Scholarships
Scholarships
An online store, in order to be successful, must offer something unique so that it can stand out from the massive saturation that is seen online currently. I have built and launched online stores for clothing, paintball items, digital marketing, and more. The next online store that I would like to launch is one that offers guidance to others using the knowledge that I have learned from both business and college to this point. It would include multiple sections of tutorial-based learning that teaches people in an easy-to-learn presentation style. The store would include a free trial section of each subject so that people can understand the presentation first before buying. Each one would be purchasable independently, or as a package, and then the user would be able to go through the presentation on their own time.
The subjects that would be included in this store would contain a range from business lessons that I have learned both due to experience and learning through college to this point. These would be: - Creating a product/business that fits your consumer - Setting up manufacturing or supply necessities - Marketing to launch your product (standard and guerrilla methods) - Social Media Marketing (tips and tricks that I have learned) - SEO Marketing (Cheaper and easier ways for this strategy) - Easily building a brand website and more sections based on successfully creating and launching a product or brand.
The great strategy about this type of online store is that it creates a passive source of income. Besides the necessity to update information and materials so that it can stay relevant, it will take mostly time to create the original content, and minimal time after.
The easy way out is to say that it is detrimental to retail stores, and creates the problem that retail stores need to price their products low in order to compete. However, this is completely wrong, and I have experience in retail store management to associate with this. The real issue is that it makes retail stores rise up to the occasion of customer service, which many of them fail to do. Retail stores must utilize their advantage of delivering a face-to-face quality experience in order to compete with online stores. Therefore, the internet makes it so that retail stores must price their products to include the benefits of shopping in person. These benefits include a quality customer experience, in-person testing (as with many products people like to see it in person before buying), same day acquisition, and a location in which to receive post-purchase guidance.
Of course, with the inclusion of such services as Amazon Prime, and many other same-day delivery options it is difficult further to compete. The main offering that retail stores have is to price their products competitively (competitively is not the same as at or below online pricing), and produce above-and-beyond customer service results. This can also be combined with specialty item offerings, or products that are sold specifically at that retail store. Many locally grown or produced products have this advantage for retail stores to offer.
My best and worst experiences include Amazon. Amazon has grown to become a behemoth of a resource for almost every product. It has become so beneficial to be able to order something care-free, often at the best price available, and receive it within the same week (sometimes even the same day!). However, because they have grown so large, their customer service capabilities are ridiculously terrible. I have had many moments where the day has been saved by Amazon to make sure I have a special birthday present for someone on time, or that extra part I need for work by tomorrow. Amazon has also had moments where my package does not arrive remotely on time, is shipped not according to schedule, or merely never shows up. Then when it comes time to report anything it takes a long time to just be able to find a contact. Amazon has gained both great notoriety, as well as negative impacts because of its large scale growth.