The results of holiday sales 2014 indicate that online retailers had a good year.
The web tracking company, comScore, released data this week showing an increase of 15% in November and December, better than their original estimates. These figures do not include sales made on mobile devices.
The figure is expected to increase to over 17% when mobile sales are taken into account, and this falls into line with many other reports and research that shows shoppers are now very comfortable making purchases on their mobile and tablet devices.
Big box stores and large enterprises have certainly embraced this, but smaller businesses appear to be having a more difficult time keeping up with technology trends, as noted in research from the nonprofit group, SCORE, which is supported by the Small Business Administration.
Their research showed that only 51% of small businesses have a website, yet 97% of consumers begin their product search online.
They also found that the small businesses that do have a website often lacked a call to action, did not engage in social media, and were not mobile and tablet friendly. There were even some that didn’t have a phone number, so contact by customers was difficult, if not impossible.
When you look at the volume of sales being made online and on mobile devices, it is clear that if your company does not have a website, you need to get one. Also, if your site is not yet mobile friendly, that is something you should have on your 2015 To Do List.
If it is that simple, why don’t more small businesses have a website?
The main reasons cited for not having a web presence were:
- Lack of time – they are working round the clock to run their business, so don’t have time to devote to new technology and / or skills.
- They don’t feel web savvy enough to delve into ecommerce, and stick to what they know.
- The task is just too big. They don’t take credit cards in their store, so the jump to internet retailer is too daunting.
At xocbox, we try to make getting your business online an easier process, and one that doesn’t give you nightmares.
We can help your business, if:
- You do not have an ecommerce site, and do not know where to begin because the large number of products you carry makes it overwhelming. We can help you get products online, and use xocbox tools to add and edit products.
- You need to integrate your online store with bricks and mortar, and point of sale system. Manage inventory and work with suppliers / drop ship vendors to ensure that products sold online are actually available.
- You have an ecommerce site, but find it difficult to keep on top of the volume of work involved keeping products up-to-date. xocbox tools reduce the data entry required in most ecommerce platforms.
- You don’t already have a catalog and SKUs set up.
- You have products with many colors and sizes, and need to quickly create professional looking listings with multi-views and swatches.
Contact xocbox today, and learn how we can help your online business.