Questions

We have an established brick and mortar retail store. Part of the business has an e-commerce facing aspect that I feel has tons of potential, but I just can't seem to get any traction. The site is for selling wall art that we produce in house from vintage imagery. Much of it can only be found through us, and we know that people like our products from our in-store sales. I can't seem to get any sales online- even offering free item codes (for testing out our web-order process. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I should mention that after working on it for almost 5 years and spending a good amount of money, I'm hesitant to put much more time or money in a direction without knowing that it's really going to work. We don't have much of a budget. Help?

This is an interesting question and one that I was just discussing at the IBMAmplify conference last week which I attended as a VIP Futurist of Commerce.

There are a significant number of options you could consider, and to list them all here would be a disservice to you as implementing a strategy that will work needs to be catered to you and your needs specifically. I am a big proponent of niche categories, and looks like you have a good niche based on your offline sales as you mentioned.

You can look to offer your products through various marketplaces, as well as stepping up your social presence on various mediums. The right marketplaces and social areas are where you need to spend your time, not your money. You can also integrate these with your online store so that it automatically pushes content to them.

I do believe marketplaces and social may be a lower cost solution to getting things started, then once sales start to happen you can look to other avenues.

I normally do not solicit phone calls through the Q&A section, but believe that we need to talk further, as I have more questions, but also have some thoughts on some marketplace partners that would allow you to spend little to no money to further implement.

Let me know if you would like to discuss further.
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Branden Moskwa, B.ASBE, CAPM
Principle & Founder - nadimo.com
Twitter Handle: @bmoskwa
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Commerce Futurist - VIP & Influencer
Business Excellence Awards - Finalist
Best Business of the Year - Semi Finalist
Small Business Leader of the Year - Nominee


Answered 8 years ago

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