The short answer is that if you have something to sell, yes, you need a website. At a minimum, your site could take a few hours for you to put together with a cheap or free web design package or service, and then cost as little as ten bucks a month to have it hosted. So for this meagre investment you have the opportunity to tell people who you are or what you do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
5 Good Reasons to get your website sorted out asap!
1. Let new customers find you
By restricting yourself to only those sales channels you already have, you are limiting potential customers outside of those channels from finding you. If you are operating a store then anyone outside your local area won't be likely to even know you exist.
2. You can't answer the phone 24/7, nor would you want to.
Put the information where your customers can find it whether you are available or not. Your site will allow people to get in contact with you, so if a potential customer is looking to buy what your're selling, and they are doing it at midnight, then you still have the opportunity to make the sale. If you need to answer the phone or have the customer come to your shop then you have very little chance of winning that customer.
3. Your competitors probably have websites and you don't want to be left behind
Since websites are pretty easy to get up and running at a basic level, chances are your competitors are already online. If a potential customer is searching the web and they only find your competitors site then you are going to miss out.
4. Email
If you don't have an email address that customers can contact you on then get one. Preferably a professional-looking email like myname@mycompany.co.nz. You can certainly use your ISP's email (e.g. mycompany@xtra.co.nz), and while it is better than no email, it does give the impression that you aren't an established and organised operation. A quick tip on this subject: if you have your own domain (e.g. mycompany.co.nz) then you own that and can take it with you, no matter what ISP you use - if you are using mycompany@xtra.co.nz you are tied to xtra for it, and even if you switch ISPs you have to pay to keep using that email address.
5. Communication Portal for your customers
In the modern economy, and especially in this recession, customer loyalty is a lot harder to gain. You can still achieve loyalty with a store that customers like and feel welcome in, but in the online world, buying from a competitor is literally just a mouse click away. A website can be used to post updates or let customers subscribe to newsletters, giving you a vital channel of communication with them, and by keeping that channel open you can reinforce your store, brand or product.
So, for a trivial amount of cash each month you can have your very own portal to the world. Even if you don't fork out for a professionally designed site, you at least have a web presence which is a lot better to have than not. Before you start though, you need to think about what you and your customers are going to want out of the site - whether it should be a point of contact only, and informational site or a full shopping cart. The answer is yes, you do need a website, but what kind of site will depend on your business and your budget.