With the brick and mortar model hitting a snag last year, multiple businesses jumped on the e-retail bandwagon. Some even transitioned to online-only stores. An e-commerce store offers certain advantages that a physical store does not, like, the ability to sell 24/7 and a wider audience to market to. However, this ease of accessibility has resulted in an influx of online merchants, dramatically increasing the competition and marketing noise across the internet. The question arises, how do you offer customers value in this highly competitive market?
Here, your experience in running an offline store will come in handy. A brick-and-mortar store is the physical representation of the brand and you’ve already invested a good amount of time and resources into establishing its identity. Therefore, one part of the equation is complete. In this article, we have curated a list of 5 essentials for setting up a successful online store.
The most important step while transitioning from offline to an online store is setting up a website. In the past few years, multiple web hosting and site-building platforms have sprung up. Finding the one that works for you is not easy. It is as important as finding the right location for your next offline store. Therefore, conduct thorough research before making any platform decision.
One rule holds for both online and offline business: Moving is time-consuming. Transferring all the product details from the physical store to an online storefront can be quite tedious and expensive. Choose a scalable platform by identifying your current needs and forecasting your future requirements. Invest in accurate growth projections before making any decisions to avoid outgrowing the platform.
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After finding a platform to suit your business model, it’s time to explore integrations for payment, design, and shipping that are compatible with it.
Extensions or plugins are software additions designed to fulfill certain tasks that the platform cannot. They are either produced by the parent company or third-party vendors. A few of them are free, others require a one-time payment, and other work on a monthly subscription model. Accurately defining your needs will assist you in cost projection.
For instance, you can not run a successful online store if the customers can’t pay for the products or services they want. Make sure your store accepts all major methods of payment.
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While it can be quite tempting to hit the ground right out the gate, we advise you to start slow and test the waters when moving to an online store. Instead of adding all the products to the site, start by offering only your best-sellers. It will facilitate gauging the popularity of the store and determining the best course of action.
Multiple factors determine the pricing for online products. While moving from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce, the product prices will not stay the same. The two main components are –
One of the biggest challenges of the click-and-mortar model is shipping goods to customers. The shipping fee may be detrimental to your business and can put an end to your digital venture before it even starts. While selecting a dedicated shipping service, consider these three things:
Will the shoppers pay the cost of shipping or is it too expensive? If you decide on free shipping, can you handle the overhead without making the customers pay for it?
How long does it take for the shipping service to deliver the products? Does it offer express delivery? Is it safe?
After adding e-commerce to your services, you need to maintain a large inventory to keep up with the increased demand. Do you have the extra space necessary to store your goods? If the answer is no, search for shipping companies that offer inventory space for a fee.
Want to know the complete process of order fulfillment? Read on!
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Now that you have launched your brandstore, it’s time to promote it. Below, we have mentioned 4 ways to get the word out about your digital venture.
Social media is an excellent way to keep your existing and potential customers up to date on business operations, product and service offerings, sales, and more. Stories on Facebook or Instagram offer an off-the-cuff opportunity to connect with followers. Leverage it to provide regular offerings, behind-the-scenes, or create a unique experience for your audience.
An email marketing campaign represents an important touchpoint with existing and potential customers. These are the people who have shown an active interest in your business offerings. It means they are just a few steps away from becoming your paying customers. Now, it is your turn to convert them by offering value in one of two forms: either promotional value or engaging and useful content.
For instance, if you sell international cosmetic and skincare products, offering makeup hygiene tips or Black Friday discount coupons is a great way to serve your customers and subtly encourage them to make a purchase.
How to escalate your business with Email Marketing? Read on!
Quick Tip: As a physical store owner, you already have a strong customer base. Collect their email addresses to grow your biggest digital marketing asset.
Content marketing is relatively new to the digital marketing domain. It has gained popularity due to the increased competition in the online marketplace. To deal with the influx of new businesses, Google has made it a priority to show the most relevant result for every search query.
Suppose you manage a fashion and clothing brandstore. The competition in this niche is fierce. To appear in that desired featured snippet, you need to stand out; the content should be more relevant and valuable than your competitor’s. To accomplish that, you need to have a strategic long-term content plan.
To implement content marketing successfully, identify and curate the type of content your target audience will prefer.
Quick tip: We advise creating a content marketing calendar and following it religiously. It makes sure that you’re regularly posting new content that is valuable and relevant to your audience.
In layman’s terms, PPC marketing involves designing ads via an ad platform such as Google Adwords. Once created, you then bid on the amount you’re willing to pay to get it displayed when searchers use relevant keywords.
PPC offers certain direct and indirect benefits. When a user clicks on your ad it leads to an increase in website traffic. Now, you have the opportunity to make a sale, gain a new subscriber, or provide valuable information to the visitor.
Even if a user doesn’t click on the Google ad, he/she now knows your name. It’s called an ad impression. It could lead to a later visit or sale.
If you are worried about your transition from brick and mortar store to e-commerce, we are here to assist. We provide full-stack e-commerce solutions for businesses to scale brandstore and leverage marketplaces. Our in-house tech, Kartify, delivers an exceptional e-commerce experience and is fully customizable. Request your free DEMO now!
Success in the e-commerce domain is not instant, but it’s still quite formulaic. Leverage your brick and mortar assets wisely, pay attention to detail, understand your target audience, plan diligently, and execute timely. Most importantly, remember that long-term success requires a consistent investment of time and resources.
