The World’s Greatest Business-Retail Sales Online

Retail sales online offer unparalleled opportunity for start-up businesses and for added growth for existing retail businesses.

But are online sales, the World’s Greatest?

Check out some of these trends, then you decide.

Looking Ahead

Even in the midst of one of the toughest retail environments in decades, online retail business is poised for solid growth. Forrester Research says online retail business will grow 10 percent each year for the next 5 years. And experts expect online retail sales to hit a quarter of a trillion dollars by 2014.

At the same time, the National Retail Federation is expecting about 2.5 percent growth for all retail sales in 2010. With 4 times the expected overall growth, the online retail business looks strong.

Good Times Now

Predictions of what will occur in the future aside, what is happening right now in online retail is impressive.

Estimates are that in 2009, sales from online businesses hit $155.2 billion. During the holiday season alone, retail business on the Internet topped $44 billion, a 17 percent increase over the previous year.

Watch the Hidden Trends

Whether you are considering an Internet retail business start-up or you already own a retail business and are considering expanding to the Web, it will pay to look at the hidden trends.

By 2014, Forrester predicts that over half of all retail sales will be influenced by the Internet. That means if your retail business is not online, you could be missing out on the chance to attract 1 of every 2 potential customers.

Staying the Course

Some entrepreneurs grow frustrated if their online business does not take off immediately.

But we caution against giving up too soon.

Just think of Amazon.com, the pioneer in online retail. Amazon made its first sale in 1995 and did not post a profit until 6 years later.

Your start-up Internet retail business would not take that long to pay off. But the point is an online business is like other businesses in that they all require work and commitment.

The potential for great reward is there, but you need to understand that all your work is worth the effort.

Share the Wealth

It does not really matter what segment of the retail business you are in.

Electronics? Sales grew 17 percent in 2009 to $13.6 billion. Clothing? The 2009 total of $27 billion in sales was up 17 percent as well. Computers? They also posted $27 billion in sales, up 7 percent.

Great Opportunity

The following figures might make the case as to why online retail business is the worlds greatest.

Just take a look at the room for growth. In electronics, for example, that $13.6 billion in sales only represented 14 percent of total electronic sales. For clothing, $27 billion is only 10 percent of retail sales. Think how much room there is to grow.

Stating, The World’s Greatest Business-Retail Sales Online, might seem like a bit of stretch at first. But the potential for growth and the amount of market share still to be gained make a very strong case that this is a true statement.

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Medical Resume Cover Letter – How to Present the Medical Background

A medical resume cover letter can be a long letter to read. If you have a lot of experience to put in front of the reader, you want to make sure they read it, especially if it’s something that can give you an edge on getting the position. Here’s what I do to make sure they flip the page to my resume.

My medical resume cover letter stands out for one reason. I nicely reference on my cover letter where to read on my resume. Simply said, I use the cover letter to not just present the resume but also to point to the sections of the resume where I’ve inserted information, I think will be relevant to the position. Yes this does require me to change the resume a bit. It’s worth it. I’ve had great results doing this.

My sister is in the medical field. I worked with her on her medical resume cover letter recently and that what we did. Simply stated, we touched on a point on the letter and said something like “you can read more about what I accomplished with that position on point X of my resume.” The idea was to spike the interest, and following it up with some where on my resume where the reader could get more information about that point.

Of course my resume was formatted in a way that the points of reference were easy to find. Now the question is “Does the medical resume cover letter get to long?” The answer is “‘no.” Keep the letter to just one page. It’s not uncommon for a medical resume to be longer than a regular resume. Two pages would be acceptable. The letter on the other hand, you’ll want to keep it at one page. Don’t repeat what’s on the letter on the resume and vice versa.

A bland letter will not make it past the first review. Give your cover letter life by making it a little more interactive. These are people reading it after all. The medical resume cover letter should present the information in language familiar to the reader. Here’s where those letter programs really helped to format the language of the letter. Medical professionals speak in a certain language, so do those in engineering and educational fields. Presenting the information in a manner that they understood and where familiar with, I think contributed to the call backs.

In my experience, a good cover letter has made a difference between landing the interview and not. That’s the first step, right? I catch the reader with the knowledge I have of their organization and a few other key tips I l

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