The Cape Coral market runs the whole gambit, as does my competition. We are in the downtown area of an average size city with every chain and lots of independents. Our customers include seasonal tourists, retirees, and proportionate blue and white collar workers. We are highly dependent on the real estate community and the industries that drive it, so all businesses are a little off right now. My customers are downtown businesses and thier employees, local residents, commuters from Fort Myers that live in the Cape, and tourists. But that’s not why onlne ordering works.
It works because the customer gets maximum convenience, control of the order, and better information regarding products, pricing, and value. No hard selling, just visual upselling. It works because more and more people are purchasing more and more online and it’s just gotten easier to do. Try puting all your products on a table to show your customers and then finding an employee with the time, knowledge, or interest to promote them to every caller. For that matter, would anyone listen? Heck, it’s 2007 and I have online customers sitting at a red light ordering a pizza on an I-phone on the way home.
As for intergration with a POS… yes it would be great… it’s available… and I’m getting it. But I didn’t need it to get started and neither do you. The fax shows the web selections, same as any other fax order and the cashier rings it in just like any other order. Costs for the software and fax fees run about $125 monthly. That’s awful cheap when you consider that my average web ticket is 50% higher than otherwise. Heck, I was paying $250 a month for coupon distribution that got me a lot less! Now I have over 600 customers and an email database that allows me to listen to them, contact them, thank them, and reward them for loyalty. Like I said, this IS for everyone.
Note: I’m not representing any company other than my own here. Just suggesting that others consider the opportunity before they find themselves following thier competitors anyway. So, have fun and make dough…
