E-commerce isn’t right for every organization, but it is the fastest growing sales channel for many retailers, wholesalers and distributors and manufacturers.
Today’s best on-line stores have really grown up. They use much more sophisticated merchandising techniques to help shoppers find the products they want, entice them to buy, and cross-sell other products.
It certainly depends on the type of business they’re in, but in the brick and mortar world, some stores do become hangouts. These are the businesses that tend to take off while their competitors languish, simply because of the traffic, the enthusiasm of their customers and the referrals they generate.
Perhaps dry cleaners don’t become hangouts very often, but coffee shops and bookstores often do. Plumbing supply, auto parts and electrical supply stores also may become hangouts, if only among plumbers, electricians and hotrodders.