It doesn’t take a lot of research to discover that during this day and age, practically every business of any real size has developed some sort of internet presence.  Now, for a lot of businesses, that may mean nothing more than an online business card that can be used to get the phone number and store location of the business into the mind of the prospective customer.  But in this new century, the idea of owning a business with out a corresponding website to support it really is just about out of the question.

But when you look at the two business worlds, the internet business environment and that away from cyberspace, there are a few pretty big differences.  While a lot of companies like bookstores or concert ticket promoters have learned to build what may very well be viewed as parallel universes where their business operations are just as sophisticated online as away from cyberspace, other businesses have just not found that balance. But as the legitimacy of the internet as a valid marketplace and business tool gets to be more understood, increasingly more companies are learning that cyberspace can become another valuable part of a comprehensive marketing plan that drives business to the store shelves directly from their internet web site.

So in the same way that billboard or newspaper coupon program are equally as much part of the businesses corporate plan, that online effort out there in on the corporate web site can become a vital part of the store’s operation so much so that the store manager will come to depend on the sales driven through the internet.  To that store manager they’ll look for cyberspace on aisle five as a vital element of their plan for business success. There is a systematic process that businesses go through to use the online world as a way of capturing online traffic and turning it into store traffic.  Make no mistake, there’s one principle that ought to seem evident but is the key to turning cyber visitors to in store shoppers and that’s that – Internet Shoppers are People Too!

Whenever a businessperson examines those strange internet traffic reports that show that their internet site has X number of “hits” and that Z number of web browsers went to Y number of web pages, all that cyberspace mumbo jumbo means that X number of PEOPLE were on your web site and looked at Y number of products or web page advertisements or services.  And those PEOPLE are exactly the same living and breathing humans who’ll walk in the front door of your store and buy products and services from you. All we need to do is devise methods to drive those internet shoppers off of their computers and into the businesses retail operations.  And more and more you are seeing a businesses trend of internet promotions that happen to be geared to put the customers feet down in the retail space.  Some great techniques for doing that are…

* Online coupons that can be redeemed only in the store.

* Online sales that can be picked up in the store.  Many online shoppers might prefer to get the product shipped to them.  So you’ll have to “sweeten the pot” by making shipping charges impossible or by adding a promotion in the event the customer picks up his or her purchase in person.

* Contests.  Need we say more?

* By promoting special events designed to occur in the store.  You can stage a big cyberspace promotional campaign for a book signing of an author or celebrity that will occur live at the store itself.  The costs of the promotion and having the in store event will be offset with the increased sales.

If your internet site routinely uses promotions that lead to positive incentives to the customer to visit the store, before long a customer base of loyal consumers is certain to get accustomed to first going online to see what this week’s big deal is then visiting the store to benefit.  That kind of ongoing momentum is what makes such a synergy such a success and what makes even customers come to your retail outletand look for “cyberspace on aisle five.”

These are highly effective points we wrote in our post, but it would be a mistake to think that this is all there is to this subject.  We have found other sites like this one about shopping that you might find amusing too.  Don’t forget to share it socially too!

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