We live in a world that is now globally interconnected.
This has brought with it a range of advantages, from e-learning to video calls, which have dissolved business boundaries.
While nations have maintained their geographic and political borders, goods have not, thanks to agreements and treaties signed in recent years. Competitiveness has reached unprecedented levels.
This major topic, to which I will dedicate several articles, benefits consumers but penalizes businesses with a purely local mindset.
Why? For this article, I will pick three words from the "pile" of reasons:
- Price
- Convenience
- Choice
For the first, there's not much that can be done. Democracies should work to create conditions that protect the internal economy, and that (I don't envy them) is not my job.
Convenience—here, I feel much more confident giving you my opinion because I've been working on it for about 20 years now, and I can explain it with a simple question:
Why should I, as a consumer, struggle to navigate your website when only you and the person who built it can understand it?
I go on Amazon, so don't waste time dealing with your panic-inducing user experience!
That's a strong statement, but long loading times and endless articles don't always work on the web. So today, let's step away from being politically correct for a moment.
If you want to give your business a new future and can't lower your margins, at least try to make it easier for a customer to find you. Many people love to buy locally, but unfortunately, you are no longer the answer to their needs if they can't find what they're looking for nearby.
And where do they go? To the big platforms, that's where.
I promise we'll revisit this topic later.
Today, I'll leave you with a small aphorism:
If you want your neighbourhood to survive: "buy local."
If you want your shop to stay open: "start selling online."
Sometimes the right path is somewhere in between.
