Retailers Are Becoming E-tailers
E-tailers are simply sellers who utilize the internet to sell their goods/services to their customers, rather than real shops. There are 2 kinds of e-tailer, one classification whereby e-commerce is the only operation undertaken by the company; examples of such organisations include E-Bay, Amazon, and Dell.
The other type includes e-commerce as part of their total marketing technique, whilst still having a physical, `bricks and mortar` tore, where clients can still enter and purchase the good/service. Examples of this kind of e-tailer are Dixons, Tesco and WH Smith.
Those business who operate purely as ecommerce stores are able to attain higher profit margins, due to their established and operational costs being much lower than that of a conventional store. They do not need to pay any lease on a building– whilst they still frequently need to pay for their Webhosting, the expense is much less, there are no added rates for such overheads as water, electricity, gas, etc.
Labour expenses are considerably less, where someone might realistically run a site, bundle items and address queries by means of e-mail; this is not likely to be the case where a full-time shop is included.
On top of these cost differences, an online shop can be viewed/accessed 24 hr a day, 7 days a week, from only one location. Buyers in China, for example, can buy goods at the touch of a button from a UK based e-tailer, however would struggle to make the 10,000 mile big salami to go to the real store!
It is becoming necessary for sellers to have at least some kind of web based gain access to, whether this is a site where goods/services can really be bought, or purely educational, so consumers can preview items and collect info on the store in general (for instance, their nearby seller or company phone number/contact details) prior to they go to.
E-tailers must realize that it is not enough to merely have a visually pleasing web site, which has lots of item info together with great photos and in-depth product reviews; this is all well and good, but ineffective without adequate knowledge of Online search engine Marketing (SEM) and Seo (SEO) in order to target the needed traffic towards the website.
Even something as basic as a suitable domain name can have a big distinction on the variety of people visiting your website– they must be kept small and succinct, ideally without a hyphen, as people tend to forget these and this could result in them being sent out directly to your rival! Word of mouth advertising is priceless, so by using an address that sounds precisely how it is spelt can work marvels for spreading positive details.
SEO and SEM practices change regularly, and there is no warranty that any particular techniques will work. The very best method to make sure an excellent ranking on the online search engine is to utilize an `professional` like Digital Cornerstone to work full-time at increasing the opportunities of traffic being directed to your website. Whilst lots of web designers may declare to be proficient at SEO, there a relatively few personnel presently in the UK with any genuine in depth knowledge of the subject, so it is worthwhile spending the additional time/money on ensuring your company is well represented within the search engine rankings, and chasing after that very important # 1 spot.