Small Businesses Mull Whether Online Sales Are Worth It

As a local small business, having an online store can bring more customers from both your area and possibly worldwide – especially during the holiday gift-giving season. But actually running a physical shop and an online presence can be a daunting task for some owners. As IPR’s Chris Hatfield reports, not all small business owners in Muncie find offering products online worthwhile.

Muncie Map Company started its life as an online store. Now that Andy Shears has been running a physical location on Adams Street for a few months, he says keeping an online store running is worth the effort.

“We get orders and requests from not only Muncie people, but other people from all over the world. It’s definitely helped us reach out and get our designs out there.”

Debbie’s Handmade Soap also started out as an online-only business. (Photo: Chris Hatfield)

Around the corner and down the street is Debbie’s Handmade Soap. Though her Muncie storefront is relatively new, Debbie Acree has been selling her products online and wholesale for much longer. She says her biggest challenge is trying to keep in stock the products people are interested in.

“It’s more than I had anticipated, especially since I’ve opened the new storefront. I was fairly busy, and it was really a small, small business until I opened my storefront.”

And then there’s those businesses where online stores don’t make sense.

Toys Forever Models and Hobbies store owner Brandon Mundell says when he tried having an online store, he ran into problems with customers’ shopping habits.

“You’re a tiny fish in a huge pond, so not many people out there googling Toys Forever Models and Hobbies to find something online – they’re going to the bigger names like a Target.”

Mundell says his shop is doing better without selling online.

Toys Forever Models and Hobbies owner Brandon Mundell checks out new merchandise options at the 2017 New York Toy Fair. (Photo: Toys Forever on Facebook)

“We do a lot better with people walking in and we actually talk to them physically, and so that’s where we focus most of our efforts.”

While Shears from Muncie Map Company stays open both online and in Muncie, he says shopping locally does have an impact that online shopping doesn’t have.

“You’re not gonna get the service, you’re not gonna get the quality, and you’re not gonna get, you know, the amplification effect that comes from spending locally. If Muncie’s got something that is unique enough, and something that the city can be poud of, they’ll absolutely support it. That’s what we’re trying to do.”