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Sphinn Home » SEM
When the Web is a Small Business’s Enemy, pt. III
SEM News Source: http://www.smallbusinesssem.com
Published: Jun 12, 2008 - 05:29 pm
Story Found By: DavidWallace 1340 Days ago
Category: SEM
Matt McGee writes, "KGO-TV, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, has a story online that follows a theme I’ve written about before: the Internet as a small business’s enemy. In the story, we learn that some small businesses in the town of San Anselmo are rallying together to ask local residents to do more shopping in town, rather than online."
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from Jill 1340 Days ago #
Votes: 0

I might have this wrong, but I was under the impression that online florists such as FTD often use local to actually provide the flowers and local delivery. If that’s the case, then it shouldn’t kill off local florists. But perhaps they do it differently these days?As John Andrews touched upon in his comments on the original post, as with any business, local ones are just going to have to figure out a way to add value. There are still plenty of people who like to see, feel, smell and touch things before they buy them. And there are plenty who need things immediately.  Online can’t do those things yet!

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from johnandrews 1340 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Tulips.com kicked the local florists arse for me many times over the years. Super-fresh, super beautiful, fresh from the farm tulips delivered promptly, as promised, for a reasonable price. When I moved out here I visited them in person, and did not enjoy it at all. It is a very long standing family tulip business with large, beautiful farms. My personal experience at their storefront was a 3 on a scale of 10. This past year has not been so good online either, but the point is the online fulfillment is a different business than the offline retail. I have *never* enjoyed high quality from remote FTD-inspired local florist shops, even when ordering through shops I had frequented in person with great results. Separate from that more obvious facet of serving customers online, the online opportunities are often quite unique. Any brick and mortar small business that does well but doesn’t yet understand the online world simply needs the right training, education, perspective, and probably people helping out. This reminds me of some discussions over at http://www.internetbusiness.co.uk/. Many successful busines owners are happy to tell their stories of starting at the bottom, working as a dishwasher or prep cook or mail sorter before developing the insights and experience they eventually used to succeed with their own businesses. It’s no different here... but there is a lot of hard work to do and maybe they are no longer up to the challenge of doing it all themselves, like they say they did offline?

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from MiriamEllis 1339 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Jill -The problem with the florists is sort of a catchphrase in local search. The floral category in Google Maps have been the victim of crazy spamming wherein mafiaesque monster companies have made every effort to appear as though they are locally located, when, in fact, they are not. Mike Blumenthal even covered a very nutty situation in which blackball letters were sent out to dozens of florists warning them that if they didn’t pay up, they’d be cut out of the system...a sort of extortion. Matt’s article references these types of problems.This was a terrific article.Miriam

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