The Internet Is Full of New Shops. That Might Be a Very Good Thing

Sai Mutyala wrote something yesterday that got me thinking. More and more people are starting businesses, which means the competition is growing, customers have more choice, and every business has to work harder to win the same customer. I agree with him. But I also think there is another side to this, because maybe having thousands of new businesses appearing everywhere is not such a bad thing.

We have AI helping people create the logo, website, adverts, images, videos and product descriptions, and starting a business has probably never been easier. Of course, that creates a lot of noise. But we have seen something similar before.

Around 2005, 2006 and 2007, I remember watching food places appearing everywhere. Some owners cared deeply about the product. Others simply saw an opportunity - open a place, sell as much as possible, make some money and, if it fails, close it and try something else. For a while, quantity became more important than quality. But markets tend to correct themselves. Customers become smarter, costs increase, competition gets stronger, poor businesses disappear and good businesses are forced to become better. I think something similar is happening online now. It is very easy to open a business, but it is still very difficult to build a good one.

And the customer has changed too. People are far more comfortable buying online than they were a few years ago. Buying from another city is normal, buying from another country is normal, paying online is normal. People discover products through Instagram, Google, YouTube, TikTok and, increasingly, AI. So yes, there are more businesses fighting for attention than ever before, but there are also more ways to reach customers than we have ever had. That is why I think this could be one of the best periods for building an online business. The mistake is trying to win by simply making more noise.

I have spent years in the made-to-measure window covering industry, and selling these products online is not simple. If your website makes that process painful, a prettier logo will not save you. Show customers how to measure. Explain recess and exact measurements. Give them proper fabric information, real photographs, explain what happens after they order, and give them tools that actually help them buy, like a calculator. Those things are not little extras on a website. They are part of the product.

Everybody is now asking how to appear in AI search. My answer is quite simple - make your business easy to understand and answer the questions your customers actually ask. Google needs to understand your business. AI needs to understand your business. But most importantly, your customer needs to understand your business 😃

I don't think the businesses that create the most noise will win. I think the businesses that create the most trust have a much better chance.

So yes. Open the shop. Start the business. Use AI, use Shopify, use Linkedin, PUBlish and every useful tool available. Just don't build the business for next Tuesday. Build something you would still be very proud to own ten years from now. The internet probably does not need another online shop, but there is always room for another good business :)