The Census and the E-Commerce Wave

Understanding business and product sales can sometimes put me in a whirlwind. My job tends to get me involved with loads of different opportunities dealing with all sorts of product lines. It is not my job to understand every single type of product, but it is my goal to assist my clientele with the broadening of their product market.

The tidal wave of the E-Commerce platform is just starting to build up speed. The US Census Bureau explains that E-Commerce sales are "sales of goods and services where an order is placed by the buyer or price and terms of sale are negotiated over an Internet, extranet, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network, electronic mail, or other online system." Although the overall percentage of E-Commerce sales in comparison to total retail sales may seem small, the acceleration rate is indeed enormous.

What does all this mean?

Take a look at a business associate of mine that sells cleaning supplies. He has a small warehouse in Las Vegas that moves a little over 10 million dollars worth of product a year. Without any Internet presence whatsoever, 100% of his sales come from conventional marketing near and around his local market. He services the greater part of the West Coast, but doesn't venture too much outside of that boundary.

My preliminary research has shown that Based on the results from some of the major search engines including Yahoo and MSN, an estimated 2000 searches a day are done for "Carpet Cleaning." Other viable searches include:

Carpet Cleaners ? 1100 per day

Carpet Cleaning Supplies ? 800 per day

Cleaning Supplies ? 900 per day

Cleaning Products ? 500 per day With those five search queries alone, a website could potentially be seen by over five thousand (5000) visitors a day. That adds up to over one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) search queries each month with just a few select terms.

In certain markets, there are very few companies lobbying for the top search engine positions, yet, some are saturated. If you have a product that is conducive towards Internet based marketing and sales, but you have not tapped into the territory yet, your competitors may be beating you to the punch.

Why would I want this? Hmmm?

Let's assume your business is predominantly in the Central Valley and perhaps spreads a little throughout California. You already ship product here and there. Are you setup to handle some additional sales to the Midwest or the East Coast? What about Europe? The point is that the Internet has no boundary. If you offer your products and services online, through an E-Commerce system, it is like having a huge international storefront that welcomes the wondering visitor. The only thing left to do is a marketing campaign, simple or robust.

But don't be fooled. The marketing campaigns can really get you. Setting up the storefront is the easy part. Managing the storefront is also easy. Putting the sign out there to attract the customers may tend to be a grueling task, unless you plan ahead.

What is the bottom line?

Here's the deal. If you aren't in a hurry, but think you want to have an E-Commerce system in play in perhaps a year or so, it will be to your advantage to develop it now. Internet based marketing campaigns take 6 months to a year to mature. I don't care what anyone tells you, unless you want to fork over tons of cash on a regular basis, a solid Internet marketing campaign takes time.

The Census shows that Internet based sales are increasing faster than conventional retail sales. The census shows that over sixty-nine billion dollars ($69,000,000,000) were spent last year in E-Commerce sales, up 23.5% from 2003. The census show that if you are not planning for the future, your competition is.

The Pickle

You can get carried away with overhead if you are not careful. Internet based marketing can turn into the ever hungry monster that you have to constantly feed on a regular basis. The goal is to plan a year in advance and have a strategy that will create a system that will offer your site search engine presence and stability over time. But if you want more, more is available.

A Rule for the Road:

If you want to know who is good at Internet based marketing, just check online. Do a search for "Fresno Web Design" and see what you find.

Greg Richburg a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and the owner of Netricks, Inc. a network consulting, web design and hosting company in California. As well, Greg runs a web based distributorship for Ujena swimwear and clothing. Please visit My Shop Girl Sexy Swimwear and Web Bikini Store and Clothing for Women for details.

All past articles written by Greg Richburg are available at Netricks Tech News.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Internet Merchant Accounts For Innocents Abroad

If you want to sell on the internet, your need... Read More

Grow Your Business Using B2B Emarketplace - Part I

If you are a small to medium size company and... Read More

Is Your Website Credit Card Friendly?

In my last column I discussed the process of credit... Read More

Website Marketing: 10 Resourceful Things You Can Do With A Product That Doesnt Sell

Do you have any product that has not been moving... Read More

Selecting The Right Shopping Cart For Your Website

Shopping Cart Installation And SetupShopping cart technology has evolved to... Read More

Shopping Cart Usability

Usable Shopping Carts Increase SalesE-commerce has been around since 1993... Read More

Tell Site Visitors What To Do

Your site visitors make all the choices when it comes... Read More

Accept Credit Cards Online Without A Merchant Account

It is often assumed if you want to accept credit... Read More

Make That 3 Billion

My previous article I wrote called "One Point Two Billion"... Read More

How Measuring Key Performance Indicators Can Improve E-Commerce Strategy - Part One

The problem with most e-commerce marketing strategy today is that... Read More

Your Affiliate Web Site Is Built ? Now What?

When I first got my web site built, I thought... Read More

Shopping Cart Abandonment ? Discover 5 Things you can do to Lower Cart Abandonment

A common frustration among merchants who sell online via a... Read More

How To Sell Your Products Online?

E-commerce is gaining pace! Research firm eMarketer predicts that 2003... Read More

E-marketplaces from Sellers Perspective

What is an E-marketplace anyway?E-marketplace is a business to business... Read More

Start doing online business using B2B Portals in Six Steps

I registered with a B2B site but what's next?This is... Read More

Creating The Perfect Ecommerce Website

If you're thinking of jumping on the bandwagon and going... Read More

How To Stay Cutting Edge In Online Business

Let's face it, there's just way too much information out... Read More

Electronic Commerce Tax Jurisdiction and Principles of Permanent Establishment

The principle of "permanent establishment" is very important for avoidance... Read More

Prompt Delivery Rules ? Internet Product Sales

The Internet is the fastest growing source of mail order... Read More

Evaluating Vendors of Ecommerce Fulfillment Services

Once your website has secured an order, you have to... Read More

Increasing E-commerce Website Sales

With consumers purchasing billions of dollars of merchandise online each... Read More

6 Steps to Attracting Black Customers Online

by Jamila White, "The E-Commerce Diva"In the rush to keep... Read More

Bringing the World to Your Door

According to Internet.com, by the year 2008 nearly 30% of... Read More

Are You Making These E-Commerce Excuses? (part 1)

A year ago, I had big plans to re-vamp my... Read More

Using Drop Shipping for E-commerce

Thanks to the ubiquity of the internet, online virtual businesses... Read More

The Essential Christmas Web-store Makeover

Ten great tips to turn online holiday shoppers into eager... Read More

Why This Is The Perfect Time To Start Charging For Website Subscriptions

If you're a writer, researcher, subject matter expert, enthusiastic hobbyist,... Read More

Short Story: The Benefits of Shopping Online

Maria's new lifestyle: Short story about the benefits shopping on... Read More

The Top 10 E-Commerce Ways to Follow up with Clients - Part 2

Did you know that 80% of all sales are made... Read More

Creating Legal Framework for E-commerce Taxation; non-tax statutes

We have to make amendments in existing substantive and procedural... Read More

Home Sweet Home Page

"Your home page is the world's introduction to you and... Read More

The Check is in the E-mail

Have you ever had someone who owed your business money... Read More

The Internet and Customer Care: Aid or Anarchy?

It was reported in 'Marketing' magazine this month, that Britain... Read More