Few can have failed to notice the impact the internet has had on the traditional retail model. If you had missed it, then your local High street clearly reflects the changes.
Declining footfall, rising costs, and more consumer choice have sounded a death knell for many traditional high street shops. They are simply unable to compete with a competitor with much lower business costs, which would offer more choice and better pricing.
The advent of many new technologies and solutions provide a vista of alternate operating models.
‘Just in time’ stock ordering, outsourced supply and delivery, online purchasing and ordering have all changed the retail environment. And there is no way back – the genie won’t go back in the bottle.
Within this retail model, the business’s online presence is all important. Branding, social media, email marketing and attention-grabbing home pages have now replaced the traditional store.
The general buying public is now far less likely to be impressed with an upmarket decor (if they even see it in the first place), and more likely to be impressed with a facebook advert or informative, colourful PDF.
However, just as one door closes, so another one opens.
As the change has affected shops adversely, so it has given a boost to smaller retailers.
Setting up and maintaining a website, administering stock and deliveries, and undertaking marketing make it easy and cost-effective to launch a brand.
The only expenses required are connectivity, telecoms, and paying brand and website consultants.
You can also develop this new model even further. Not just your customer-facing presence can be remote or ‘just in time’, so also your entire business can be.
Thanks to VoIP, office workers don’t need to be in the office at all. They can work from home, answering customer calls, playing company messages and displaying your company phone number, just as if they were in the office.
Not only do you need a shop any more, you don’t need an office either! To find out more about how VoIP can help your business, just get in touch.