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How the little guy finds his inner David

July 16, 2012 Written by NetSphere Category: eCommerce
How the little guy finds his inner David

In one iteration or another, the stories of life have always included a standoff between the little guy and the big guy. And despite a few fairy-tale-like happy endings, it’s usually the big guy that prevails. So has been true in the realm of online retailing.

“One of the major reasons people turn to sites like Amazon when they start browsing for products and services is the fact that customer feedback and reviews are prominently incorporated into individual listings,” according to a press release on PRWire.com. “This goes a huge way to encouraging prospective buyers to trust in the product – especially given that they can’t see and touch the product in person.”

As buying habits change with time, the advantages to being small become a major plus. Nimble and flexible, small business owners are able to adapt to the changing landscape quicker than their larger counterparts. With less corporate layers to penetrate, a small business owner can make the choice to redesign his ecommerce site today – not tomorrow and not next quarter once the board has given its approval.

And this is exactly the type of governance that a small business should take advantage of. The time to adapt is now. In many cases the only thing stopping a small business from growing into a big business is the functionality of the website. If a business has an established collection of return customers, there’s no doubt that those customers will be willing to share their positive experiences. They just need a forum in which to do so. Because…

“It all comes down to social proof,” the editors of the press release explain. “We naturally become less suspicious of a product or a retailer if we can see what other consumers – especially people we know already and are connected to via social media platforms – have to say about it. Reviews lend credibility to the unwaveringly positive things producers have to say of their own products."

So as long as the little guy has backup – in the form of a dedicated, satisfied pool of return customers – he might just make it big, so to speak.  

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Abbe Miller is the marketing manager at NetSphere Strategies, located just outside Chicago. NetSphere Strategies is a boutique eCommerce company positioned to help businesses transform their online presence by providing a full complement of services that starts with our strategic consulting and creative design teams, then continues with building innovative solutions and providing ongoing post-project support.