From physical stores to online stores: Elvis has left the building!
Listen - to the sounds of doors closing, of cashiers ringing their last sale, not for the day, but for good. A sound we are getting familiar with due to the increasing move towards online stores of the once sucessful physical store.
More and more people are coming to terms with the rewards of having an ecommerce shop. By just reading the papers, you'd see a lot of retail giants closing shop and hopping the Internet bandwagon.
What could have prompted this move? Skeptics often say that online stores have more disadvantages than physical stores - just a mention of the word fraud sends merchants' heads' spinning with trepidation. But isn't getting held up in the middle of day scarier than fraud? Think about it for a moment - in fact, think about the following reasons why online stores are creating waves in the money making market.
- Location
Location can make or break a business. Better locations usually means better sales. A pet supply shop in the middle of rodeo drive can be a sight to behold, but along the rows of fashion houses? Your physical store could be better off somewhere else more appropriate. In addition, an online store can be cheaper to maintain than a physical store. Just how big should your physical store be to accommodate your business? And just how much are you going to get charged for every square feet of your store? Hundreds, even thousands depending on where you are located. An online store depends on the webhost and the Internet has thousands offering services at cutthroat prices.
- Market/Traffic
Your physical location can only cater to so much customers coming in and out of your store. Straight up, only those within proximity can buy from you - but this isn't the case for an online store. With free merchant accounts readily available, selling to an even bigger international market is now possible, and incredibly easy. The size of your market is proportional to the possibility of having better traffic.
- Store Architecture
A disorganized aisle, dust on counter tops, dirty floors - an eyesore for customers. Your physical store requires a lot of capital to build and maintain - an online store? Simple. Just choose from your merchant account provider a design template for your store, or have a web designer make one according to your specifications.
- Overhead expense
Admit it - it's much more expensive to have a physical store. The rent, the utility bills, the insurance, the excruciating city taxes you have to deal with - a physical store will take its toll on your wallet. And an online store? If you can't have a merchant account on your own, start with a free merchant account
Physical stores have its advantages. We still want to see in real time what we want to buy, we still want to see a person behind the cashier, we still want a physical office we can run to when something goes awry.
However, physical stores require a lot from merchants - if you're just starting, and would like to test the market, starting with an online store isn't as tedious. We've also seen how small merchants are able carve their names in the ecommerce market. Time is important and having an online stores affords merchants a lot of time in their hands; productive time to concentrate on much more worthwhile things - like practicing your favorite Elvis song for your daughter's wedding.