05/01/2002- Business West
By: Joseph Bednar - After years of double-digit growth, online retail sales hit a snag over the past holiday season, perhaps partly due to a flagging economy and past 9/11 fears. Now that the economic mood is brightening, companies say this is no time to abandon the Internet. Read excerpts from Gravity Switch President, Jason Mark's comments below or click the PDF document to download the entire article.
"One
of the myths of dot.coms in general that has afflicted small companies
is the 'build it and they will come' philosophy," said Jason Mark, who
designs E-commerce sites as part of his Northampton Web design
business, Gravity Switch.
"What
we do is look at where you are and where want to position yourself.
Without a solid marketing plan, you don't want to go online. You have
to ask, who are you going to reach, and how are you going to reach
them?"
"I see a lot of caution, a lot of skeptical people, as
can be expected with anything new," Mark said. But now that countless
business people have tried and failed to make E-commerce work without
any meaningful plan, many are coming back to the screen with more savvy
and respect for business traditions such as customer satisfaction,
customer retention and, especially, marketing. As for the computer
skills necessary to maintain an online retail site, that's where
companies like Mark's comes in.
...In Western Mass., the
opportunity is especially great, Mark added, noting that in his area,
the five colleges - UMass, Smith, Hampshire, Amherst and Mount Holyoke
- provide a large base of customers for many businesses, but then many
of them move away after graduation. The Internet can provide a
connection to keep those customers for years to come. And that kind of
rationale for E-commerce, he said, is far more realistic than the
get-rich-quick dreams of the Internet's early years.
"That
time has passed," Mark said. "What you're seeing now is respectable
business people using their business sense to expand their markets
nationally or internationally."
Download and read the entire article.
Gravity Switch is an experienced web/multimedia design firm with a
knowledgeable and friendly staff. For information about working with
Gravity Switch please call [413] 586-9596.