By Glenn Hansen ou wouldn ’ t have a business without a door , right ? Your website is the door for your business today .
“ You ’ d be surprised at home many dealers don ’ t have a website ,” said Brett Morris , president of Dealers Digital , an online marketing agency . OPE Business asked OPE dealers that question in 2019 , and nearly 20 percent of survey respondents said they did not have a website . And I found a 2021 study conducted by Digital . com that said roughly 23 percent of small business retailers ( not just OPE dealers ) do not have a website .
“ I think the biggest selling point for having a website is how much the pandemic shifted buying trends ,” said Tony Zane , sales manager for ARI Retail Services Outdoor Power & Ag group . “ The pandemic forced late adaptors into buying online .” Zane adds that the retail world is “ getting back to normal ,” but many shopping trips still begin online . “ More and more , buyers do their research , shopping , and buying online , and then pick up in store . It ’ s just more convenient .”
A Digital . com survey of 1,250 U . S . shoppers , conducted in October 2021 , looked at shopping habits and it proves Zane ’ s point . In short , it found that when shoppers search the internet for a brick-and-mortar business , 68 % of shoppers want to see a dedicated company website . In more detail , the survey found :
43 % of consumers always search a brick-and-mortar business online before their visit ; 48 % sometimes do .
They look at recommendations , location and hours , and prices . 28 % of shoppers are unlikely to visit a business that does not have an online presence because they question its legitimacy . Another 21 % don ’ t want to risk the business being closed when they visit .
23 % of consumers who research businesses online are somewhat or very unlikely to visit a business that doesn ’ t have an online presence .
Time For An Update I ’ m stating the obvious here , but if your business does not have a website , it needs one . If it does have a website , it probably needs to be updated because user habits have shifted so drastically in three years . The functional life of a website used to be on a five- or six-year cycle . Today , it ’ s more like three or four years . The good news ? Website design and content management are getting simpler .
When starting this research , I surveyed a group of dealers and found several who had recently updated their business ’ s website . They had a few different reasons , and they can be summarized under three headings : Design ( mobile focused , simple style , content first ), marketing ( SEO , local marketing ), shopping ( e-commerce , store updates ).
16 OPE Business April 2023 www . OPEBusiness . com