Europeans will be spending over €500 billion on online purchases this year, but only a miniscule amount of that will be going to Maltese businesses since less than 14 per cent of them are currently selling anything online. So what needs to change, Pierre Mizzi asks.

As the internet has transformed how we watch television, access news and book our holidays, it is also dramatically changing how we shop. Everyone knows this is true but yet some local businesses are still with their heads firmly stuck in the proverbial sand. This is of course a huge misjudgement and will only lead to missed opportunities for those that stay behind.

Build strategies with the right dedicated partners

While some Maltese businesses may be comfortable investing hundreds of thousands of euro in retail business locations, they procrastinate on investing in their online business set-up possibly due to ignorance of the huge potential or unfounded fear of the unknown.

It is a fact that many Maltese entrepreneurs are resellers of products they buy from suppliers in other countries. This means that they have much less control over their pricing, especially after freight and insurance have been paid to ship the products to Malta.

This in itself may make Maltese online shops less competitive against others elsewhere and it is exactly where creative input from experienced external consultants with a wider point of view can make a big difference.

To make e-commerce work for your business you need to build synergies with the right dedicated partners – experts who do this work professionally and can support you in building your e-commerce website, keeping it updated with good quality content and making sure it reaches the right target audiences.

With the recently launched €5,000 EU funding grants at your disposal, the time to seriously consider selling online is now or never.

Pierre Mizzi is managing partner of Logix Creative, a full service agency that has been putting business online since 1995. For more information e-mail pierre@logix.com.mt.

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