Too Late Now!
October 21st, 2008. Posted by Kyle Aspinall
As the saying goes: ‘Hindsight is always 20/20’.
Now that I’ve seen the enviable online success so many Exceed clients are achieving, I’m kicking myself for not adding an online store to my retail business years ago.
Retail is behind me now and I certainly don’t miss the overheads, the staff dramas and roster nightmares, trying to keep ahead of my competitors, consumers spending ever reducing amounts, rent going up, supermarkets stocking more and more similar (but much cheaper) products, wholesalers passing on price increases with every order, dealing with consumers who think it’s their right to yell at me when I won’t agree to their unrealistic demands … (wow, I feel better already just writing all that down).
Don’t get me wrong, retail had its many rewards too, but what I am really annoyed about is the huge opportunity I missed by not having gone online.
If I’d known how cost-effective it was to have a professional eCommerce website created by an online supplier of Exceed’s calibre, I’d have cancelled my annual $10,000 Yellow Pages tiny display advert for (at least) one year, put my $5000 (even tinier) local directory ad on hold and put that money towards a professional website, SEO and PPC.
Taking the cost of just those two ads for one year would have got me a vastly higher return on investment by channelling that spend online.
To think I once considered opening another store!
I would have waved goodbye to well over a hundred thousand dollars in fit out costs alone before the doors were even open. Add rent and wages to that bill, with staff taking a minimum of around $30k each per year, and combine that with the fact that there are only so many consumers a physical store can attract … if I’d only known then what I know now, I’d have had an online store up and running ages ago. A professional, top-performing website that could target the entire nation, and all for considerably less than the cost of just one staff member.
So now the tables have turned. I’m an online consultant for Exceed and it’s me helping retailers realise what they’re missing out on. The potential is huge, don’t make the same mistake I did, grab your share today of the opportunity that online offers.