I Know you sell, but do you buy? eCommerce Question

As business entrepreneurs, we tend to logon to the internet and go straight to the business of promoting our business. In the never ending e-hustle of sending out our press releases and posting site plugs, we seldom see ourselves from the other side of the spectrum – the world of internet consumers. Sometimes, when I’m racking my brain trying to figure out how to reach a broader audience, I stop and think of myself as an audience member.

When I am in down time mode, as an internet casual browser and shopper, what do I look for? What are my favorite spaces? Where do I buy my products? How do I decide if I want to purchase from a website or not? When do I quickly close a site page in disgust. What are the sites that I can’t help going back to and why?

These are the types of questions that I ask myself and you know what I discovered? In exploring my own web patterns and comparing it to my business strategies, I am able to review my work from a customers perspective. Is the site easy to navigate? Can I find what I want quickly? If I’m paying for something, do I like the prices that I’m seeing? This is an activity that you can do yourself. How closely does your web business model the sites that you actually frequent and spend money on. Are they very different? Do you see areas in need of improvement?

In short, I would define this activity as an eye opener because you can’t sell something to consumers that you would’t genuinely by yourself. I also think that by regularly taking the time to ask yourself these questions you get begin to fine tune your sensors with respect to the likes and dislikes of online consumers at large.

So… before you pull out that pen and pad and start answering those questions, let me ask you one or 2 more and answer them myself because that’s only fair. On a normal net day, what sites do you frequent and where do you like to shop?

My Top 5 Net spots are:
1. google.com [I’m A Search NUT]
2. myspace.com [Got to Connect With Folks on my Sistas Making Money Page]
3. Multiple Shades of You Online – msoyonline.com [my site]
4. Blackmomsclub.com [my site]
5. Black Business Women Online [my site]

As you can tell I spend most of my time searching for new sites, updating my own site, and networking with other women. As far as shopping online my favorite spot is definitely amazon.com. I mostly likely to buy from shops that have products I can’t easily get offline, like ‘Miss Jessies Curly Pudding’ or my recently purchased ‘Little Bill Cd-rom’ for my son.

Now, its your turn to think about how you shop and where you buy.

-lh