subject: Even The Most Traditional Retailers Are Realising The Vital Importance Of E-commerce [print this page] Visiting shops to buy goods has been part of our lives for thousands of years. Merchants, as the sellers were originally known, made a living and often a very prosperous one by sourcing goods which people wanted to buy and meeting their demand for them, and charging a price for doing so which ensured that they could live from the proceeds.
Shops have thus become part of the fabric of society, and over the centuries have come to fulfil more than just this basic purpose they have also become social gathering places, where people can meet each other, and discuss what they had bought, or were intending to buy.
But despite only having been with us for very few years, the new revolution in trading is already leading shop owners to have to adapt their business models in order to compete, and even to survive.
The catalyst for that revolution, of course, has been the internet. For traders and shop owners, it has meant having to re-think many of their once-trusted customer relations and retention strategies, as they come to terms with dealing with clients whom they will nearly always never meet.
As a result of this huge growth in 'faceless contact', the go-between carrying out the physical work of delivering the goods has become an essential 'cog in the machine' in the relationship between supplier and customer often the only human link in the supply chain.
Nevertheless, longer-established retailers are still keen to retain the benefits which, for many years, have distinguished them from their larger rivals namely, their personal level of service, which is often prized by customers.
The most effective way they can do this, bearing in mind that they may never have physical contact with the bulk of their clients is to use quality, reliable delivery services to help them ensure that their products reach the recipient safely, and in a reasonable timescale. That's because this element of the service is likely to be the one which the customer remembers the most.
So while there may be less emphasis on the human interaction on which their business may have been founded and thrived, that human element, in the form of the delivery company staff who help ensure prompt and reasonably priced sending of goods, is still present and for these proud and traditional business owners, as important as ever.
And while ever that continues to be the case, the various services provided will continue to be in heavy demand, and as much appreciated as ever.
by: Alan Trotter
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