Can E-Commerce Help Seasonal Retailers?

On my most recent vacation to the east coast of Canada I had the opportunity to visit a lot of small towns in PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Our timing was great as these towns were just heading into their off season, so there were lots of specials to be had and not a lot of line ups to participate in things that make these places so much fun to visit. Lots of shops were offering great sales and we took advantage of as many great deals as we could.

One thing struck me as interesting though. Almost all of these small specialty shops advertised that they ship anywhere in the world. When I asked them if I could order from them online, most said no, but I could just call them and place an order or just send them an e-mail for more information. There were others though that did allow me to go to their sites and place orders. This was important for me because there were some shops that had great products that I wanted to get for Christmas gifts but didn’t want the hassle of taking them on the plane, or simply didn’t want to blow my entire budget.

By using the old way of doing business, a seasonal retailer is virtually limited by the traffic that comes into the store during their busy season. With e-commerce that season is extended all year round and they are no longer dependent upon foot traffic. This is even more apparent for specialty retailers that produce or make unique items not available anywhere else.

Consider this example for some of the opportunities that e-commerce provides. I found this great shop in Nova Scotia that specialized in making unique jewelry from sea glass collected from the nearby beach. I bought several gifts for my family but I knew more people that would love this type of stuff. After purchasing a few necklaces, I got the website address so one day I could order more. When my girlfriend wore hers out one night, people were commenting on it and asked where we got it. When I told them, two of our friends went online and purchased some for gifts and one of them even posted it on their Facebook Wall.

Had this small (and I do mean small) retailer not had an e-commerce site we never would have had the opportunity to buy more when we got back and they never would have sold to our friends who had never even been to Nova Scotia. This little shop was not a giant retailer or even a large one for that matter, but they are learning to make money even when the tourists are gone. On top of that, we get updates through Facebook when the owner has made more new and unique items and we can just purchase it from their site.

I guess my question to everyone out there is what are you doing to ensure your season is extended all year? How easy is it for your customers to find, buy and share your items with their friends? How much money are you leaving on the table?