• Online Sales! - There is no doubt that selling your products through your online store is a good thing. An e-commerce website gives you an additional outlet through which you can sell your products. The Internet allows you to greatly expand your store's reach from your local customer base to hundreds of millions of potential customers across the globe. With some good product, a well-thought out site, and a moderate amount of promotional work, you can increase your sales through your online venue.
• Window Shopping - Online sales contribute much more to your business than just to the bottom line. Your online store is also an excellent promotional tool that you can use to promote your 'bricks & mortar' store and its products to your local customer base. Remember, your online store is open 24/7. Your local customers will be able to visit your online store at their convenience, and in the comfort of their own home. They will appreciate not having to get in their car to drive down to your store to view your latest arrivals, and they can more easily see what's available at your store after hours. By displaying your product information online, you can help your customers make decisions on what to purchase. This also helps them to feel like they've made more efficient use of their time, since they only have to swing by your store to pickup the products they've decided to purchase, instead of spending time at your store making the decision. You also take advantage of the urge to 'impulse buy' by allowing the customer to purchase products immediately online if they see something they like.
• Store Information - Do you have a listing in your local phone book's yellow pages? Does that listing grab the attention of your potential customers? Are you able to update it on the fly? Or, is it interactive? Not likely. Your Earthstore, however, is all of this and more. You can customize it to your needs, and you can make changes easily and immediately.
• Hey, It's Cheap! - Probably the best news here is, all of the above can be accomplished for a minimum investment of money. You can easily spend more on a dinner and movie for two than on your monthly service for a complete e-commerce website. An interactive, always available, and dynamic marketing tool - you simply can't beat it!

Questions? Comments? Please contact us »

1. Background on your e-commerce effort to date
   • Who, what, when, where & how - Make note of the efforts you've made up to this point in e-commerce.
   • What has worked for you so far? What hasn't?
2. E-commerce Competitive/Benchmark Analysis
   • Who is your key online competitor (ie, who would you most like to emulate)?
   • List the key reasons for this competitor's e-commerce marketing advantage.
3. Situation Analysis
   • In your opinion, what are the problems you've experienced in your e-commerce venture? What has caused them?
   • Where do your e-commerce opportunities lie? How can you take advantage of these opportunities?
4. Marketing Plan
   • Formulate strategies (the big picture) to neutralize problems and capitalize on your opportunities.
   • Formulate tactics (specific actions) to make your strategies happen.
   • Develop a realistic marketing schedule with specific benchmarks that will allow you to stay on schedule and track your progress.
   • Determine your marketing budget for the rest of the year, and make sure you have the necessary funds to execute your marketing plan.
5. The "Living Document" Validation Process
   • Test your tactics, and revise your plan as needed.
   • Analyze what works and why, and do more of same.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Ken Allison at Earthstores »

I have found earthstores.com to be an exceptional provider. The customer service is unparalleled. I would recommend earthstores.com to anyone starting up a web-store.
- Abe Bender
Bender Consulting Services

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