You Gotta’ Advertise…
It is utterly amazing the number of dive retailers who think, that simply by adding a shopping cart to their website, the world will begin beating a path to their electronic door. Get. Real.
LeisurePro.com, Scuba.com and ScubaToys.com did not get where they are by trying to stay hidden. Each has an advertising budget that is likely well into six figures. They advertise in print, by mail and — most extensively over the Internet itself. (Check out the YellowPages.com listings for Scuba in any community and see who shows up ahead of local dive stores.)
“Okay,” you say, “I’ll just start by advertising to my own customers, on my website.” And by doing this, you will accomplish…what?
- If your goal was to quit having your customers purchase gear from large, online retailers, guess what? The vast majority of these people will not stop buying from LeisurePro.com just because you now have a shopping cart. The fact you didn’t offer online sales before was not the reason they started shopping on line in the first place. If anything, your new shopping cart site will merely serve to endorse their previous behavior.
- The only people who are likely to purchase from you on line in any significant numbers are the customers who would have purchased equipment from you under any circumstances. By selling on line (with all the extra overhead it entails), all you may accomplish is to lower profit margins.
Recouping your initial investment in set up and inventory requires an economy of scale. In other words, you have to start selling to a much larger audience or you are going to lose money. And, to do that, you have to advertise. The question is, along with all your other startup costs, can you afford it?
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