I have been thinking for some time about this and I have looked at a few small businesses that are currently doing it. Well my idea is that small businesses should use opportunities better and get their business to operate on an international scale. While it is always good to supply a certain market in a certain region I believe that some small business should look into supplying the international market. While this may not happen over night it could work if you give it a go. For example if you are selling washing machine parts in your local area why not put some of these parts online and try and sell them to people all over the world. You could try it out on eBay and slowly open your own website and build your customer base. You will be surprised to see how much interest you will get from people in other regions of your country and other foreign countries.
EBay enables people from all over the world to find your product easily. I used to sell on eBay myself and at the beginning I was only shipping most of my products to UK customers but over time this changed and I was suddenly shipping most of my products to customers in Europe and the US. But eBay prices are very competitive as there are many sellers selling similar products so it will be tough at the beginning, but even on eBay people look for service so once you have satisfied a buyer once s/he will come back to you if they need more.
Operating on a international scale does not mean having to get bigger it just means that you could get more customers. Ebay was one of the examples but the problem with Ebay it can only work with specific products and a lot of small businesses may find that the prices people sell there are the prices they buy their goods themselves. All that means is that you need to find cheaper suppliers. Another way you could serve an International market is by taking part in forums that fit your business people there are always looking for help.
There is also the option of getting your own website online to sell your goods but I would not suggest this if you don’t know what you are doing because you could end up spending a lot and not getting any results, this is why I was suggesting the cheaper methods to start with.
Here is something I found interesting about a business idea, something simple but effective for anyone in good shape and looking to do something new with their life and work. I hope you like it.
All around the globe small businesses have been hit by the recent credit crises; if you have not already been affected then it will still come. Some analysts say that this will be a hard time for small business owners as they will find it difficult to find credit and continue their daily operations. However this is predicted to be a short term problem. While many big banks in USA and Europe go bust the ultimate affect will lead to many more small businesses going bust. The truth is harsh but it will happen. The main problem is that at this time investors and banks are scared of letting go of their money due to the uncertainty in the economy, investing in a very volatile economy is extremely risky. Furthermore as the banks go bust it means that they don’t actually have enough money to lend because investors have pulled their money out of the markets.
Unless you are selling in a very specific niche market and you do not need large amounts of credit you will be affected. Either your sales will fall as people stop spending and start saving or the bank will not give you the much needed loan. If you live in UK or the USA you probably have noticed how the banks advertisements have changed from advertising their “great” mortgage deals to advertising their “great” saving accounts. This demonstrates how the banks have anticipated the change in the economy and are preparing for a recession in the economy.
Many of the big players fall during a recession because they are too dependant on a growing economy and fail or refuse to accept that the economy will not keep growing for hundreds of years without also major falling just like major increases. Being small during a recession can also be used as a major advantage because it means you are more flexible in your operations. What I mean here is that if you see that you are unable to meet mortgage re-payments then sell off and downsize, don’t use all your savings up and then before you know it you have gone bust. Another example is that if you have two warehouses and your customer base has decreased then downsize to one warehouse.
My main point for small business owners is that do not go against the flow but with the flow. While in a booming economy you expanded in a failing economy you downsize.
Offering your services online also means that you have more options then ever when it comes to payment and it’s always an advantage to have as many payment options as possible.
Even a study by CyberSource Corp. stated that generally websites that offer a wide variety of payment options other than just the usual credit card option had a sales conversion rate of 12 higher then those offering one payment option additionally to credit cards to the credit card option.
So the more online payment options you offer the more online payments you will receive, different people like different options for their own personal reasons. It may be that some people view some payment options safer then others.
Anyway here are some of the online payment options you could offer on your site:
1) PayPal
PayPal has become known via the internet site Ebay as it is the main payment method used there. This has made millions of people worldwide of PayPal, generally it is a trusted payment option by people which is also why you should consider offering it as a payment method.
Now Paypal is a all-in-one payment solution. By using PayPal you are accepting Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit card payment. PayPal enables people to make use of Bank transfers and using their debit card to top their account up. The best thing about PayPal is that it’s a bit of a Pay As You Go system, what I mean is that there are no monthly fees for it nor are there any cancellation or setup fees. The amount PayPal charges depends on the your sales volume, however it is 1.9% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. For more information got to here to compare the PayPal payment solution .
2) Credit Cards
This is probably the payment method to have available if you are looking to receive payments online. It is also the payment option to have if you are going to offer only one option, (which I personally strongly don’t recommend) this would be the option to pick. Payment via Credit Cards is still the most widely used method when making payment online.
To be able to set up a credit card processing on your website you need to get an internet merchant account.
3) Debit Cards
As most people nowadays have a credit card this is definetly one of the payment methods to have as your payment option. During 2007 debit cards continued to be the most used payment method for online buyers in the UK so it would dfinatly be a mistake to ignore this fact.
4) Give Them Offline Payment Options Too
For some reason some people are unable to make payment online at all and it may be an idea to give your buyers the ability to make payment offline, so for example you could allow them to send you a cheque and only once the cheque has cleared you post the product or offer the service. The offline payment options are also relatively cheaper even though it takes longer to complete the transaction.
Ok I am not how many of you have thought about this but video advertising is something many large businesses pay a lot of money for. As a small business owner you probably never thought about it because of its high costs. However the internet has broken these barriers and has enabled everyone and this includes Small Businesses to advertise through a video to their customers.
The great thing about this advertising method is that it’s free, as you probably guessed it I mean uploading a video of your business on video websites like youtube.com. Making a video and uploading is pretty easy and fast. Some videos on youtube.com get millions of views from people world wide and a lot of them are nothing special if you watch them.
Ok to put this into prospective youtube.com gets over 100 000 million hits a day and getting some of those visitors to view your business video will only do your business good. Upload your video on other video websites like Metacafe as well, don´t just limit yourself to youtube.com. So go ahead and give it a try.
I liked the video below from youtube, try and spend a few minutes viewing it because it is pretty informative.
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I have been thinking for some time about this and I have looked at a few small businesses that are currently doing it. Well my idea is that small businesses should use opportunities better and get their business to operate on an international scale. While it is always good to supply a certain market in a certain region I believe that some small business should look into supplying the international market. While this may not happen over night it could work if you give it a go. For example if you are selling washing machine parts in your local area why not put some of these parts online and try and sell them to people all over the world. You could try it out on eBay and slowly open your own website and build your customer base. You will be surprised to see how much interest you will get from people in other regions of your country and other foreign countries.
