ere they can process an online transaction, with 46 per cent of this group acknowledging that they still lagged behind their more e-savvy competitors. Already almost all (91 per cent of respondents) reported that e-commerce is already having an impact on their traditional business.Of the respondents who were already generating online sales, almost half believe their online business lagged behind their competitors. The vast majority (73 per cent of those who are active) are spending less than $2000 per month promoting their online business. (We believe that, despite the common misconception that it is cheaper to run an online store, the reality is that there are many types of expenses that traditional retailers would not have considered before embarking on the journey.) To summarise the findings: (Participants will receive a copy of the findings via email if they opted in to do so. Others who are interested can get a copy from eReady Partners Almost every retailer is affected, only half have started to do something about it an almost all of those are not doing enough. The implications are profound. You are behind. Traditional retail is allowing pureplay e-ommerce retailers to stake their claim on these new gold fields, which they are doing at rapid pace. Of course, those pureplays then integrate backwards and start opening in physical locations to create the omni-channel experience E-commerce is not a trend (as I said last week) here on Inside Retail. This raises the question about what to do. Below is a simple action plan to get you started. It is a constant learning process, because the technology is changing. Attend seminars, subscribe to blogs, subscribe to newsletters, engage consultants, ask your coach and buy books. However it is you learn, target these topics even if you feel uncomfortable about it now. (eReady Partners is scheduling quarterly updates that many will find useful.) Start taking small steps – here are the first five for you. 1. It is a constant learning process, because the technology is changing. Attend seminars, subscribe to blogs, subscribe to newsletters, engage consultants, ask your coach and buy books. However it is you learn, target these topics even if you feel uncomfortable about it now. (eReady Partners is scheduling quarterly updates that many will find useful.) 2. Start your Twitter account. You don’t have to say anything, just listen and learn. 3. Stake your claim on the social media sites and platforms to ensure you own your brand/domain name as soon as possible. This includes at the very least, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Tumblr, your blogging CMS and You Tube. (Here is Wikipedia’s list of top social media sites.) You can use NameChk, to see if your username/ brand name is available on most sites in a single glance. You may not use all these sites immediately, but at least you own your real estate. 4. Get your Google house in order, including claiming authorship on Google for your blog, your Google Analytics account and so forth. (Having a free G Mail account is very useful around the net and I use one to subscribe to newsletters instead of my business email. Google is superb at keeping spam at bay, and it is much safer to use that email for (what could be) dodgy website subscriptions. 5. Make sure you have a simple, static website at the very least. Put your ‘shop’ button on it too even if you don’t have an online shop. Give customers a ‘coming soon, give me your email to be advised when we launch’, message and track the number of clicks. (That is a basic way of testing interest in your offer.) All of this should be done by Friday (except #1 which is ongoing). If not, I will come to haunt you… Good luck, Dennis GANADOR: Don’t out sell your competitors, out teach them and your clients will love you for it. PS: If you want to think about future-proofing your business, start by watching this video and the four others that follow. Very sharp thinking went into them.