Is your Small Business Green Enough?

Amazon has launched a new category called Amazon Green a little while ago. Amazon has always been good with following high demand trends in online shopping world. In most cases Amazon is the first to implement those.

The behavior of both offline and online shoppers in the US are changing, and going more towards Green Shopping. This is great news for the environment, and for our future.
Many small businesses are following the green shopping trend for a while but the big shots in online shopping game are jumping onto the board recently, one by one.

Amazon Green is a category/section within main Amazon site. You can pick 3 products from Amazon’s catalog which you believe are green, then they get rated higher in the Amazon Green Section.
eBay has launched WorldOfGood.com for green shoppers. With the new site, I believe, eBay’s ultimate goal is to target increasing Etsy.com customers.

Amazon‘s Green Model within their main site, or eBay‘s Green Model with a separate site. Time will show which business model will be more successful.

Is Your Small Business Still NOT Green?

Amazon, eBay or other big online stores will make their share of £££ from the green shopping trend. But how can you increase your sales or bring new customers to your small business by going green?
Every niche is different. Some niches are more suitable to offer environmental friendly products than others. You don’t have to offer a large selection of green products. You can do little things to let your customers know that you care about the environment.

Tips to Go Green For Small Businesses:

• Try to use as much recyclable supplies as possible.
• Run campaigns to support environmental friendly non-profit organizations.
• Try to find new green products which would fit into your product line.
• Let your customers know that you care about the environment.

I have been hearing more and more success stories of small businesses which go green. So, don’t miss the “Go Green” trend, and both increase your sales & help the environment.

Retail IS NOT eCommerce

I met with an old friend, soon to be client, the other day at his shop. The guy’s been running retail shops longer than I’ve known the meaning of retail. Anyhow, he really knows his stuff; he was telling me that he moved one of the cash desks the other day because there wasn’t enough space for customers to get through, plus if he moved it to the lower left corner he could get another 2 sets of shelves in etc, etc…

While telling me all of this he notices a small mark on a carpet tile, I’m not kidding, 10 feet away! "We need to get that cleaned or replaced" he barks while pointing at this dot! Anyhow, I guess his attention to detail and knowledge of his domain was really impressive to me, he has retail in his DNA.

The flip side to this is his website, not quite the same authority at all. Misshapen images, products with no descriptions or very poorly written ones. Categories duplicated and in some areas over 5 levels of navigation. And don’t get me started on the checkout process! I mean, does he want to sell anything? "Am I adding to basket or to the cart? Are they the same? I don’t know, let’s see! Ah, what’s this, I need to login first, ok, I’ll create an account then. Why exactly do you need my credit card to allow me to add something to my basket? I mean cart! Oh, whatever!"

But that’s not the worse part at all! Search good ol' Google for his business name, and his website comes below the fold at position 6 or 7. We can only guess his products are visible to the "page 10 brave".

The shame of it is that we see this kind of situation so often. Experienced business people that understand their realm of commerce so well, but when it comes to launching their Internet empire, they are convinced they can do it alone, with no prior experience or guidance. However, that in itself is not the issue. I’m all for self development and taking responsibility for your business’s progression. However, this is not the case. None of these sites are updated or have had any attempt made to make them better. The same problems exist online and offline, if someone has a bad experience in a shop, they are likely not to return and, online, the same applies.

Those old-school retailers with retail DNA coursing through their very being, need to find a way to have the Internet DNA spliced with theirs. And until they can, they need to find someone, or some- team, that can truly drive their online ambitions home.