“The poll conducted in late February by OTX and Decipher, Inc. reveals that only 19% of those surveyed ban the use of the Internet in bed. 41% check email as soon as they wake up. And a whopping 87% feel it's fine to go online before they’ve even had their first cup of coffee.” (Heather Cabot, Yahoo! Web Life Editor)

Online Retailing – How to be Successful

By Leodora Darlington

What’s all the fuss about? Many ask the question “How and why has the internet become so important?” however, it seems more practical to accept that it is now a huge and essential tool for the greatest part of the western world. “The poll conducted in late February by OTX and Decipher, Inc. reveals that only 19% of those surveyed ban the use of the Internet in bed. 41% check email as soon as they wake up. And a whopping 87% feel it's fine to go online before they’ve even had their first cup of coffee.” (Heather Cabot, Yahoo! Web Life Editor)

Online retailing matters because the web is something that is so vast and provides the opportunity for almost anyone to access the products you are selling and buy them. It is important for businesses to be considering their options, in this case, in order to optimise their money-making potential. Take a look at the chart below:

(sourced from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=256)

Looking at the trend, we can see that as winter hit, retail sales rapidly declined, the lowest points on the graph, coming in the winter periods; people are less eager to leave their houses, preferring to stay in the warm, and this is a good example of when online retailing would be particularly beneficial for a business, as people take to the computers to shop, rather than brave the cold.

(sourced from http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/internetstats/)

Above, we can see that increasingly, in all weather conditions, consumers are turning to the internet to do their shopping and that this is impacting the amount of shopping taking place on the high street. Why should a business ignore the benefits of setting up a website and allow their competitors to steal their customers – it’s simple, they shouldn’t. To get things started, an easy, free way to generate commercial interest would be to set up a blog (on Blogspot.com), a Twitter account or to create a Facebook page; you can invite people to view, follow, or join, and they in turn can invite friends and eventually, depending on how well you publicise, a good number of people will know about your business and be interested in it who had not heard of it before. To help with publicity, you could acquire an advert on Facebook, which means that any Facebook user will be able to see a link to your page on the side of their screen. With well over 250 million Facebook users, this could potentially be incredibly profitable for a business – however it is not free (see Facebook for more details).

Eventually, a business may want a more complex website, which enables the transaction of goods between themselves and the customer, in which case they should look to find their own domain name, ie “www.the-springs-in-fashion.co.uk”. For a fuller and more intricate description on the specifics see http://www.ehow.com/how_4529681_creating-new-retail-website.html for more information.

Here’s a great checklist by Sitemakers on successful online retailing:

• Make it easy to buy (3 clicks)

• Offer rapid navigation

• Use consistent design – build brand

• Use good copywriting

• Focus on benefits rather than features

• Avoid clutter on the pages

• Use good clear photos

• Update content regularly

• Use human communications

• Provide good service and aftercare

• Include real customer testimonials

• Offer clear terms and guarantees

• Professional support from real experts

If you would like more tips on how to set up a successful retail website, following this link is highly recommended: http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Essentials-of-Starting-and-Operating-a-Successful-Online-Retail-Business---Part-III&id=680605