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Where to begin? How to take a brick-&-mortar retail store 'online'...

Discussion in 'General Business' started by m021478, Jul 16, 2010.

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  1. #1
    For over 30 years, my In-Laws have run a family owned lighting retail store in a New York City Suburb. Don't let that first sentence mislead you into thinking that they are small potatoes... their annual gross profit margin is about $10 million in sales.

    They have never had any sort of online presence whatsoever, and they have just now committed themselves to taking the plunge once and for all. The only problem is, they haven't got the slightest idea of where to even begin (nor do I).

    None of them are very web savvy, though they are savvy enough to understand that the consumer market in their suburban neighborhood isn't squat compared with the reach and sales potential they could have online.

    They aren't planning on closing their brick-&-mortar retail store, rather they are simply looking to have some sort of e-Commerce system developed so that they could sell their existing product online.

    What I believe they need at this point is to find a company that specializes in bringing all of the various pieces of the puzzle together - website design & development, marketing & promotion, stock/inventory, payment processing, order fulfillment, etc, etc...

    The complexity of what will be needed is such that I can only assume there are companies that specialize in helping to bring retails stores like theirs online for the first time, or am I mistaken?

    If my assumption is correct, then I would be sincerely grateful if someone could please throw out a couple names of some reputable companies that might fit the bill... or at least point me in the right direction so that I can help guide them down the right roads.

    Thanks!
     
    m021478, Jul 16, 2010 IP
  2. webbmaster

    webbmaster Well-Known Member

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    #2
    basically you are looking to build an inventory management system that is public accessible through the web... you then submit the feed to various search engines. you might need to buy keyword advertising.. that is about it... look at website like homedepot, that is what his website will look like..

    you should be able to buy prebuilt system instead of building it from scratch.. which will be much cheaper
     
    webbmaster, Jul 16, 2010 IP