Doing Retail Right Tip #8 From Bill & Lou: Creating & Maintaining a Virtual Store

Furniture World News Desk on 12/26/2012

“The internet: Where men are men, women are men and children are FBI agents.” - Unknown




Retail is no longer just a physical experience; it is also a virtual one. To stay in business today, brick-and-mortar stores need a symbiotic relationship with their electronic counterparts.

In 1998, Amazon went online with 200,000 titles. At the close of 2002, they had sales of $3.9 Billion and were the world’s largest volume book seller.

If your business still doesn’t have a website put on your shoes right now and run, not walk, out the door to find a talented web-designer. Get busy! You have no time to waste.

If you feel like you have a good web-presence, ask your friends and associates to give it the “blink test”. Can your viewers understand what you are offering and what you are asking them to do in less than five seconds? In order to pass the blink-test you need to keep things simple and clear. If it takes longer, shoppers are gone and looking at more search results.

Remember:
You have only a few seconds to capture  a user when they land on your page.

About The Authors: Lou Kief & Bill Walls live in Guadalajara, Mexico after a forty year career helping retailers create successful stores. They share their home with Katrina,a huge, not very lady-like, Neapolitan Mastiff, three Mexi-cats; Diego, Frida & Trotsky, and Rocco, a pushy Amazon Parrot.


 

 Recommendations:

“After building and remodeling over 3 acres of retail space with Lou Kief and Bill Walls I heartily recommend their professionalism, expertise, integrity and creativity! I would invite anyone looking to improve sales performance or their store’s professional appearance to read their book; “Doing Retail Right!” -George Moore, COO, Wilcox Furniture, Corpus Christie, Texas

“You have given RETAIL a BREATH! I am overwhelmed by the scope, the simplicity and the heartfelt delivery.” - Steve Drake, The Villages, Florida

“Retail ideas combined with Life Lessons. I read it as a call to action for veteran retailers who are facing a crossroads.” - Pat West, West Consulting