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An online presence is the answer to beating the recession

Guest post by: Greg Pipe

Article Overview: In times of recession, small businesses have had to find alternative ways of marketing their products or services. With this in mind, many companies opted to explore the online platform as the most productive method of promoting their brand.

An online presence is the answer to beating the recession

In times of recession, small businesses have had to find alternative ways of marketing their products or services.

With this in mind, many companies opted to explore the online platform as the most productive method of promoting their brand.

Research by online retailer Ebay revealed small, offline retailers maintained their business by building an online presence during the recession.

The third Ebay Online Business Index report found 79% of small high street retailers believed the introduction of online trade had helped save their business.

Having an online presence has proven very constructive when marketing services or products to a target audience. With millions of potential customers online, there is always going to be an opportunity for offline companies.

With the right strategy installed, businesses can expose their services through various online forms, whether it be blogging, social media or email marketing.

As an ideal way of marketing your company, businesses are also open to having a shop front 24/7, meaning that customers can interact with you at their convenience.

The majority (80%) of online-only retailers polled in the survey also believed that offline businesses would be better sustained by having an online offering as well.

According to the research, the main concerns for small retailers online was the need for enhanced postal and delivery services (42%), lower taxes (53%), simplified rules on consumer protection (36%) and investment in faster broadband (18%) or universal broadband access (13%).

If you are an offline retailer currently trying to enhance your presence on the web, why not get in touch and discover a host of opportunities to expand your business.

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Article Tags: blogging, ebay, email marketing, offline retailer, online marketing, recession, social media, startup companies



Related Forum Posts
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Lucy Wu":2dlphfqu]I think America's biggest problem right now is clearly the recession, and that should be the main focus as of now.[/quote:2dlphfqu] I agree. Do you think President Elect Obama is doing or will do what is best in terms of beating this recession?
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Alan Mater":2puakyzo][quote="Lucy Wu":2puakyzo]I think America's biggest problem right now is clearly the recession, and that should be the main focus as of now.[/quote:2puakyzo] I agree. Do you think President Elect Obama is doing or will do what is best in terms of beating this recession?[/quote:2puakyzo] Unfortunately, I think Obama is going to pull another "Roosevelt." According to economists, Roosevelt's plans for the New Deal extended the Depression by 7 yeasrs... We can already see today that nothing has "changed." Incompetent bankers, lenders, and businessmen get into trouble, the politicains vote to give them billions of dollars of *our* money to bail them out...and yet there is no oversight of how the politicians are going to spend that money! They can do anything they want with it including bailing out the auto companies. Frankly, I sure do wish I worked for Chrysler right now. They've shut down all their plants... and yet every worker will continue to be paid their full salary...for sitting around the house doing absolutely nothing. (I wonder if they'll get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day triple time pay, too.)
Re: Do You Use Paid Advertising? Survey says... - Hi GT, Thanks for all the info, there are some surprising stats there. I was surprised at the number of businesses with a Facebook presence (40%). I didn’t think it would be that high. On the mobile use, I wasn't at all surprised at the rise in time that people spend on their mobiles although it would have been interesting to see the age groups on that one. Here in the UK, there seem to be people bumping into each other all the time because they are too engrossed in their smart phones to look where they are going. In answer to your question, no I don't spend money on paid online advertising at the moment, maybe I should. It's just not something that I do at the moment. Maybe someone can give me a good reason !! regards, Mal.
The Hidden Hand Effecting Your Bottom Line - If you are based outside the U.S and run an online business, you'll probably receive a lot of your payments in U.S dollars. When the recession hit I saw a lot of non-U.S business people boasting how they [u:20bfadx5]hadn't been effected by the recession[/u:20bfadx5], brushing off the recession as something that was not important. But they [u:20bfadx5]overlooked the hidden hand[/u:20bfadx5] effecting their profits. The currency markets which for non-U.S businesses paid in U.S dollars has masked the effect of the recession somewhat, and has an incredible effect on your overall profits. Looking at my profits over the past several months I can see fluctuations up and down. I may have a hard time attributing what is causing these fluctuations if I believed the recession didn't effect me because overall my earnings and traffic are up. But then I compare to the U.S - ££ exchange rate, and notice a [u:20bfadx5]strong correlation[/u:20bfadx5] with my profits. When the dollar is strong my profits are higher, and when it is weak they are weaker. It didn't account for all fluctuations but the effect was very strong. I know most people are aware that exchange rates effect their business, but I don't think people realize how strongly it's effects can be, and how closely related to the economy this is. So to say "the recession didn't effect me" because your profits went up can be [u:20bfadx5]very wrong[/u:20bfadx5]. The hidden hand of exchange rates could have improved your profits, and the exchange rates changed due to changes in the economy, i.e the recession. The recession has caused this fluctuation in exchange rate as people fled from the stock market into cash, and with the $$ being the biggest currency in the world, more people fled into the dollar, pushing up its value against other currencies. When the stock market bounced in March and people moved back into stocks and other investments, the dollar weakened. In addition I did see a overall drop in advertiser spend which wasn't just attributed to the dollar weakening after March. I attribute this to advertisers cutting back their budget in response to the economy, but given a change in mood and outlook in recent months this is now reversing and advertiser income is up despite a weaker dollar. So the recession has played a bigger role in my business than at first glance, so just because profits are up does not mean my business is not being thrown around by external economic factors. For this reason I've studied the economy, made a prediction on what is most likely to happen based on trusted sources with the strongest track record, and made a plan for that eventuality, and then also plans for less likely scenarios, so that my business can prosper in either situation. Instead of overlooking this hidden hand it is important to recognize it is there, and not accept it as a mystical force your business is a slave to, but something you can react to and plan for in order to take your business further.
surviving an economic crisis - I'm moving to Idaho then I'm building a bunker and stockpiling 2 years worth of supplies. I'm buying a fishing rod, a hunting rifle and bunch of chickens to produce eggs... I like chickens because they don't care about recessions or depressions. OK... that may be Plan C - let's hope it doesn't get to that. So far, our business is doing well, we often target affluent markets and from our experience in the early 90's recession this worked well. BUT - what we're seeing this time around is not a simple recession. I think it could get bumpy. What type of businesses thrive in an economic downturn?


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