Local Retailers Should Have Websites, E-Commerce or Not, to Compete with Chains

I am working on a presentation with a co-worker about local small businesses getting online.  I ran across a great statistic from Enterprenuer Magazine:

A websites’ role in small business: 53% of small businesses with websites say their sites are primarily to provide company credibility; 49% use it to generate sales; 38% brand awareness; 33% generate leads; 29% it provides a critical building block for developing the products and services they sell.  –Interland, September 2005

The particular day we were working on our outline, I brought up a recent experience that I plan on using in the presentation.  I moved two months ago, and with being so busy at Solid Cactus, I just haven’t purchased a new washer and dryer- one of the only perks at my former pad.  After two freaky trips to the laundromat, I plotted to finally get new appliances.  My first step?  Research prices!

I try so hard when I do the brick and mortar thing, to shop local.  Here in the Wilkes-Barre area we have a few local appliance stores.  Their hours often don’t coincide with my work hours for browsing- I found this out one day when I ventured to one at 7:02 p.m.  I tried to peek into the window to see price tags, but no luck.  I returned home and did a web search for both places I wanted to check out- no website!!  Not even an informational site to post hours.

Even if these appliance places did not want to sell online, they should have a website for the other above reasons Internetland’s stats suggested. I could have seen the sales they were having, the brands they sell, perhaps in-store pricing, maybe hours of operation.  Had I been compelled by their offerings, I could have made arrangements to go to the local store to make my purchase.

The bottom line is- I was LOOKING for information at my local stores and couldn’t find anything.  From not being online, they missed out on a sale.  I still wanted to make the purchase in person- I just did not have the time to comparison shop all over the Greater Wilkes-Barre Area.

What did I do?  I comparison shopped online at all the chain stores with locations in my area and then visited in person the place with the best price/service.  I felt guilty not buying from the local guy, but it came down to the ease of research and the convenience factor.

Many, many people- probably millions- like to check out a store’s website before heading out.  Think about how many times you were deciding where to go for lunch or dinner and you pulled up the website to check out the menu before going?

Informational sites, and of course, e-commerce sites can be a profitable complement to a brick and mortar store.  And hey, if these local guys jump on board the bandwagon, they could very well get my next major purchase- a television.  Yep.  Still need one of those, too.