Not every small business has or needs an ecommerce component. But just because you don’t sell products online doesn’t mean you can’t list your inventory online. Why would you do that? Well, more people turn to the Internet everyday to find locally available products. And if you’re not popping up in those search results, you’re missing out on potential revenue from new customers. A company called Milo offers a service for small businesses that acts as a bridge between offline retailers and online shoppers. Read this article from our colleagues at Ecommerce-Guide, and find out if it makes sense for you to use the Internet to drive local foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store.
In the ecommerce world, the numbers look great — online retail sales are up and expected to reach $248.7 billion by 2014. Reports indicate consumers are more comfortable with shopping online and retailers are investing more in their online operations.
When put in perspective of the retail industry as a whole, according to this TechCrunch report, a study released by Forrester Research indicates that Web sales account for only 8 percent of total retail sales. Forrester also estimates that “Web-influenced” offline (in-store) sales accounted for 42 percent of total retail sales in the preceding year and that percentage will grow to 53 percent by 2014.
Read the complete article: Milo Bridges Gap between Online Shoppers and Local Retail
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