With more and more pressure on “right-sized” workforces to perform the same (or more) workload, many consumers facing time constraints now find it easier to shop online than visit a traditional brick and mortar store. While the recession is causing year to year traffic decline for many retail stores, other retailers are looking for new ways to improve store traffic and sell goods.

As a result, many small retailers are now opening up online stores to peddle their goods. With large online sites like Amazon and Ebay seeing record sales in a recessionary period, e-commerce sites are becoming a necessity for retailers to stay competitive.

Low Barrier to Entry

While starting a brick and mortar store can cost tens of thousands of dollars, opening an online store can cost as little as $1,000 to $3,000 for a professionally designed e-commerce site. However, remember you will have to effectively market the site to drive a steady stream of potential buyers. Not sure how market your site? Here are two ideas:

• Find local buyers. The easiest way to do this is to set up a geo-targeted online campaign promoting the products you offer through top search engines like Google or Yahoo.
• If your store is located in a high traffic area, simply placing a banner with that includes a sales call to action with your web address highly visible can easily convert into online customers at no additional cost.