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Every year ecommerce experiences new trends in the online shopping world. As our world evolves with nature, technology evolves at a faster pace. It is crucial for any business in any industry to keep up with technological trends for its survival. Like Darwin’s survival of the fittest, the companies who are ready to adapt to the latest trends will survive and the others will become extinct. This is why we see many retailers expanding their business to online shopping, because they are following the latest trend in the retail industry. Those retailers, who fail to set up an online shopping website, will have the same fate as the dinosaurs. They will become extinct. The following are the latest trends in online shopping. They clearly show how rapidly our society is evolving to a cyber world. 

Online shopping spikes in the forth quarter every year during the holiday season. This spike pulls the rest of the year with it. Every year online shopping brings in new people online to buy, and those people sign on again during the regular calendar year. They become online shopping regulars and often tell others about the benefits from online shopping. People who were wary before about online shopping give it a try after they see their friend’s enjoyment.

Online shopping is also showing an increase due to many new online merchants. Online shopping customers have more choices on the internet then they ever had before. Online shopping business may offer unique items, or hard to find items that local business don’t carry. As more merchants hit the cyber world, online shopping revenue goes up. Antique businesses make up the majority of new online merchants. Instead of being limited to a local area, antique business owners have discovered that an online business caters to the whole world.

Online shopping also has become more cutthroat with competition. Online shoppers can find better deals then anywhere else. Not only do other online shopping stores price match with other online shopping stores, but retailers must price accordingly to online pricing. Online shopping auctions have also contributed to the online shopping growth. Online auctions offer head to head competition between venders which drives down pricing. This attracts more online shopping users to the internet.

The increase in broadband availability has contributed to the increase in online shopping. With faster internet connections, shoppers don’t need to have patients.  The wait time for an online store’s web page to load is much quicker on broadband than it is on dial up. As more people switch to a broadband connection, more people use online shopping.

Online shopping increase can be contributed to local retailers with web pages desire to online shop. Online shopping allows big retailers to cut down on staff and operating hours. A smaller staff means smaller payroll and no benefits to pay. When the business is being directed to the web site and away from the store, the company can staff accordingly. Also, companies can cut down on operating hours. This saves costs on payroll and utilities.

We call these trends because we never know how the future will evolve. Two decades ago, strip malls were the future; today it is online shopping ; tomorrow, who knows.

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The weather section in the morning paper calls for snow and ice canceling your shopping date with the mall. Newspaper advertisements show huge sales this weekend, now they are just a waste of paper. Or are they? Maybe there is still hope in taking advantage of the huge blowout sales without leaving your home. Actually, there is a way. It’s called online shopping. When the big retailers are closed due to snow or to business ours, online shopping is still open for business. Like the post office, online shopping is open during rain, snow, and sleet. In fact, online shopping is open 24 hours seven days a week.

Don’t let bad weather or even good weather ruin your planned shopping day. No one likes to travel in rain or snow. If this includes you, don’t do it. Sit at your computer desk, or sit on your couch with your laptop and go online shopping. Shopping during beautiful weather is difficult too. Who wants to be trapped indoors when they can go shopping outdoors? Instead of pacing though the long dark hallways in shopping malls, sit outside on your deck; catch some rays, while you make a reservation for a self storage unit.

Besides, rainy weather brings crowds to the malls. Have you ever gone to a shopping mall on a rainy Saturday afternoon? Then you know how hard it is to find a parking spot. Maybe your one of the lucky few that seems to always find a good parking spot. If not, you will look like you have just fallen for the water bucket above the door trick. Once inside the shopping mall, you will have to fight other soggy people with squeaky shoes over who was first in line. You’re better off waiting for nice weather before deciding to go to the shopping mall. But a better solution is to go online shopping so you can still enjoy the nice weather.

If you have a laptop with a wireless modem or a wireless network card, you can do your online shopping practically everywhere. So, when the weather calls for a beach day, you can sit in a beach chair under an umbrella, sip on a margarita, while buying bidding on Native American Indian pottery at an online shopping auction website. On the contrary, maybe you are in the mountains on a beautiful ski vacation. While sitting in the cabin waiting for the blizzard to quite down, you are online shopping for a self storage unit to put away your winter storage when you return home. If online service is available, online shopping can be done anywhere at anytime.

Just like how weather doesn’t affect the access to online shopping, time of day doesn’t disturb online shopping access. If retail store hours don’t cater to you busy schedule, online shopping does. The internet never closes; it is always open for business. So if you can’t get to the shopping mall during normal business hours, you can shop the same stores 3 o’clock in the morning. Online shopping caters to everyone’s schedule.

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The other day someone told me that they never used the internet for online shopping. I couldn’t believe it. I though everyone was on the online shopping bandwagon. Though studies show that people over 65 years old and kids less than 15 years old are unlikely to use the internet for online shopping, this person is in his thirties. When I asked him why he doesn’t use the internet for online shopping , his answer caused a bit of a debate with the dangers of online shopping versus the dangers of regular shopping. He believed online shopping was unsafe and I was ready to rebuttal. 

Like my friend, most people afraid of online shopping worry about identity theft and other scams; they fail to see the dangers associated with real world shopping. Online shopping is done sitting by eating chips and drinking beer on your couch while watching Sunday football games. Traveling to a shopping mall on a busy Sunday afternoon runs the risk of getting into a car accident. Have you ever seen the traffic around a shopping mall on any given Sunday? Minivans full of screaming kids whose parents denied them a Playstation video game clog up the roadways. These parents are distracted and can’t focus on the road.

Another argument is online shopping is vulnerable to identity and financial theft. But how many newspaper stories have you read about people getting mugged in the mall or in the mall parking lot. I bet every week you can find at least two in the local police blotter. Meanwhile millions of online shoppers make purchases everyday. The odd that you will be picked as a target are very slim if you take extra precautions. When a mugger steals your wallet or purse, he not only gets all of your money, your identification and credit cards are his too. An online thief might be able to find your personal information but he can not get your actual credentials. Also, can you fully trust the cashier with your credit card and check numbers? What is stopping them for steeling your identity and information?

So far we just went over the safety benefits of online shopping versus regular mall shopping. Here are a few more pluses for online shopping.

You might have to wait for your product to arrive in the mail when online shopping, but you don’t have to wait in line. I consider waiting in line a waste of my precious time.

Shopping online avoids annoying sales people who attempt to sell you things you are not interested in.

How about those annoying surveyors who just want a moment of your time, but there definition of a moment is 5 times 20.

Depending on where you shop, parking can be quite expensive. In cities where space in limited, so is free parking. Parking your bum on the couch if free. You may argue that shipping costs out way the parking costs, but many online shopping companies offer free shipping. Also, when you purchase a product from out of state, usually tax is eliminated.

So, to those who are still online shopping phobes, wake up and see the advantages of online shopping versus mall shopping. As a society we are accustomed to mall shopping; therefore, we tend to overlook the dangers. Online shopping is still relatively new, so the dangers advertised.

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Secret shopping is a great strategy to learn about the competition. One of my job responsibilities as a district manager for a wireless retail chain was to check out our competition by secret shopping them. Not only did this strategy generate sales approaches to counter our competition’s punches, it allowed us to adopt new innovative ideas and discredit others used by the competition.

Secret shopping also was used to train new employees. Like self storage, the wireless phone industry is highly competitive and the sales process is very intimidating to new hires. It takes time for new hires to find their niche and to feel comfortable on the sales floor or on a sales call. Secret shopping the competition allows them to understand the sales process from the customer’s viewpoint. Secret shopping a few competitors was encouraged to compare different sales approaches. Not all sales people and companies have the same standards and style, so it was important for the new hire to define what works and what doesn’t work.

After secret shopping, the new employee would report back to me and give a report about the experience. Together we would review his opinions of likes and dislikes compared to our expectations. Most likely I had already secret shopped the company before; therefore, I had a good idea of the secret shopping experience that the new hire practiced. As the saying goes, two minds are better than one, but more than two is even better. From the manager’s point of view, there is a lot that I learned from the experience too. Witnessing many different sales scripts allows you to pick out what you like and implement them in your own sales script.

Secrete shopping also was used as a weapon to counter customer’s gripes about our company compared to our competition. We were never involved in getting caught in a price war. If we did, we would have failed. As a smaller chain most of our competition was large retailers who bought in huge quantities for a cheaper price. On the contrary, we could only afford to buy enough inventories to stock one storage room shelf. So we had to sell value over price. Since our stores were specialized in wireless products, so was our sales team. Just like in the self storage industry, our company specializes in storage, so should our employees. In the wireless phone industry, we were not just a sales force, rather a place to get professional help on all wireless communication products. The same goes with self storage; self storage property managers should not take just reservations, but be a total storage consultant. This is why secret shopping is important whether you are checking out the competition or using it for sales training. By identifying competitive sales strategies you can act on them when they are dealt to you.

Most likely your competition is selling the same exact storage space as you. Sometimes there are differences, but not always. So to avoid getting into a price war, know how your competition is selling a self storage unit and counter on that.  

For more information about secret shopping, mystery shopping, or if you want to learn how to secret shop visit one of PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blogs or mystery shopping blogs .

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Property management can have different definitions depending on where you need property management services. In some large corporations or factories, property management could be managing the actual property. This could include parking lots, landscaping, private roadways and driveways, rooftops and any common areas. To the local landlord, property management is the upkeep and maintenance of the rental apartment or home. Some property management companies manage many properties for the owners of the rental homes or apartments. A homeowner could be their own property manager and keep up the lawn, driveway and outside structure of the home. To a self storage business owner, the property manager is usually the self storage manager. A daily checklist of items on the property help make the self storage facility runs smoother. Some of these items might include:

• Visually inspecting the gate for problems, rust or age
• Opening and closing the gate to make sure it is working properly
• Checking the outside of each unit to make sure they are closed and locked
• Picking up any debris, or trash on the property
• Sweeping the front sidewalk or walkway
• Check the outside fencing to make sure there are not any holes or damage
• Check the dumpster for any trash that has blown out or too large to fit in
• Paperwork for current tenants and collections of unpaid rent
• Snow removal or weather related items
• Check perimeter lights and security cameras
• Keep front office clean and neat

These are just a few things that the self storage manager would do on a day to day basis to help keep their property clean and safe. Property management can be a part time job or a full time position. Some businesses find that they cannot concentrate on their property management needs so they will hire a property management company to help with the property. 

Property management companies are becoming more and more popular as businesses find that it is easier to hire out the service than worry about managing their own property. Property management companies can come in and focus on what the property needs to help make the business a success.  Property management companies can be found for most businesses that might require those kinds of services. Of course hiring a property management company will cost your business some money. The more money you can budget for property management will get you different levels of service. Call around and ask for references before you decided on a property management service. Once you have found one, you will not have to worry anymore about your property management issues .

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