market share to others who are now building the necessary tools to sell their products and services online.

Thanks for reading...and if we can help...

Michael P. Libbie, Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications