I work at a coffee shop so I interact with a lot of different types of people everyday. We always go back and forth between how my schooling is going and what they are doing with their family (most of the customers have the classic 8-4 jobs). We would eventually go on talk about the career they are in and their company. As a business major these conversations always intrigue me because even though my schooling tells me there are certain types of business, this type of exposure makes be believe that literally anything can be a business.
For one customer, Sharon, in particular, she actually just got recently promoted at her job during the initial quarantine. I asked her how that was possible considering she worked in retail. Apparently, before the quarantine she randomly suggested that they put in some effort to set up and promote their website. From a marketing perspective, they now opened up another marketing channel to also be considered ecommerce. I was shocked that they are barely starting an ecommerce website so far into 2020, even though ecommerce has been booming for a while now thanks to Amazon.
Her new job is to put all their available products on the website with pictures and a description. Even with all the non-essential stores closing, she actually informed me that business is even better. Sharon tells me that her managers were just too lazy to set it up. They were apparently too focused on the brick-and-mortar. Now we do not know if this is due to the fact that with quarantine, people are shopping more online or the fact that is it more accessible to customers. Regardless, their shop would be benefitting from having and online presence.
I know there a lot of “traditional” business owners out there that are stuck in the pre-digital age who refuses to use anything with modern technology. It is okay to be scared, but their needs to come a point where you value your business and want it to succeed. If you do not want to do it, then hire someone else to do it. Although initially you will not see the benefit because it is just another person on your payroll, it is an investment. If handled correctly, your business will be able to reach the entire globe since the internet is accessible by a good percentage of the world, while your small shop in a small town can only be accessed physically, which limits the amount of customers that can be exposed to you.
My message to you out there is that you have to be adaptable to the current times if you want it stay relevant. It would only be selfish of you towards your business if you did not do what was best. Digital is king and will always be growing so go out there and build your ecommerce website!
Marketing Mind of Joshua 