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Thank you, Niall! I like this feature. Appreciate your shout outs — very much. Hope all is well with you…. Anita

Hi Sian
so true. I spoke to a local sportsshop owner in my town and he told me that he loves having a high street shop but the only reason he’s still in business is because he has an ebay shop that generates a lot of sales.

Thanks Brian – that’s a great point too. And I know your Garden Centre is definitely worth a visit

Great post Sian,
A town near me has seen a run of small businesses closing down, changing hands and changing what they sell. I did some Market Research there for a Client and found over 1/3 of the shops didn’t have en email, let alone an online presence. The responses from many were that they didn’t want to change how they had always done things, it seemed to be a fear. There’s a business idea there, to help local/boutique style shops to get online, show them how easy it is and the benefits.
Great post, I’d forgotten about ‘fizzy-pop wagons’
Tori

Its sad to hear Sian, but then everything in business is about reacting to the changing trends in the marketplace. In five years time, who knows what will happen – we could be selling on the moon!

I would just like to say that there are many alternative option, but that having your own website is always a benefit. I also believe that if you are going to compete online, you should make the effort to build a professional looking site. This is especially important for online retail as trust is a deciding factor to whether you purchase or not.

I agree that Ebay is a great way to start selling.

Good idea Niall 

I’ve said it elsewhere before but most businesses should have a fairly up-to-date website with the minimum of opening hours and phone number on it, that’s easily navigable by mobile, even if all you have is a Hairdressers or coffee shop, I regularly try to check whether or not somewhere is open when I’m heading for the city centre after work to plan a shopping route.

Remember, as well, that what people call your shops location may not agree with the physical address of the shop, make sure people can find you, particularly if you have a few locations, how do you tell people how to find the shop? that makes it less impersonal to a browser, they make a personal connection to it, particularly if they’re emigrants.  Listen to customers or ask them how they notice/guide people to the shop.

Have a history piece on your website, if your shop is old, all the better, if not, why not have a history of the location? Particularly if there was a similar shop and the reason you opened was because you had a personal connection with the site “when I realised that xyz sweet shop that I loved going to closed I had to open something, in respect of my memories of that shop, we make Love-Heart cupcakes (picture), many of our regulars love to share their memories as they pick up the cakes.”  This anchors the shop in people’s psyches.  

I agree that every retailer should have an online shop, but I think the high street is far from doomed. Amazon are opening high street stores, Google is opening a high street store in Dublin, Apple have high street stores. On the face of those big names one could suggest that the opposite is happening – online is coming to a high street near you!

Where I live in Kilcullen the high street is booming because there are some unique and beautiful shops – a butchers that has it’s own slaughter house and sells the best meat in Ireland, 2 or 3 artisan food shops, a baker, a vegetable shop, a haberdashery, a sweet shop, a boutique florist, a shoe repair shop, a few good eateries, and a saddlery. I can’t see any of those shops being put out of business by online (but I do think they should be online as well).On the other hand for reasons I don’t understand there are many villages in Ireland where you have a butcher that only sells 5 cuts of meat, a load of Spar type shops, a crusty looking coffee shop, and a petrol station. No wonder people go to Tesco or go online.

Great article – I just think it should look at why the high street is losing out rather than assuming it is because online is inevitably going to dominate because it is intrinsically better – it is not – it is just an alternative or even a complimentary outlet. Crappy online stores will go out of business as fast as crappy offline stores!

I do have a vested interest - http://theretailproject.com/

Obviously high street people have very busy schedule. So they can have time to go to stores and malls for shopping.

Sian, I really enjoyed this article, because not too long ago I was contemplating if I should just start shopping online. It all started when I ran out of my favorite lotion from Bath & Body Works. I ran to the mall nearby after work to purchase my lotion, however I found that the Bath & Body Works that was there from my last visit, I would say 3 weeks prior, was no longer there. There was a large sign stating that it would return in May due to renovations. Right at that moment I felt as if I wasted my time and that I could have just ordered the lotion from their online store. 

I have to say that the benefit of an online store is time efficiency for the customer, but to really think of it though the only reason why I purchased my now favorite lotion was because I had the opportunity to ‘test’ it at the store. So, with this said I absolutely agree that local businesses should have an online option, but maintain their store for customers like myself. Again, great article!