In reviewing Internet Retailers, “2014 Top 500 Guide” there is tons of stuff that just keeps popping out that affects one’s marketing practices and potential. As important as we think the potential of the Internet is for business, we are actually underestimating its worth.
Below are just a few examples illustrating the Internet’s potential:
- Internet retailing is growing 15-20 % per year while brick and mortar retail is only growing 1-3 %. The implications for buying, retail stores, inventory management, and marketing are astounding.
- Diverse retailers Amazon, Wayfair, Etsy, Google Play, Groupon, Vistaprint, Netflix, Overstock, represent businesses we never heard of a few years ago, are revolutionizing industries, purchasing techniques, and business patterns.
- Much of the differentiation and value of the Internet resides in the connectivity, data aggregation, data-processing, and decision-making activities that take advantage of the data streams emanating from the Internet.
- Numerous and growing challenges face brick and mortar retail stores including for example, over saturation translated into an average 46 square feet of retail space for every person in the U.S.
- Inventory management, consumer tastes, deteriorating stores, and competitiveness are growing in importance.
How come when I hear grandparents describe their grandchildren or parents post pictures of their kids on Facebook, the pride and descriptions are off the charts? For instance, a child’s first steps are frequently described or photographed as if it were ballet or a sports performance. When I read or listen to business plans, mission statements, or introductions to startup businesses, however, they frequently sound alike and do almost nothing to make the entrepreneur sound special. For example, what makes a business sound special when they use some of the following phrases: fair prices, well-constructed, trendy, top quality, and excellent customer service?
Being a successful business entrepreneur requires being able to maintain a healthy balance between passion and reality – between the emotional reasons why you’re in business and the realities of carrying out the day-to-day tasks in getting the business off the ground and keeping it afloat. To put the odds of success more in your favor, it helps to think like a journalist who is trained early on to use the five “w”s and a “how framework”.
example, the following is obvious:
We all understand the importance of goals, purpose, direction and measurement in establishing commitment, success, team work, and coordination. Somehow between that understanding and the execution things often go awry.