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Traditional
independent high street retailers may be forgiven for cursing the internet as statistics continue to show more and more shoppers
buying online.
According to the latest IMRG Capgemini
e-Retail Sales Index, UK shoppers spent 19 per cent more over the internet in the first half of 2011 than they did at the
same time last year despite the current state of the economy with economic growth in the UK virtually flat-lining at 0.2 per
cent.
The total spent online in the first half of
2011 was £31.5 billion.
Furthermore, figures
show that by 2014, 53 per cent of total retail sales including in traditional high street shops will be affected by the internet
as consumers are increasingly using the Internet to research products before buying them in shops or online. (Source: Forrester,
March 2010).
So what does this mean for small independent
retailers?
It means that your business needs to have
a credible online presence if you are to remain competitive and target potential customers effectively.
With more of your customers researching products you sell before they buy
in your shop, make sure they are researching them on your website, not a competitors! If you don't have a website, then
they will definitely be on a competitors' site instead.
The
other key factor here is targeting spend that is increasingly being lost to the High Street from online selling.
Again, if you haven't got a website, you won't have
a chance of competiting for a share of that £60 billion+ it's forecast UK consumers will spend online in 2011.
An e-commerce website has many advantages. Instead of just selling
to a few thousand people who may pass your physical shop every week, you can now sell to a potential audience of millions
of people, locally, in the UK or even worldwide if you wish.
Furthermore,
online, your shop never closes and, when you make a sale, the money's in the bank before you even ship the goods - a win
win situation if ever there was one!
So how much does
this cost?
Well the good news is a lot less than
advertising in your local paper all year round!
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This is an original article by Peter Jeal, Director
of Great-Value-Websites.Com and may be reproduced in its entirety. Peter
Jeal was an account director for a consultancy based in the south of England where
he handled accounts for a number of major clients in the hospitality
and telecoms sectors including BT. He currently runs his own PR and Marketing Consultancy, The
Peter Ingram Partnership with his wife, Bobbie and is a Director of Great-Value-Websites.Com Limited.
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In fact, you can have a professionally
designed 10-page website from great-value-websites.com from just £190.oo
all in, less than the cost of one medium sized advert in your local paper.
That includes not only the bespoke design of your site to your own corporate look, but domain name registration, an
easy-to-use content management system giving you total control over your website
updates, first year's hosting and up to 5 email accounts! Like-for-like,
nobody but nobody can beat us on price.
For a 10
page e-commerce site, the cost is just £399.oo - less than the cost
of just one half-page ad in your local paper. That includes not only the bespoke
design of your site to your own corporate look, but domain name registration, shopping cart and secure online
payments facility, an easy-to-use content management system giving you
total control over your website updates including your shopping
cart, first year's hosting and up
to 5 email accounts!
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What's more, we'll even upload the first 50 products
for you free of charge! Like-for-like, nobody but nobody can beat us on
price.
What's the alternative?
Well, you could
be like King Canute and hope that the tide will turn away from the internet, but that's as likely as the horse
and cart making a big comeback in the transport world!
So if you
are one of those traditional retailers who thinks that the internet is
not for them, think again!
The evidence very much suggests otherwise.
For more
information please contact Great-Value-Websites.com on 01671 403875.
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