How longwill online buying last? Only forever.

I just heard sometalking head state that last year’s increase in online holidaypurchases was because of bad weather and high gas prices.

What are they going toblame it on next year? Halley’s Comet?

Hello! One thing hasNOTHING to do with the other. It was 85 degrees in Miami, and peoplewere buying online. If gas were fifty cents a gallon, people willstill be buying more online.

It’s called reality.

Wake up and smell thewebsites. Online purchases are going to increase FOREVER. The expertstrying to deny the inevitable are the ones with rotary dialtelephones, who are “thinking about” getting a laptop. Orbusinesses with their head in the sand, like fax machinemanufacturers, or phone book printers.

The question is NOT whyare more online sales occurring — that is the most obvious answeron the (we want it now) planet. The question is: WHAT ARE YOU DOINGTO GET YOUR SHARE?

What can I buy fromyou, what can you inform me of that has value to me, what can you doto make my life easier and better, what can you do to entice me, howeasy can you make it for me, how can you prove it to me, and how canI trust you enough for me to enter my credit card number and pull thetrigger to purchase?

Think about the thingsyou have purchased online in the past year. WOW! You wantedsomething, or needed something that did not have a today deadline,and you went to www.something.com, and bought.

AND, you’re probablydoing it more often than you ever did. Convenience, availability,ease of purchase, fits your timeframe, and you trust the seller.

AND, if your need isgreater, or more urgent, many sellers offer overnight delivery. WOW!About the only thing you can’t do online is reach through yourcomputer and pull out the product.

AND, isn’t it funwhen the package arrives? Almost like Christmas in July.

Let’s go back to why,and get to the root cause. People trust the Internet more than ever.Microsoft, Yahoo, google and other search engines have made theInternet THE FIRST place you go to get information. Anything from aplane schedule to the weather. Anything from the date, time, andplace that Mickey Mantle hit his 536th home run, to the perfectrecipe for chocolate chip cookies.

The Internet has becomeprolific. Anything you sell in your store or business can bepurchased online. The only question is: from who?

The Internet is now aTRUSTED resource for information, and purchase follows trust.

Think about your lastautomobile purchase. Did you go online to get information BEFORE youbought the car? Of course you did! You went online to gain orreinforce information to make an informed purchase.

If you can gain allthis information so easily, why not just buy it online? And so youdo.

But here’s thekicker: Each year a new pool of computer literate (computer savvy)people enter the purchasing marketplace. They understand theimmediacy and power that the Internet provides.

The new generation ofkids entering the consumer marketplace think of the Internet as THEplace to purchase stuff. They don’t care about the weather, and theprice of gasoline is not going to affect their desire to purchaseonline — their decision to buy online is based on personal choiceand convenience. Value offered, and value perceived.

REALITY: All brick andmortar stores have “hours of operation.” Nine to five. Nine tonine. The Internet doesn’t. Internet hours of operation are:24-7-365.

I buy stuff atmidnight. And so do you. I buy more and more stuff online. And so doyou. And so does everyone. It’s not something to “measure.”Rather it’s the new reality. And getting more real by the click.

REALITY: Internetgrowth is in its INFANCY. It has no place to grow but up. And it willand it is.

The only question youhave to ask yourself is: What are you doing about it? How is yourbusiness taking advantage of it, and how prepared are you to captureyour share of it?

My website,www.gitomer.com, underwent it’s fifth transformation this pastyear. We improved everything, including making it easier to purchase.We added video descriptions for every product, and made the customerexperience more informative and more fun. Result of my six-figureinvestment? Online sales have doubled.

NOTE WELL: My websiteis also a resource for the sales and customer loyalty information Iknow my customers want and need. And a ton of it is free. People cometo my website by the thousands to get my valuable information at nocost, and then they buy something while they are there.

If you want more ideason how to make your website more valuable, go to www.gitomer.com,register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the words SITEVALUE in the GitBit box.