Go Local! Competing online for worldwide customers is fine, but don't forget about those who still see you as the shop around the corner.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Although most entrepreneurs think of their Web sites as vehicles for getting new customers-from far corners of the world, no less-many end up neglecting a market with even greater potential: the one right around the corner. After all, local customers live and shop near your business. Why not reach out to them, too?
At least the trend is starting to catch on. According to the "Local Commerce Monitor," a survey of businesses in Princeton, New Jersey, conducted by Constat Inc. and The Kelsey Group, entrepreneurs who said the Internet would help their businesses compete on a larger geographic scale dropped considerably between 1999 and 2000.
65% of Web shoppers in the Middle East/Africa will buy from foreign sites, compared to just 39 percent in Eastern Europe. SOURCE: Accenture |
"Businesses are realizing they don't want to compete globally," explains Neal Polachek, a consultant and senior vice president of research for The Kelsey Group. "They want to be more effective and more efficient competing where they've always competed, which is locally." In fact, the survey also points out that 80 percent of small businesses do at least 75 percent of their business locally (within 50 miles of their businesses)-whether it's selling directly to customers or buying products and services their companies need.
Getting Attention
Whether you emphasize community flavor or encourage patrons todrop by your neighborhood store, localizing your site gives currentcustomers a better reason to choose you over larger onlinecompetitors. Bud Matto, 37, is just one entrepreneur findingsuccess with the strategy: As founder of Matto Cycle, a Pottsville,Pennsylvania, motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle parts vendor thatsells products online and off, Matto goes out of his way to use hissite to target local customers.
Although Matto's initial intention was to reach a globalaudience, he also realized the importance of localization."[The site] gives our fairly large local clientele the optionto order a product online and have it shipped to them instead ofhaving to drive an hour to the shop and an hour back," Mattoexplains.
To further enhance his local following, Matto recently beganadvertising on Schuylkill.com, the online versionof his local newspaper, the Republican & EveningHerald. The Herald placed on its Web site a banner adthat went to Matto's own Web site, which the newspaper hadhelped create. The move has paid off well: Since Matto beganadvertising with the newspaper, online sales have more thandoubled.
Local Partners
| RIP hundreds of dotcoms have kicked thebucket, with more on the way. Here's a quicklook: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
One of the easiest ways to localize your site is by takingadvantage of the variety of local services available. For example,aside from helping companies set up Web sites and offering to placebanner ads, many local newspapers now also feature online shoppingmalls. StarNet, the Webversion of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Arizona, forexample, offers this option. For an initial setup fee of $3,800 andmonthly fees starting at $99, entrepreneurs can establish their Websites and also be prominently featured on StarNet's shoppingmall, eshoptucson.com. The home page of each participator is linkeddirectly to the online mall, which is viewed by a whopping 248,000visitors every month.
Koz, a Durham, North Carolina,company that creates and empowers online communities andmarketplaces, also partners with newspapers to build local shoppingportals that in turn allow merchants to build co-branded Web sites.Koz's paradigm, which is being used by more than 400 localnewspapers, works like this: Koz sets up an online marketplace ormall for the local newspaper, and then the newspaper'sadverstising sales force resells Koz's Web-site-creationservices to local advertisers and companies. Koz then establishes aWeb site dedicated to local entrepreneurs. The cost to thosebusiness owners? Less than $100 per month.
You can also reach local customers via local portal sites, whichconsumers use to find community information. Ticketmaster'sCitysearch Inc.'s Citysearch site, for example,offers local guides to major cites worldwide, focusing onentertainment, restaurants, services and shopping. It also providescompanies a way to target local customers. For example,entrepreneurs can be listed on Citysearch's Yellow Pages forabout $35 per month or work with the company to build their owncomprehensive Web sites-costs start at $1,000, plus a monthly feeof $500. Other local portals include Yahoo! Get Local and Digital City, a unit of AOL.
"Intelligent entrepreneurs are doing everything they can tomeet the needs of their local customers," says Polachek."They're launching promotions on their Web sites to reachlocal customers, doing e-mail marketing and even allowing theircustomers to set up appointments for their services on their Websites." In other words, succeeding locally depends highly onhow effectively you get the word out to customers. No big surprisethere.
MelissaCampanelli is a marketing and technology writer in Brooklyn,New York.
Contact Source
- The Kelsey Group, www.kelseygroup.com, www.constat.com
