Past to Present to Future
A successful businessman not starts his business for today, but he/she also plans ahead for the future of the business. To understand the concept, we will put some light on our recent past. For example, we used to have rental places in every corner, most famously—Block Buster, for our entertainment needs. But now, we just stream on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime or other online streaming platforms. Barnes & Noble got replaced by Amazon Kindles. Brick and mortar libraries and book shops used to be the only sources for acquiring knowledge; now we have E-tablets, Wikipedia and countless other online and offline sources. Remember an email from a friend to another friend which disrupted the hotel business; yes, we are talking about Airbnb. A small idea of renting houses and rooms to tourists and travelers, which gave birth to big business. Laptops, Tablets and Cellphones disrupted the desktops.
Competitors at multiple levels
You are running your cellphone business with the latest technology at your fingertips. But your business is also being disrupted by online stores and cellphone company owners. Apple, Samsung, Google and almost all the cellphone brand owners are selling their products online. Also, cellphone carriers like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and others are marketing their brands and offers and attracting customers to purchase directly from them; which in turn is causing harm to small, medium and big cellphone store owners.
Some stats to keep in mind
Like any successful sustaining business model, your cellphone store’s future relies on acknowledging, accepting and embracing the online world and letting e-commerce be an advantage for you, instead of letting it reduce your revenue. Back in early 2000s, only 22% of Americans were purchasing online. In 2016 it amounted to 79%. This trend is only growing day-by-day, and it’s not too far when more than 90% of Americans will start purchasing online.
Solutions
So, how can your cellphone store go online while maintaining it’s brick and mortar identity too?
The answer is here. There are many free platforms for you to create your store online, including:
There are also paid platforms like:
You can also market your cellphone store on Facebook and Instagram through paid marketing to your target audience and attract customers to your brick and mortar store, while also providing shipping option.
Along with using these online platforms, you can also start giving services like repair to your customers, so that after selling a product, you can keep your customers by giving services. This will help your cellphone store retain its customers and build a long-term relationship with them.
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