How to succeed in online retail

Hal Pritchard runs Everton Online, an internet retail site dedicated to kitchenware. He says starting an ecommerce site can be just as hard as starting a bricks-and-mortar location, and requires control.

“You get retailers who don’t understand the tech side of things, and have a good product range, but they lack a good design element. Then you have the opposite. Combining those two elements is the key for an online store to be successful. You are IT-based, but essentially a retail store.”

“If you think of a normal retail store, you’re limited by your space, and because of that you need to focus on the best-selling items in your store. Online retailers are not limited by space. If you look at something like Deals Direct, they just add products with warehouse space and the temptation to grow thin is there.”

“But that doesn’t make you a better business, you lose the concept of who you are and it hurts your brand. The more focussed you can be, the better you are at what you do.”

To read more about Hal Pritchard and Everton Online, click here.