Introduction
The spiraling rate of ecommerce businesses in recent times has been linked to an increased desire by retail entrepreneurs to expand their scale of operation. Uncertainties such as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many brick-and-mortar businesses to shift from their traditional chain stores to digital e-commerce avenues (Scuotto et al., 2019). However, it is important to incorporate appropriate approaches that will ensure that entrepreneurs grow their market on the Internet, as the transition does not automatically guarantee business success. A breakthrough of how advocacy, attention, and authority techniques can be employed to transmute and expand a retail sewing business on the Internet forms the basis of this paper.
Growth by Advocacy
McCarthy Outfits is a brick-and-mortar sewing machine established by Catherine two years ago. Her business can adopt advocacy as a tool to transform its operation into an e-commerce venture. When using this strategy, Catherine should first focus on gaining a wider online customer base. Buying online ads will enable her to win new customers whilst giving assurance to the existing ones that they are dealing with the right service provider. On the other hand, creating e-mail marketing campaigns and e-commerce websites can be used to convince potential customers to switch to new suppliers (Chaffey et al., 2019). The section below highlights how public awareness through advanced advocacy (attention) can be used by Catherine for a smoother online operation.
Growth by Attention
Catherine can use attention modeling techniques such as customer relationship management through social media. Under this strategy, she can increase customer awareness using paid advertisement modalities available on Google. It is important that she creates a separate e-commerce website to focus on advanced customer priorities such as tasks and intent. While information such as pricing is important to customers, it should be avoided on attention-grabbing websites (Wirtz, 2019). Consumer data obtained from the advocacy phase can be used to find the lowest acquisition costs and methods of dominating major search engines. Stiff online competition can be further overcome through innovation, as discussed in the segment below.
Growth by Authority
Due to the inbound links created in the previous phases, Catherine should focus more on innovation and outsmarting competitors. It is crucial to design reliable programs capable of differentiating her business products from the rest. This can be done by expanding the variety of clothing designs offered. On the other hand, automation of the help desk can help reduce labor costs while providing a 24/7 service to potential clients (Chaffey et al., 2019). Similarly, integrating advocacy and attention websites into a single mobile application will guarantee easy access to different services by customers (Scuotto et al., 2019). These innovative approaches are appropriate to completely dominate the market while suppressing competitors before eventually forcing most of them out of the industry.
Conclusion
Catherine can use advocacy, attention, and authority techniques to smoothly transform her sewing business into e-commerce and expand her market on the Internet. Aggressive advertising during the advocacy phase will help her acquire new clients, whereas innovation during the later phases will be relevant in pushing competitors out of the market. Similarly, advertising her business online would give assurance to the existing clients that they are dealing with the right supplier. The study of business transmutability aspects discussed in this paper can help students interested in becoming sole proprietors transform into profitable online entrepreneurs.
References
Chaffey, D., Edmundson-Bird, D., & Hemphill, T. (2019). Digital business and e-commerce management. Pearson UK.
Scuotto, V., Serravalle, F., Murray, A., & Viassone, M. (2019). The shift towards a digital business model: A strategic decision for the female entrepreneur. In F. Tomos, N. Kumar and N. Clifton (Eds.,) Women entrepreneurs and strategic decision making in the global economy (pp. 120-143). IGI Global.
Wirtz, B. W. (2019). Digital business models. Springer