The success of brick-and-mortar malls attracts many businesses to their online counterparts. However, what works in real-life doesn’t always translate well in cyberspace. The promise of attracting more potential customers may have you wanting a spot in an online mall but how much traffic are they actually getting? Do these visitors mean guaranteed sales? Use the following information to make an educated decision about opening a storefront in an online mall.
Online Malls 101
There are three basic types of online malls:
- Collection of Links
These cybermalls are usually free or very inexpensive to join. Your pre-existing Web store is listed along with others. Visitors simply click on a hyperlink to be transported to your site. This type of mall may bring extra traffic to your site at very little or no cost. In addition, you aren’t relying solely on the mall’s traffic and servers since you maintain your own site. - Web Building and Hosting
In this type of mall, a site is built and hosted for you. You pay a substantial up-front fee and then a monthly charge. While this may seem attractive to business owners with little or no Web knowledge, the owner of the storefront is still responsible for the site’s general maintenance. Worst-case scenario – there are errors in programming or content that you must rely on the mall to fix for you on their timetable. - Internet Business Opportunities
In this online-mall scenario, individuals act as consultants and buy Web pages in online malls for their own use or to resell them to others. Seminars geared toward people with little or no Internet skills or knowledge are used to attract consultants.
Problems with Online Malls
Many vendors in online malls are dissatisfied. A survey by 1998 Thirteenth Floor Internet Services found that 90% of polled merchants in online malls were unhappy with the results of their storefronts. In addition, more than 50% had received no business at all through their storefronts. Some of their issues include the following:
- Sales techniques. Many online-mall sales pitches take advantage of business owners who have little Internet knowledge. False promises of increased sales and high traffic lead to disappointment.
- Lack of customer service. Making changes to your storefront can be difficult and costly. It may also take a lot of time initially to get your site up on the mall.
- Low consumer interest. Internet users generally stick with brand-name sellers on the Web. They will go directly to brand-name sites or use search engines to find exactly what they are looking for without ever visiting an online mall. Online malls also assume that users will "window shop." In reality, most Web surfers prefer to locate exactly what they are looking for rather than peruse online storefronts.
How to Get Good Results
If you already have a storefront in a mall or choose to open one, there are steps you can take to ensure a quality site.
- Make sure your site is at its best. Is your content well written and informative? If not, you may need to hire a professional Web content writer to spruce it up. Also proofread everything you put on your site. Remember to check pages in other areas of the mall that link to your site. An error in your company name or the type of product or service you provide can cost you business.
- Measure your site’s performance. Ask the mall for a report of how many page views your site receives and how many unique visitors are perusing your site. Do not accept a hit count as hits do not give an accurate portrait of how many visitors are accessing your site.
- Promote your storefront. Don’t rely only on the online mall to promote your site. Register your site with search engines, get involved in link programs with other Web sites and include your Web address on every piece of business correspondence (letterhead, business cards, etc.).
- Review your contract. Familiarize yourself with the details of your contract. If your online mall is not keeping their end of the bargain, remind them of their obligations as stated in your contract.
Copyright 2000 PrintPlace.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was last modified on January 6, 2023
This article was first published on May 1, 2000
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