The other not insignificant statistic that businesses should keep in mind is that 93% of buying decisions start with an online search and if you don’t have a web presence it makes it a little difficult (to say the least) to turn up in the search results and people to make an enquiry and consequently buy, if you don’t have a website.

A recent Nielsen Online survey also showed that 43% of  Australia’s online spending last year went to international retailers. This compares to just 14% in 2005. This reflects that Australian retailers are not providing a good enough online eCommerce opportunity, experience and value for money for consumers to buy from them rather than take their business overseas. There are new eCommerce technology platforms and solutions such as “Magento” that can fill that need by providing the solution and technology to  make it easy for consumers to buy online.

There is another fact that provides some food for thought and that is that the percentage of Australia’s online retail spend compared to the total retail spend is only 3% whereas the figures for the USA shows their share to be 8% of total retail dollars. So there is a major opportunity for Australian retailers to grow sales by going online as the trend for people to buy online continues to increase strongly.

So here are 10 questions that you as a business owner and bricks and mortar retailer need to be asking yourself before continuing to stay on the web sidelines.

1. Do you even have a web presence (website or even a blog)?
2. Are you still spending money on advertising in the Yellow Pages and still getting the same number of leads?
3. Are you still spending a majority of your marketing dollars on direct mail marketing with reduced effectiveness?
4. Are you marketing by fax broadcasts, or have you moved into the 21st century?
5. Are you still “thinking” about having a website for your company, rather than taking action “NOW”?
6. Have you heard of social media for business, that spreads your business content and message by referral and digital word of mouth online?
7. Do most of our reps still cold call as the main way of driving enquiries or is your website taking enquiries while you sleep, ready to follow the next morning?
8. Do you use print media for most of your advertising dollars, or is  your media now predominantly online on your website ?
9. Could we enhance our bricks and mortar stores with an online retail store?
10. How do I get started?

So if you are still thinking that not having a web presence is not damaging your business you need to think again.

If you want people to find your business online as 93% of people are now doing and you want them to then buy from you, then you should start taking action now, or be prepared for a slow extinction.