Retail Online is the Future - Personal Franchising is Your Future

A few years ago I had a great discussion with my brother-in-law about business in general and more importantly his business.

First let me explain that he was in the retail businesses selling wooden gym sets. He loved the business, he was extremely good at it because he loved helping others, enjoyed children and was making a good living. The issue he was facing was that his sales were going down and he didn't really understand why. Were people not spending on his products because of 911? Were they purchasing from other sources? If so, who were they?

Most of my life I've watched for trends and looked in amazement at fast things change and how often patterns tend to duplicate themselves. Never with the same tool, but always repeating. I started to ask questions related to the online shopping habits. Could some of his sales be redirected to online sources? The discussion did get a bit passionate at times. He didn't believe the Internet was going to amount to anything - a short term blip. People still want to come to a store, touch it, feel it and purchase from a local source. I on the other hand went a little over board and suggested that within the next five years a majority of the products sold will be done over the Internet.

Well a couple years later what is the reality? People did want to touch, feel and see ... but then they will go home and check the Internet for pricing. I recently went to a bike store to get a new road bike as I love biking. When I went in the owner suggested I get fitted for the bike. This made sense to me so I agreed. He said it would be $125 for the service that would be fully credited if I purchased the bike at his shop. When I inquired how this came about, he said people would come in and get fitted only to purchase the bike online to save $500 dollars.

Last year was the first year that clothing took over the number one item sold on the Internet, as well as electronics. Retailers said people would never purchase clothing online! But they are now. The most valuable resource people have in this busy world is their time. With the cost of gas going up it is only driving online sales.

So what is the newest trend?

Approximately every 10-20 years, a new marketing system is identified as a new way of distributing products to the end consumer -

1930s.. Direct Selling

1940s.. Franchising

1950s... MLM - Network Marketing

1960s.. Catalogs

1910s... Direct Mail

1980s.. Infomercials, Direct Response, Direct Marketing

1990s..Clubs and warehouses

2000's ...Internet - Online commerce

The Distribution Trend for the 21st century is going to go back to One-to-One Marketing and Mass Customization. How many people believe the mass marketing that is going on? Not many of my peers or friends.

If you have a great product, how do you get it on the retail shelves? People say it is next to impossible. The large corporation protect that ground pretty fiercely. And they should. But for new products it costs millions to get looked at let alone purchased.

So what happened to my brother-in-law? He continued to do traditional marketing and it didn't work for him. Most of his sales were being taken by the Home Depot, Costco and Lowes that sold them for much less money. Even thought his were better quality but most people didn't care - it only needed to last a few years and the gym sets looked similar. He rented more space and expanded his business to furniture and eventually it failed. He didn't do anything wrong other then not noticing the change in consumer spending and the trend to move to online purchases.

There has never been a better time for you to be in business for yourself through a home based business or a personal franchise from the home. Take advantage of the latest trend of people looking for better products, better health, make more money and take advantage of the new consumer purchasing trend.

About The Author:

Andrew Van Valer is a noted author, speaker, coach and CEO of Zyzyrgy.com and writes on a variety of subjects related to finance, debt reduction, personal franchises and home based businesses. To visit the largest online personal franchise community of 50,000 members and to find trusted solutions for the leading low cost of entry home based businesses go to http://www.cashflowpotentials.com