Local Businesses See Retail Boom Online

The holiday shopping season still has roughly two weeks to go, and Erin Hohnbaum's small storefront in Hillcrest is cranking out orders for customers like never before.

"Every week we have new arrivals and we see a huge increase in sales," she said.

While Hohnbaum has no shortage of customers at her brick and mortar boutique in before items started appearing on racks, they existed solely online.

"I started with bags and jewelry. The sales just continued to grow. Once I reached the point where people were coming to my house to shop with me, I knew it was time to get a storefront," she said. "But still, this is just shop and go. They can shop on their phones, anywhere. "

Aside from her blog, Hohnbaum's incorporated social media into her business scheme, with Facebook offering shopping options right within the application.

"We post the items on our page, and people can comment to make orders," she said. "And they do."

"We posted a necklace on Friday, and within five minutes we had people ordering it," said Internet Sales Manager Kerri Sangalli. "Since we incorporated Facebook we've seen our customer base there go from 2,000 to nearly 8,000."

More and more shoppers, they say, opt to point, click, and purchase than drop in to rifle through the racks.

"If your business isn't on Facebook, Twitter, and now Pintrest and Instagram you don't really have a business," Hohnbaum said. "It's the way we're headed, especially with this generation. That's where they communicate. That's where they're comfortable."

Nearly 60 percent of E. Leigh's online customers are local. They have items shipped to their homes, and some pick up at the store location.

But the customer base is also expanding across the United States, thanks to the exposure online.

"We're shipping all day every day," Sangalli said. "We have girls ordering from California, D.C. From Texas to New York, it's grown our business to a nationwide retail outlet.

Proving Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Best Buy aren't the only ones winning on the web.

"It helps us compete on a completely different level," Sangalli added.

"100 percent," Hohnbaum said. "If you aren't online, you're missing a huge opportunity to reach new customers."

With online customers tripling in just three months, E. Leigh's the face of the new frontier, and a sign that shops without a cyber store front might be passing up on cash and customers.

"Even if they didn't offer products online you have to be showcased there," she said.

According to data firm comScore, online sales are soaring above last year's levels by 13 percent. That's a total of $26 billion in e-commerce between November 1, 2012 and December 7, 2012.

Even with traditional in-store discounts and bonus coupons, e-commerce continues to outpace the in-person counterparts.

Source: http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext?nxd_id=618172

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