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MISSION STATEMENT:
A letter to all aspiring entrepreneurs . . . |
| You have read many reports that the Internet boom is over. In the last few years, many online retailers had shut down because venture capitalists pulled the plug on financing such ventures. If that is the case, why should you bother about taking your small business online? It is just not worth it, right? |
MOM-AND-POP CYBERSHOPS THRIVE IN CYBERSPACE . . . |
Wrong! Many mom-and-pop cybershops are enjoying increasing sales, an expanded customer base or a profit despite the burst of the dotcom bubble. In a report published on MSNBC.com, Teri Goldberg reported:
"Like non-virtual mom and pops around the country, these small cyber shops often started out at home or in a small retail space - and they chose to stay put even as their sales increased. In addition, these mom-and-pop shop owners have kept overhead costs low and operated with few, if any, salaried staff. Often their Web sites are designed and/or maintained by the founder. And they expanded - slowly - only when funds were available."
There is nothing wrong with the e-commerce concept, which was often unfairly cited as the cause for the failure of dot.com ventures in the past few years. If implemented with the right e-business strategies, the e-commerce concept is fundamentally sound and viable as a mainstream business activity. Recent statistics have supported this observation. |
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SHOPPERS ARE SPENDING MORE MONEY ONLINE . . . |
A look at Amazon.com, a good proxy for business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce, revealed a healthy growth in sales turnovers. Net sales for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2003 rose 33.8 percent over the previous year to $5,263.7 millions. Most importantly, Amazon recorded its first annual net income of $35.3 million.
The above figures correlate well with an eSpending report released on January 5, 2004 by Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen/NetRatings. According to the report, online holiday shopping during the eight weeks in November and December of 2003 jumped more than 35 percent year-on-year from $13.7 billion to $18.5 billion. Shoppers surveyed in the eSpending report also noted that 19.7 percent of their holiday shopping budget was spent online, up from 16.3 percent during the 2002 holiday season.
"As more people turn to the Internet to do their holiday shopping, they are finding the online shopping experience to be a positive one." said Lori Iventosch-James, director of e-commerce research, Harris Interactive. "During the 2003 holiday season, online retailers have gone the extra mile to meet customer expectations and that's reflected in the higher level of satisfaction, the relatively small number of serious problems reported and the increase in online spending as a percentage of total holiday shopping." |
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E-COMMERCE IS A VIABLE CONCEPT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES . . . |
There is nothing to stop small businesses from venturing into e-commerce successfully. In Teri Goldberg's report on thriving small businesses in cyberspace, most of the small shop owners attributed their successes to the following factors:
Keep operating costs and overheads low.
Operate with few, if any, salaried staff and build/maintain own Web site.
Forgo advertising or advertise online to target seasoned cybershoppers.
Sell a narrow range of products to a narrow, but deep, market segment.
Use old-fashioned customer service to win over customers and attend to their needs. |
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AWARD-WINNING BOOK AND FREE E-STORE TO HELP YOU SUCCEED . . . |
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