Changing Times
When our small gallery first opened up in March of 1988, the internet was not available to retail stores for retail sales. We were using big three ring binders to keep our inventory straight and ledger books to keep our accounting current, that could be considered the dark ages. We went to computers to help us with inventory and accounting and then one day our marketer introduced us to the internet and a new thing called a website, it was an enlightening experience for all of us and you could see that change was coming. Gone were the days of taking photos, labeling each photo and then mailing them to interested customers, now we could use a computer to put images on a website with the same information and a larger audience could view our artwork anytime of the day or night.
So, Prairie Edge and Sioux Trading Post jumped on the technology band wagon.
It was hard at first to accept that this was the wave of the future, so many of us are not blessed with the minds of programmers and engineers and the learning of each new technology was hard for everyone. But we prevailed and even added our thoughts on what would make this thing called the Internet better for everyone by implementing "best practices."
When technology introduced us all to social websites like MySpace, this made it possible for everyone to have their own website page with pictures and information, this was way beyond e-mail and gave us the chance to get to know people all around the world in an instant.
Today, we use Instagram for new products and ideas for the gift shopper and the crafts person alike.
We use Twitter for those quick updates and to further engage audiences to the latest happenings in the store.
We use Facebook to stay transparent and keep the locals and visitors knowledgeable about upcoming events. Our latest Facebook adventure is shopping. You can now connect with products from Prairie Edge while visiting our Facebook page, all you have to do is press the "Shop Now" button. You can view the details of the piece of art and if you decide you like it you can make a purchase but don't worry, your personal information is being processed via our secured web-site ordering process.
Google+ - Pinterest - YouTube:
We are also using Google+, Pinterest and YouTube. These are all amazing platforms that let customers engage with us on other levels and gives our store a larger audience besides just a web-site.
We wonder what the future holds for the internet and how all of this technology will help us to understand each other better, technology is here to stay so feel free to connect with us.