Here are some suggested resolutions if you haven't implemented them already:
- Make Your Business E-commerce Ready.
A Bloomberg news report this week said that U.S. department stores were forced to slash prices this Christmas due to fierce competition from Internet retailers.
Imagine that. Multi-million-dollar businesses are feeling the pinch from e-tailers. It's only a matter of time before you start hearing similar stories from the Caribbean. With the scheduled implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the elimination of other trade barriers, like it or not, you will be competing on an international stage. If you get ready to take orders and accept payment online now, there is no way you can regret it later. The notion that one of your competitors might do it before you is not at all far-fetched.
- Start an E-Mailing List of Past, Present and Potential Clients.
Such a list will allow you to repeatedly advertise this year to a targeted group of individuals at little or no cost.
For each special offer or sales promotion, you will be able to tell those who bought from you in the past, those who are buying from you right now and those who may buy from you in the future, all with the click of a mouse. How do you get them to agree to receive these notifications? That's where the next three resolutions come in.
- Offer a discount to people who sign up on your website.
This could take the form that BWIA has right now, which is that the rates to people who buy tickets online are actually lower than those of the ticketing office;
or it could take the form that Classic Motors had whereby Honda owners who made service appointments via the website got a small discount. Discounting techniques give tangible incentive to clients to register on your website and once they're there, you can advertise to them periodically.
- Raffle something.
Whatever you raffle doesn't even have to be one of your products, neither does it have to be a car or anything costly.
It could be something that is perceived to be big but is actually very affordable. For example, you can say, "Sign up on our website to join our mailing list and gain a chance to win a ticket to Tobago." Tickets to Tobago are actually still quite affordable but somehow, trips and airports have great value in people's minds. Wine is another such product. A premium bottle of wine at Xtra Foods can cost less than $100 but somehow, people value it highly. Of course, you are going to announce this raffle to people who either have bought from you in the past, are buying from you now or are likely to buy from you in the future. You wouldn't want the mass market to be signing up on your website just for the chance to win something.
- Stage a Launch
Although your website may have been active for a while, you may never have formally launched it.
Anyone selling anything online using real-time credit card processing is newsworthy in Trinidad and Tobago, because such a website will very likely be the first or at the very least, one of the first in its industry to offer e-commerce. The media attention a formal launch will bring will also be well worth your trouble.
So whether you want to try all or one of the above, don't let 2006 fly by as quickly as 2005 without setting goals to get the most out of your website.
Aleem Khan, a senior partner at Breaking News, is one of the few people in the world with a four letter domain name bn.gs. He is an accredited Agent of the International Internet Authority who speaks Spanish, French and English.
