Mom-and-pop retailers have helplessly stood by over the last decade as big-box merchants steamrolled over them.
Online, though, small merchants are not going down without a fight.
The number of small-size retailers selling online has swelled in the last two years, from 21 percent to 32 percent, a survey by IDC, a consulting firm, showed. Aided by less expensive and more sophisticated technology, stores like RealmDekor.com, CleanAirGardening.com and SitStay.com are competing with retailers as well as bigger sites like Amazon.
These businesses lack the huge marketing budgets of their bigger rivals, of course, but they are unearthing cheap advertising methods that, in some cases, help them compete with million-dollar promotions.
The retailer of quirky home goods, RealmDekor.com, has experienced occasional sales increases not because of catalog shipments or television commercials, but because it formed relationships with bloggers and posted its products on new "social shopping sites" like ThisNext.com and StyleHive.com.
"People started posting about my goods and it snowballed from there," RealmDekor's owner Lisa Mathisen said. "I know people think these sites are new and underground, but they're becoming more mainstream. Even my mother checks them out to find gifts."
Social shopping sites emerged last year as places for dedicated shoppers to exchange tips on popular items or designers. Tens of thousands of users list their raves and vie for trendsetter supremacy, while the site owners collect dollars for referring customers to retailers.
Gordon Gould, chief executive of ThisNext.com, said the site features hundreds of thousands of products, with a majority of the items coming from smaller retailers.
"Social shopping sites help the smaller retailers surface their products and open people up to their specific point of view," he said.
CleanAirGardening.com, an online retailer of environmentally friendly gardening supplies based in Dallas, recently began posting product demonstration videos on YouTube and other sites, along with links to the site. Lars Hundley, the company's owner, said visitors who arrive from video-sharing sites purchase goods 20 percent more often than those who come from elsewhere.
Most online shoppers are so experienced that they feel safer venturing away from Amazon to buy from lesser-known sites, said Ray Boggs, an IDC analyst.
Part of the reason, perhaps, is that the Web sites now built by many small merchants lack the amateurish feel of a few years ago.
Companies like Yahoo, Amazon and thousands of independent Web developers have become considerably better at building slick sites for merchants, sometimes within a few minutes, for less than US$100. Yahoo Store merchants, for instance, pay US$40 to US$300 a month, and a commission of 0.75 percent to 1 percent on each sale. Merchants on the Amazon WebStore pay US$60 monthly, along with a 7 percent commission.
SitStay.com, an online retailer of goods for dog owners, grew steadily since its began in 1996. It now operates from a 1,850m2 facility in Lincoln, Nebraska.
"More and more sites are coming out all the time, some with a lot of money they can invest in their search ads," Krueger said. "So we've got everything in place to handle a lot more customers. Now, we've just got to find ways to bring them to us."
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS