Montréal Poutine dans la Gazette!

Montréal Poutine a été dans les journeaux à travers le Canada.
Voici un article de la Gazette qui a fait le tour, jusqu’au Vancouver Sun!

MONTREAL — You might not think a poutine joint would be Web savvy, but Alain Agostini jokes he always has a fryer in one hand and his iPhone in the other.

The owner of Montreal Poutine in Old Montreal says he has been obsessed with Twitter ever since he realized its potential to improve his business.

“At 11:30 on a weekday, a lot of people will say on Twitter, ‘I’m hungry.’ We’ll reach out to those people in the name of the company and respond to those needs. If you say that you’re hungry, you could get a message saying: ‘Come to our restaurant today. We have a great special.’ ”

Retail analyst Maureen Atkinson, a managing partner of J.C. Williams Group, said consumers like to deal with small businesses because of the service they get. New social media tools allow small businesses to capitalize on that edge.

“People want to ask businesses questions and get answers, and they want to do it anytime of the day or night, even if the store or restaurant is closed,” Atkinson said.

“Social media allows companies to do what they have always done, which is to have that one-to-one personal relationship.”

Another company offering new web solutions to small businesses is Yellow Pages Group Inc. As of January, the company began offering website building services, and search engine optimization tools, as part of what the company calls its 360-degree solution. The company is targeting its 400,000 listed businesses to enhance their web offerings.

Annie Marsolais, the communications director for YPG, said only 65 per cent of the companies that list with YPG have websites, and many of them are very basic. She said there is increasing evidence from market research for companies to have a strong online presence.

“More than 70 per cent of consumers look for information online before making a purchase, so you have to have a web presence to have credibility,” Marsolais said.

She said the next step for YPG is to develop an offering to help optimize social media — a product that will be available in 2012.

In addition to improving websites, many medium-size businesses are also looking at the web as a way to boost revenue by offering online sales.

Jean-Francois Rioux, the CEO of Alogient Inc., which develops ecommerce solutions for businesses said the cost of offering online sales continues to drop — costing as little as $75 per month for a basic service — which has allowed more businesses to offer the service.

He said one of his clients, the camera store Lozeau, was able to expand its sales at a fraction of what it would cost to set up a new branch of the store.

However, Rioux cautioned that ecommerce strategies, while inexpensive, are not for the smallest businesses because they require a large time commitment from employees who must be available to answer questions, sort through orders, and ship out packages.

He said that companies should also be careful before investing too much time in social media. “It can do a great job for big companies, or trendy companies,” Rioux said. “You need to realize with social media, the type of people you’ll be attracting will be the younger age demographic.”

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