As far removed as the rice paddy farmer is from e-commerce merchant, making the most of a small stake of land is one thing the two have in common.

Historically, Japanese and Chinese rice paddy farmers have two key functions they must perform to be successful:

• Build and manage a sophisticated irrigation system
• Coordinate the complex process of harvesting the first crop while simultaneously preparing the second

The real challenge, however, lies not in the doing the jobs above, but in growing rice paddy yields or profits with no money for new equipment and no readily available land for expansion.

Outside the rice paddy, back in the e-commerce world, after a solid year of financial nail-biting, I’m hearing online merchants echo the rice paddy farmer’s dilemma – How do you manage traffic, make the sale, and set up the opportunity for repeat business on a shoe-string budget in a maturing ecommerce market?

What can you do better?
Rice farmers improved their yields by improving on what they already had – by focusing on efficiency in relation to themselves, their rice paddies, and their processes.

I challenge you to review each non-revenue generating “given” in your business to uncover how you can transform each into a revenue-driving opportunity.

Ritz Interactive is a prime example of how a company can change a dead end into earning potential.  Ritz Interactive shows WinBuyer’s Onsite Comparative Pricing application on out-of-stock products, giving consumers the ability to purchase the same item from another store should they choose to do so. Employing this strategy has created a better user-experience for Ritz’s consumers and has created a new referral revenue stream where there was none before.

A word to the wise
There’s an old Chinese proverb – if a man works hard, the land will not be lazy. E-commerce real estate is no exception. If you’re an online merchant, you have untapped profit centers – find them, work them, and profit.

More about rice paddy efficiency here .