Commerce Knows No Location

Most folks seeking to build a business know that some businesses require a local presence. Home services such as lawn care, painting, plumbing, roofing, and similar are best retained locally, if located within 50 miles of a metropolitan area. Years ago, a friend of mine was trying to expand his business. I was involved in researching similar businesses within a 50-mile radius of several midwestern cities. He was in a financial position to make an offer to a dozen or more large companies among the cities. Each of the companies was adamant and clear that they were a family business and not for sale. Becoming part of a regional or national company was not interesting, at all, to these business owners. They did not want to owe explanations and produce TPS reports.

Pop-ups and short-term kiosks are becoming popular in some regions. These stores require some level of inventory, if only for samples. Usually, markets and other pop-up locations are attended by buyers who expect to walk out with their purchase.

A physical location is not at all necessary for building a successful business. GPT and various AI systems are nearly ready to tell a glowing story about products and services. Turning those product descriptions into glorious words is only useful if the story is true of the user experience and quality of the product.

How much revenue is successful? A dozen sites count revenue in the billions. Most do not. Pretending to have the features and breadth of products of these sites is not necessary. Buyers who purchase goods and services online spend more annually each of the past ten years. So, the thinking is that a niche with a few designs and products interesting to that niche ought to reliably produce $5,000 in profit each month.

Further posts on strategy for growing online commerce initiatives are forthcoming.