Bricks-N-Clicks vs. Bricks-N-Mortar

Online companies such as TaxiMagic and MusicJuice face different obstacles than traditional brick-and-mortar companies. Where there is tremendous opportunity with an online presence due to its unlimited geographic boundaries, lower infrastructure costs, lower barriers to entry and 24/7 sale operations, there are added obstacles that are not as apparent for brick-and-mortar companies.

Marketing is a huge challenge for these companies. Because the internet is so accessible these days and is unlimited in terms of geographic coverage, it is essential for online companies to have significant investment in marketing and to have a sizable marketing budget that will allow for these companies to not only get noticed, but to remain in the forefront of consumers minds. Directly related to that point, investment and execution of a sound SEO strategy is paramount to success for B2C online companies in order to navigate to consumers.

In addition to the marketing challenges, online companies face constant competitive pressure because anybody can essentially create a website today thanks to tools such as weebly, webs.com, wix.com, wordpress, etc. The barriers to entry have been all but eliminated to have a web presence. BUT, that doesn't mean all internet companies are going to be successful. Proper planning, execution and monetization strategies will guide a company's success.

An online presence opens up new doors for businesses, but the fundamentals of the business start-up and business planning processes still apply in order for any business to be successful.