{"id":642,"date":"2010-07-27T14:48:27","date_gmt":"2010-07-27T10:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/?p=642"},"modified":"2010-07-27T14:48:27","modified_gmt":"2010-07-27T10:48:27","slug":"e-retailing-the-competitive-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/e-retailing-the-competitive-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"e-retailing : The Competitive Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Competitive advantage is the means by which a firm manages to keep making money and sustain its position against its competitors<\/em><\/p>\n

\"e-retailing<\/p>\n

Smart companies take advantage of a recession to sprint ahead of their competitors, while some competitors ‘hunker down’ and conserve their capital.  The forward-thinking firms plan and install new capacity during the dullest of times. Then, when favorable economic winds begin to blow, their capacity is coming on line. <\/p>\n

Result: Their competitors are caught flat-footed and the companies that had their high-beams on gain significant market share.<\/p>\n

So many ‘brick and mortar’ retail organisations are finding it hard to pay the exorbitant rents and fixed overheads, when sales are slow. The solution is pretty obvious. You can reduce your operation costs by building an online storefront. <\/p>\n

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, reported a 4% increase in e-commerce spending for the 2009 holiday season. The 2009 online holiday shopping season was a positive one as its growth rate surpassed the forecast and returned to solidly positive rates after nearly a full year of marginally negative growth. The retail sectors that scored the most were jewelry, watches and electronics, ticketing – nabbing a cumulative 35% slice of that delicious shopping pie!<\/p>\n

The macro stats all point to a strong case for moving the sales process online. It is of course important to build your store right. You need to hire a professional organisation that can provide you a customised  e-commerce solution that meets your exact needs. E-commerce and shopping cart usability matter mostly due to the fact that if a store is not easy to use, and simple to buy from, it can greatly affect it’s ability to generate regular sales. With Ajax, jQuery and dynamic front-end web applications, it is now possible to build ‘state-of-the-art’ shopping carts for an enjoyable online shopping experience <\/p>\n

Here are some ‘Best Practices’ that need to be implemented for your online store:<\/p>\n