Another one bites the dust and just like the many other brick and mortar retailers in the US, well-renowned toy store, Toys ‘R’ Us, has recently filed for bankruptcy. The reason is the same as the others – debt and the unrelenting efforts of online retail giants like Amazon. (Source: Bloomberg News)
With the world now revolving around technology, having an online presence is not just a good thing to have. IT IS CRUCIAL. With online retailers like Amazon, they did not stop with just a mere online presence. It took them years of continued unrelenting efforts to bring them to where they are now.
Applying this to the Philippine scenario, what then can be learned? While we are not yet at the point where we do all kinds of shopping online, one thing is for sure – WE ARE GETTING THERE. In fact, we have already begun. So for retail owners, the best time to go online is now.
Running an ecommerce store has several advantages. The cost of maintaining a website versus maintaining a brick and mortar store is substantially lower. Overhead costs are at a minimum. You just need to pay for the website maintenance costs, which will not even equate to 50% of the monthly rent of your store. You can also ship nationwide, with the many choices of local couriers in the country. Now, even those in the far flung areas of the Philippines can have access to your products.
However, having a website is not enough. You’re online, but you’re not visible. It’s like sticking your business card on a large billboard on the highway, hoping somebody will take notice of your business information. Nobody will notice it’s there. Or, it’s like getting all dressed and made up and just eating dinner at home. Nobody will see you. That’s why, online marketing efforts are of utmost importance once an ecommerce store is built.
Depending on your goal, various marketing efforts can be done in your ecommerce store. There’s social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization, and a lot more. All these efforts will make your ecommerce store visible and be easily found by your customers.
Having a website and putting in online marketing efforts go hand in hand. One cannot survive without the other. Perhaps if Toys R Us, Payless, and other retail giants had a vision of putting themselves online way before, they wouldn’t have bitten the dust and fallen into bankruptcy.
Act now before it’s too late.
For building an eCommerce site from ground up and jump starting your online marketing campaign, get in touch with us. Let’s turn your vision into reality.
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