Should You Move Your Local Brick N Mortar Retail Shop Online?

You have a nice small local retail shop and you do pretty good sales, but the thought of selling even more online via your own ecommerce website using software like Shopify or Woocommerce is way too enticing.

Should you take the leap? Will it be worth your time?

Selling retail from a local brick n mortar shop is much different than online. With a local shop, it's easier to simply be a reseller of other products. You'll still get business because of the convenience factor; customers can pop in to buy a product and get access to it immediately without paying for shipping.

In contrast, ordering online would require them to pay for shipping and they may have to wait several days to receive the product.

Trying to take the same products you resell in your local shop and putting them in an ecommerce website to sell across the state or country will most likely not translate into the type of sales you thought it would.

The reason is because a consumer has many more options online to buy the same product if it's not unique. Especially if they can just pop on over to Amazon.com and buy the same product.

If you have your own product line and aren't simply a reseller, then taking your products nationwide with an ecommerce shop can make a lot of sense.

If you are just reselling other products in your shop, ecommerce could still work if you played up the local angle by pushing 'Buy Online, Pick Up In Store' options. This way you're playing up your main advantage, which is convenience. They can buy and pick it up today without paying for shipping.

‍