It doesn't matter if you're a small business just starting out or one of the biggest companies in the U.S.
If you're in the business of pleasing customers, you've got a tricky job.
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One of the hardest things about running a successful retail store is keeping people — who are notoriously fickle — happy.
Our tastes change constantly.
We're social beings, which means we're often talking with one another, trading stories about what went wrong or right at a given store.
And we notice the small things, like price increases on staple items, rude customer service, or dwindling popularity of a given store or brand.
In the business of retail, those small things often become the big things.
That's especially the case in this day and age, when a few online customer reviews can make or break a business.
And while a strange smell or a rude employee may not be an online retailer's primary concern, there are still plenty of potential pitfalls to watch out for in the age of e-commerce.
Online retailers have different problems
It's a different world for businesses that operate primarily online.
Many of the typical ills associated with traditional brick-and-mortar might not be as much of a concern.
But high rents in population-dense areas, high utility and labor costs, theft, and inventory management aren't nonissues. They just look different.
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For instance, a retailer like Amazon (AMZN) certainly still operates physical facilities in populated areas.
They just tend to be spacious warehouses that make deliveries more efficient.
And while Amazon may not be restocking shelves that customers pull from, they're still running a robust logistics operation whereby warehouses must constantly be inventoried and kept up.
So when a customer presses the buy button, that item has got to be ready to be shipped.
Amazon makes a big delivery change
While Amazon achieves logistical feats every single day with offerings like same- and next-day delivery, the online retailer continues to improve efficiency processes.
On Tuesday it announced that it would invest $4 billion into its rural delivery capabilities.
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Amazon said it's working to roll out same-day and next-day delivery across over 4,000 small cities and towns in rural areas across the U.S.
By the end of 2026, it says it will have tripled its delivery network.
A thousand smaller communities have already received the rollout, and over 90% of the top 50 reordered products by rural customers on Amazon are now available for same-day delivery.
Some of those products include:
- Water bottles
- Dish soap
- Mascara
- Makeup remover
- Cotton swabs
- Probiotics
- Magnesium
- Nuts
- Paper towels
- Batteries
