E-commerce requires more skills to be successful than just running a normal concrete & mortar shop. Selling skills, online and offline marketing, accounting, graphic and web design, customer services, SEO, and logistic platform...those are some of the main skills needed to run a serious and successful website. Internet Shopping is still a relatively new, it is booming, and the required skills are still not taught in our Universities.
I always wonder why no-Ecommerce degrees are proposed by Universities. In the UK the share of Ecommerce will be around 10% of the overall retail business by 2012 (in terms of Sale).
An internet Website is by nature invisible. A concrete and mortar shop, especially if the shop location is carefully chosen will attract visitors naturally. No need for extensive marketing campaigns. A website compete globally against every other shops in the country or in the world but needs to get known first. Ranking improvement, Search Engine Optimisation, aggressive marketing: what is not spent in the monthly rental of a normal shop is at least spent to get known...
I have recently co-funded an eCommerce website that attracts already many visitors. It is fascinating to track the statistics everyday and look at the sale figures. In this blog I will post a lot about eCommerce and share what I have learnt, what has worked for my website, what I believe is key to be a successful website and increase visibility.
I took a quick first read through this and was quite impressed with what you have pulled together. I'm looking forward to reading more about this topic from your blog.
Great stuff!
Posted by: art painting | July 28, 2010 at 06:44 AM