Assess Your Strategy To Remain In Business

Assess Your Strategy To Remain In Business

When operating a business, it's of paramount importance to constantly assess your position to be sure that you are heading in the right direction. If external situations change, you need to make sure you adapt too. Footwear retail is a highly competitive arena on the internet in the UK, now increasingly dominated by the large sites and high-street shops. It's a very difficult place, particularly for a small, independent company, to prosper. This was the predicament that Totally Commerce Ltd was faced with. They were finding it more and more difficult to remain competitive with the larger sites and continue to offer the same prices and range of products that they did. Cashflow was also an issue - orders for shoes were usually placed 6 months prior to delivery and once delivered, invoices would need to be paid within thirty. This only left a very short time to sell the stock. With the situation not improving, it was time to take a long, hard look at the company and for some difficult decisions to be made. The main issue came down to stock - the company could not afford to purchase more products yet couldn't sell what it didn't have. It was therefore decided to include products from other merchants, on an affiliate basis, and earn a commission on sales made as a result. This was originally done as a trial with the merchant offerings detailed alongside the existing product range. However, it quickly became apparent that as these were proving so popular, the site should become totally affiliate based as soon as it could. The business was therefore downsized; several stuff unfortunately had to be made redundant, and the company was relocated to smaller offices. Existing stock was sold at wholesale prices to provide some cashflow into the bank account and the website was changed into an affiliate-only site. The changes have multiple benefits - visitors to the website can now view a vast range of products - far more than ever before, and Totally Commerce Ltd doesn't need to hold stock. Retailers that used to be in competition with TotallyShoes are now keen to work with the company, and it is a strategy that seems to be benefiting everyone. Footwear news and special offers and new products are also featured on the sites blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page. The business now has income streams from many sources; affiliate companies that used to charge for operating as a merchant now pay them commission; rather than spend money advertising on Google, Google now pay the company. There's also income from the partner programs from several major online retailers. If you are owner of your own business, it is essential that you always assess and reassess your direction. If what you are doing isn't working, you must change it to survive, even if this means some extremely tough decisions need to be taken.

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