Where are your customers?
The last decade has seen a rapid evolution in the decision making process and behavior of consumers. Digital behaviors have become the rule and not the exception. Could you have imagined someone telling you in 2010 that automobiles could be purchased online and you would pick up from multi-story vending machines? Get away from me weirdo!
Has your business kept up with the times? Do you know where your customers shop? Do you know who you are competing against?
In 2018 our company attended an industry trade show to meet with the new incoming executive director. The purpose of the meeting was to determine the state of the industry. Revenues had been on a 5 year growth trend but the previous 2 years were flat to slightly down. My first question was "What impact has eCommerce and specifically Amazon had on the industry?" His response "This industry hasn't really seen any impacts from Amazon. Our customers are more old school and may never really embrace buying online". Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Following his answer I removed my iPhone from my pocket, opened the Amazon app, and asked him to give me a category of product from the industry. After he provided the category I entered it in the search bar and watched as the results populated. With the screen turned towards him as the products scrolled by I asked him if he recognized any of the brands. He did not.
The bottom line - The brands that occupied the first 14 suggestions were not members of the trade organization, were not exhibiting at the trade show, and 12 of the 14 had never been heard of by the executive director.
The hidden world of Amazon strikes again! Sadly this story is very common.
The moral of this story is not that you should be selling on Amazon or aware of those who are (but you really should). The lesson here is that if your customers behavior changes that drastically and you were unaware then you need to re-visit how you are interacting with your market.
Ask them - "what" "where" "why" "how".
Create ways to generate loyalty and build deeper relationships.
Adapt your methods to match their behaviors.
Research your competition
Don't fall victim to the "build it and they will come" mentality
So again:
Has your business kept up with the times? Do you know where your customers shop? Do you know who you are competing against?