Thinking of starting an online business? The reality is, just like any other business, you need to have some backing. But don’t believe me – have a look at this… http://www.smartcompany.com.au/retail/20100408-top-10-online-retailers.html
The article is a bit over a year old, but not much has changed. In fact the online store trend is still in the limelight with some of the big traditional retailers quite vocal and worried about the rise of online sales!
The reality is that when it comes to web development, top online business spend around $100,000 on their websites. Truth people! I know of one business in Australia that has just redesigned their website at a cost of about half a mil, not counting the 5 full timers that would be on a combined half a mil per year plus and the million dollars plus they spend on Google. This is before they even launched their online store!!! Of course you don’t HAVE to spend that much, but the reality is, to compete with the big boys, you will need a reasonable amount of seed capital from a bank or investor! Without it, you can still do quite nicely, but have reasonable expectations and be prepared for a lot of hard work!
PS – I came across this article when I was looking for a list of top 10 websites in Australia to use for benchmarking purposes. Stay tuned for more about that! In the meantime, check out the top 10 US online retailers.