making a web shop is very easy
shop local is nothing new
MAKING A WEBSHOP FROM SCRATCH IS REALLY QUITE EASY ON A PLATFORM --- ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A SMALL INVENTORY AND NOTHING ELSE TO DO
Managing a webshop and making money from it is actually VERY VERY HARD
I made this site in less than 3 hours, as a demonstration. It could have supported a number of local shops and been up and selling in a matter of a week using a number of different e-commerce models.
CAVEAT: IF they already had an electronic inventory; ONE which wasn't rapidly changing (FMCG is the hardest e-commerce to pull off), an EPOS system, AND the new recruits had bags and bags of TIME to learn new rope tricks + had an innate aptitude for web marketing, which is much more than shouting out loud on social media!!!
PROBLEM 1: HOW ON EARTH DO YOU DISPLAY A TYPICAL HIGH STREET OFFERING IN AN AMAZON-LIKE EMPORIUM?
It is actually jolly hard. HANDY TO HAVE: a) PHD in category management b) skills in broad audience marketing (size matters, a big marketing budget).PROBLEM 2: HOW DO YOU ENGAGE A LOCAL COMMUNITY WEDDED TO CONVENIENT OFFERINGS PROVIDED BY THE INCUMBENTS?
Getting people to change their behaviour on or off-line is tremendously hard. Inertia prevents people from doing things differently, so we stick with our more expensive insurer, energy provider, bank even when we know that better deal exists only clicks away.PROBLEM 3: HOW DO YOU GIVE THE LOCAL STORES THEIR OWN IDENTITY?
Like eBay of Amazon? Surely not? These platforms don't want you to know that you can be contacted directly, via their own websites. Yet the whole proposition of LOCAL is that there are real and friendly people beyond the scenes.PROBLEM 4: HOW DO YOU MAKE IT WORTHWHILE?
When both parties benefit. Altruism has little to do with it. People will actually shop local when it is convenient and easy and they already do, but right now we find this has rather more negative consequences. People drive and park inside the shop itself. The drive thru model is no longer confined to outlying roadside cafes, it has found its way onto every High St. Not that great if you live on one.PROBLEM 5: WHAT BUSINESS MODEL?
Well the emporium regardless of business model needs to generate some income, either through a sales commission or an entry fee, a pay to play or a bit of both. Connecting you too directly to the shop undermines the emporium concept and cannibalises direct sales. The retailer's margin is reduced, unless the online price is higher, providing an incentive to bypass the emporium altogether. But if the objective is to do just that, then an ecommerce website is not the solution, but a marketing newsletter, containing those offers might be just the ticket. PUBLIC MONEY SAVED? Think of number £50k, £150k, £250k £500k?Testimonials
Would our High Street be a better place to live if more of us spent more in locally owned independent shops?
Of course.
Home delivery may sound like a panacea, but what if you're having a pizza delivered to your door to save a 5 minute walk? Or what if the delivery driver is going round the block several times to pickup or drop off and you are not in.
As it is High Streets are among the least welcoming and least friendly places to live, but here in Dunbar still have 1/8th of the population in high density living in the Conservation Area. High Streets were not built around 40 ton delivery lorries, or a steady stream of parcel deliveries. Such delivery lorries should not be allowed into our towns, that was the justification for out of town, no?
And if you think that you would not live on a High Street then why would people want to visit and shop there?
Or try the night time economy on a High Street near you, it ain't continental I am afraid. Less cafe' culture and more aggro-culture.
Take it from me, where large corporates are not eating your lunch (the delivery economy and online marketing companies masquerading as social media), then takeaways and convenience stores (and the delivery economy) are eroding the quality of our High Streets.
Let's not fantasise.
But here is a thought. If more people actually lived and had more of a stake on our High Streets, instead of being the recipient of ill-considered initiatives, perhaps they would be better places?