INTERNET SALES SET TO GROW 14% IN 2009

With the recession looming and financial institutions nursing their wounds, can you believe that internet sales will actually GROW by 14% in 2009? Yes, it is true. Right smack dab in the middle of the worst recession our country has ever seen, spending will increase on the web.

Experts (other than myself) are predicting a total market share of $141 billion for web-based retail sales & service this coming year. This is mind-numbing. I tend to believe the prognosticators who are making this rather bold prediction. As people tighten their wallets, the general tendency is to find bargains any way possible. What better way is there to find the lowest prices and highest value other than the internet?

I’ve been saying for quite some time that we will be seeing two major shifts in the local business world. The first will be the impact upon traditional media advertising due to the meteoric rise in social media site usage. The second will be the stampede of local business owners and professionals rushing to get connected to the majority of local residents who are using the social media sites on a daily basis. Critical mass will occur once the first local business owner reports tangible gains utilizing social media for marketing purposes.

This brings me to the question in the title of this post. Local business owners and professionals, when it comes to advertising and marketing investment, where’s YOUR wallet? (forgive me, Capital One, I had to use your snappy catch phrase to make this point!)

Right now, the overwhelming majority of local business owners are keeping their advertising bucks in stonehenge media (my pet name for the age-old media venues). However, while the status quo continues pouding their hard-earned dollars into stonehegne media, a select few are going to flank their business sectors on the battlefield for customers and launch a surprise attack with social media marketing. Smart business owners will start to balance their advertising dollars between stonehenge media and online social media. If you don’t believe it, just watch what happens in 2009 and call me in a few months so I can tell you “I TOLD YOU SO!”

There will be a large percentage of local business owners and professionals in due time who will wise up and want to make the investment in social media, but many will be completely clueless on how to go about doing so. When the time comes, Mr. & Mrs. Local Entrepreneur, you better be looking up Carlton Flowers in the Yellow Pages and making a fast phone call for help.

Carlton Flowers, Social Media Expert

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