Inkfast, our online ink and toner business, is now fifteen months old and consistently generates more sales than we achieve through the entire stationery department of our retail business. For the last two months we have operated profitably without Google or Yahoo paid advertising campaigns – demonstrating that we have, in the fifteen months, created a sustainable ink and toner business. The benefits for our retail business are: better buying – thanks to Inkfast volume; better time management – it is easier to schedule order fulfillment from an online business than retail sales; spreading the risk – by moving from a pure retail play in stationery to an online/retail mix we are growing the overall category thanks to our new online customers.
While not all newsagents can move online as easy as us – since I also own a software company – they can play through the likes of online auction and classified sites. Given the growth of online sales – reports says it has doubled in the last six months – retailers not online are missing out.