Amongst many other trending topics of discussion, some entertainment-based, some related to tech, and some to do with the world of sports, one topic that has maintained its flavour through the last five years or perhaps more, has been Retail & eCommerce. It isn’t a bolt from the blue. It has been gradual and has grown on people.
Businesses have taken to eCommerce like fish to water because of the ease of operation. Customers have begun to realise, the variety and offers that they can garner through eCommerce is far superior to brick n mortar. What’s more? eCommerce allows you to do all this with the click of a few buttons!
But getting hold of the business needs some study, research and knowledge. We thought we could share with you a few steps that could help grow your business in the retail space. Let’s thus, visit these five points:
1). Customer Centricity
Defining your product offerings keeping the customer as your pivot/target serves as the bedrock of successful businesses, and retail eCommerce is no exception. Always consider the needs, tastes, challenges, age groups and convenience of customers when arriving at the target customers, the experience you want to give them; all as part of your eCommerce business strategy.
2). Targeted Merchandise Management
Based on the target customers arrived at in the previous stage, plan the Merchandise and Assortment which defines the focus of your business and sales strategy. The format of operations, category of products, depth of your merchandise and relationships, and pricing strategy are the specific areas to have a laid down plan.
3). Omni Channel Ordering and Delivery Experience
Omni Channel experience is a customer-centred approach to sales wherein you give a seamless and standard experience to the customer no matter the mode of booking orders, be it online, on phone, in person or BOPIS(Buy Online and Pickup in Store).
4). Partnerships
Brokering the right alliances and partnerships go a long way in growing your business in both physical and online retail eCommerce worlds. A variety of partnerships related to various formats or delivery models are possible in the eCommerce space. Various segments of the merchandise can also be stitched together as a unified offering
5). Digital Marketing and SEO
Having your online Retail eCommerce site is to have an online presence very much akin to the opening of your physical brick and mortar shop, and is therefore not sufficient to start attracting customers. You need to aggressively promote the online presence by applying digital/social marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.
Listing your retail eCommerce site with directories with high reputation is a key to serve the products as per the search location, reviews and testimonials also helps the products to sell faster based on the positive reviews.
A clear communication strategy that defines the tone of the brand and sets a personality for itself also plays a vital role, when the product maintains the consistency across channels the users are more likely to trust the brand and click on the product.
The content on retail eCommerce site should be searchable, available to your targets out of the millions of eCommerce sites globally at the right time. This is an often-ignored area that you need to pay attention to.
We hope that was insightful for you to look at eCommerce as a catalyst in your retail business. Should you have queries or questions, please do write to us at info@posibolt.com
Posibolt provides end to end solutions and implementation services in a variety of ways all leading to successful eCommerce implementation. For more on retail billing, eCommerce, supply chain and inventory management, visit us at www.posibolt.com