There’s No Business Like E-Business

By Ron Kustek

Given the last 15 months of shelter-in-place orders, social distancing and just surviving the craziness of 2020, E-Business is now more important than ever — for every business. It’s very likely that for each business that had an online presence established before the pandemic, you found that your E-practices likely paid off.

Some businesses had to do a “crash course” in what it meant to become an E-business, which could have ranged anywhere from just having a website all the way to online ordering and fulfillment, including shipping, curbside order pick-up, delivery or a combination of all three. However you chose to build-out your online presence, you will likely continue that effort this year and for many years to come.

According to the US Census Bureau courtesy of Statista, E-Commerce sales jumped to 14% of total retail sales in 2020 — and that excludes restaurant/food service sales:

The only way many restaurants survived 2020 was to have nearly 100% of their sales shift to online ordering through their own website or using partner services such as Doordash, Gruhub and/or Uber Eats.

None of us should be surprised that monthly sales of meals delivered have continued to rapidly grow well into 2021:

There is no turning back when it comes to E-Commerce, as people’s shopping habits have permanently changed. Yes, there are many people who will continue buying in person, whether they need to finally get out into the world and shop again, or to get some fresh air, or to physically see and experience what it means to shop among other humans once again.

But keep in mind that in January 2021, as vaccines were rolling out and the world started opening up, only 31% of consumers said they preferred to visit a physical shop, but nearly 60% of BrizFeel survey respondents said they preferred to continue shopping online:

What that means for all retailers, whether you’re a restaurant, shoe store, gift shop or hardware store, is that people are now used to shopping online, and that E-commerce has become the “new normal” way of shopping.

If you’ve been holding off any investment into improving your online E-commerce website, there is no more time to wait.

There are many companies who are available to help small businesses grow their online sales revenues, as well as help businesses optimize their social media presence. Both go hand-in-hand, and no longer can a business depend on the old formula of “Regulars + Foot Traffic + Tourists = Sales Growth.”

Some of us can remember there used to be many businesses that didn’t even want to embrace the internet when it began commercially in the 1990s.

Don’t let your business become one of those forgotten relics of the past that gets fondly remembered by those who miss you. And to take some great liberty with the last line from The Wizard of Oz, there’s no business like E-business.

Ron Kustek is a former senior marketing executive of The Cola-Cola Co., and entrepreneur who is currently teaching business at Cabrillo College. Contact him at RoKustek@cabrillo.edu.