The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that total retail sales in 2008 decreased 0.6 % from 2007. However, the interesting part is that e-commerce sales for whole 2008 were $133.6 billion, an increase of 4.6 % from 2007.

What does the statistics tell us?

Without doubt, e-commerce was a profitable distribution channel for retail business in recession.  The statistics gives us a general picture how people change their buying behaviors in the downturn.

So should you, those who do not own an on-line store, build your own e-commerce?

Before a answer is given, let us first take a look at the long-term trends of e-commerce. Below is a graph for

Quarterly U.S. Retail E-commerce Sales as a Percent of Total Quarterly Retail Sales from 2000 to 2008.

The blue line represents adjusted data. E-commerce has emerged from last downturn in 2000, we can see that e-commerce sales as a percentage of the whole sales have been growing in the last 8 years.

Thus, whether in this recession or in the long term, we have confidence that e-commerce has a lot of potential. Many analysts and consultants have already discussed a lot about e-commerce.  Below are some tips I summarized for e-commerce:

1. Design a Warm Look Website

The first step for your online store is to design an attractive website. In addition, make sure it is easy for your shoppers to browse the products and checkout.

2. Bring traffic to your store

Search engine-insert keywords into the code of your website so that your website has a greater chance of getting hits by qualified prospects than it would have otherwise.

Linked-you can also bring traffic to your online business by linking with popular websites or by using e-press release and e-network tools.

3. Adjust your e-commerce according to feedback

How do shoppers like your online store?They will use their money to vote.  Keep track of people's buying behaviors toward to your online store, adjust your strategy if it is necessary.

4. Manage virtual/physical stores on one system

Managing mutiple distribution channels is the biggest challenge for many retail business.For considerations of conveniene and cost effeciency, make sure that you have a system that can help you manage all stores at one platform. 

Now, are you ready for your e-commerce?