RETAILER: BROCHURE SITE OR ONLINE STORE, WHERE TO START?

I have seen €8,000 online stores that never sold, and €1,500 brochure sites that fill a room. The difference is not the budget, it is the question asked at the start.

Three questions

1. Do your customers buy this product without seeing or touching it? A fine grocery, a wine shop, cosmetics: yes. A florist, a bakery, an optician: rarely. In the second case, what the customer wants online is to find you, see your opening hours, book or order to pick up.

2. Can you ship? Packing, printing a label, dropping off the parcel, handling a return: it is a job. If nobody can do it every day, the online store will be a source of dissatisfaction.

3. How many references, and do they change often? Fifty stable references: a simple store. Three hundred references that change every week: it must be linked to your POS, or you will spend your evenings updating stock.

The order that works

1. The Google profile and a fast brochure site : opening hours, address, phone in one tap, real photos, one page per flagship product or service. That is what brings customers into the shop from the first month.
2. Click & collect : order online, pick up in the shop, pay on site or online. No delivery, no returns, and you see straight away whether the demand exists.
3. The full online store, with delivery, when click & collect orders justify it and the logistics are ready.

What it costs

Brochure site from €1,500. Click & collect added to a brochure site: from a few hundred euros. Full store from €3,500. Each step is useful on its own and prepares the next: you do not pay twice.

If you already have a site

Audit it before deciding. In thirty seconds, you will know whether it holds up to host click & collect, or whether it is better to start again cleanly.

Frequently asked questions