My newsagency software company, Tower Systems, has delivered more websites for newsagents. Here are some of the recent new websites:
- Settlement City Newsagency, https://www.giftolicious.com.au
- newsXpress Kenmore Plaza, https://morethannews.com.au
- Blackall Newsagency & Toyland, https://www.blackallnewsandgifts.com.au
- Mount Lawley News, https://oliviaandgrace.com.au
- North Ringwood Newsagency, https://www.aidecor.com.au
- Cobram Lotto, https://giftideasshop.com.au
In my own shops we have a number of websites doing terrific business:
All of these are connected to our newsagency software for syncing of inventory and sales between the physical and online shops.
It’s easy to say no to a website if you don’t have one because you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s also easy if you had one in the past and it didn’t work.
Most websites don’t work. Smart people use a failure to do better next time.
At the core of success of a website is filling needs and wants. While needs and wants are quite different, they compel good online business.
Here are the top reasons why I think every retail business needs a website:
- Capture sales when you are closed. Typically, more than 50% of online purchases are then the brick and mortar business is closed.
- Engage browsers when you are closed. You can have chat turned on and answer questions from your phone, or you could really geek-out and have an AI chatbot do this for you.
- Reach people not currently shopping with you. Typically, 75% of sales are from people located nowhere near your shop.
- Have a second outlet for quitting stock.
- Have a place where you can experiment.
- Playing with a plan B in case your shop finds itself in choppy waters.
- To learn. A website, especially your first website, teaches you so much, and this is especially. What does it teach you you ask? What people want. What they could pay. Haw awful some people are. How to earn income when you are asleep.
- To get you out of a rut. If you;ve been in your shop for ages and are mailing it in each day, a website could put a spring in your step.
- To make your shop more valuable. Having a website, even if it is not fully realised or successful, could make your shop more appealing when you decide to sell.
- To leverage a secondary brand. This could be the first step in a shop rebrand.
- To drive traffic to the shop. People will find products on your website and visit as a result, for sure.
- To give you another source of revenue that is completely unrelated to anything you do in your shop.
- To harvest email addresses you can market to. Email marketing from Shopify is a breeze.
Now, in case you think I am writing this to get you to use Tower to make your website, I am not. I don’t care who makes your website.
You should go with the web designer you want. Beware tho, web development has some shonky people offering services.
Having a website gives people a landing page from your Facebook, Instagram and TikTok posts. This is important.
A website is a hungry beast, demanding your time daily, weekly, long after launch. It’s not easy. But, if you get it right, it can be tremendously valuable.
The work after launch includes regular blog posts, social media posts and more.