Smart Company ran an interesting response to Gerry Harvey's dismissive approach to online retailing:

 The fundamentals of running a successful business do not change when the main business presence is online. Without these basics of managing a business, success will prove beyond reach, whether online or offline.

In fact online retail; whether in conjunction with a brick-and-mortar operation or purely online; offers many advantages over a pure offline retail alternative. This is precisely because many of these fundamentals of a successful business are more easily addressed online.

Let's take two areas crucial to any business: marketing and customer service. Without the former you wouldn't have any customers and without the latter you wouldn't keep any.

Spreading the word about your offering and keeping the message relevant and fresh is more efficiently accomplished online.

For example, with marketing or promotional campaigns, doing it online you can:

• Modify its details like price, terms and conditions or any other aspect at any time very quickly,
• Run multiple campaigns at the same time without overloading the customer's attention using random serving,
• Communicate a campaign's offer directly to those interested in it using email, and
• Receive expressions of interest or orders directly any time of the day, any day of the week by adapting to the customer's schedule rather than expecting them to adapt to your shop opening hours.

After you've successfully acquired a new customer your after sale service could mean the difference between repeat sales and word of mouth promotion of your offering on one hand, and losing the customer entirely on the other hand. Using online you can provide your customers with an around-the-clock means of getting in touch with you using online forms which alert you instantly by email of the customer's query.

These are just only quick examples of how online can expand your existing business, or act as a successful business in its own right. If you need help applying these to your situation let us know, we love to help!