As small and independent businesses scramble to keep their brands alive in the ever-shifting market, many seek resources to help them thrive. One of the most popular and successful choices many business owners are going for is pivoting traditional brick-and-mortar stores to an online platform, whether it’s building a website from scratch or going to popular retail networks such as Amazon, Etsy, or Shopify.
Here are some pieces of advice to consider when bringing your store to an online platform, making the process seamless and helping you grow in no time.
Create a Website from Scratch or eCommerce?
When bringing your store online, decide if you’re going to start a website from scratch or go for an existing platform. However, this will depend on the type of products or services you’re offering. For instance, if you provide interior designing services, establishing a blog and a website may be a good idea. However, if you’re planning on selling handmade products, signing for eCommerce platforms is ideal. Networks like Shopify are navigable and easy to set up.
When you’ve chosen the platform, make sure to spruce up the site to make it professional and follow your brand’s theme. You can have experienced web developers design your Shopify website or personal page to make it more appealing and functional.
Create and Optimize Product Pages
The product pages are vital to closing sales online. That’s because consumers often make their purchase decisions right on the product pages, making it crucial for you to ensure they’re in their best versions possible. You need to ensure people feel at ease about buying your goods because, unlike physical stores where they can touch and feel the merchandise, online clients rely on photos, descriptions, and reviews.
That’s why you should take the extra mile to make sure that your product pages are appealing, high-converting, navigable, and unique. Here’s how you can do just that.
- Angles and Number of Photos – Make sure to showcase different angles of all products you have in your stores. Let consumers see what the product looks like from the sides, behind, front, and bottom.
- Description – The ideal format and length of product descriptions depends on your preferences. However, the key is to describe the item concisely. If you’re looking for the best results, make sure to use bullet points, and list down each product’s attributes.
- Reviews – Studies have shown that almost 94% of shoppers consult reviews during their buying journey, and more than 86% believe these are crucial in their decision-making process. So, try to get reviews on each product page by encouraging customers to rate and review your goods.
Don’t Forget Marketing
Once you’ve launched your online store, you’d naturally want to get as many visitors as possible. You can do this by marketing smartly and driving relevant traffic to your online store. There are several ways you can do this. From social media, online ads, email marketing to search engine results pages-the possibilities are endless. However, the best way to drive organic traffic to your site is by optimizing your website and product pages with SEO techniques.
Continually Assess Store Performance
After moving your physical store online, the next step is ensuring your store performs well. To do this, you need to keep track of several metrics, including sales and conversion rates, to make necessary adjustments or quickly address any issues-gauging your store’s overall performance. The metrics available to you will depend on your website or the selling channel you’re on. For instance, if you have a Shopify store and use Google Analytics, you’ll need to access different numbers to get a clearer picture of your store’s performance.
To give you a better idea of what you need to look for, keeping an eye on the following metrics is a great start.
- Sales – Tracking sales should be a part of every assessment of any business, enabling you to measure several things, including your return on investment (ROI), marketing efforts, and your store’s overall performance. Segmenting your sales based on specific parameters like location and demographics lets you pinpoint where revenue comes from, allowing you to focus there.
- Number of Visitors – Tracking the number of visitors coming in from different channels and locations can improve your marketing campaigns, ensuring bigger growth.
Transitioning from a brick-and-mortar store to an online store may take a bit of work, but when done right, the increased sales and customer satisfaction you receive is well worth it in the end-and the tips mentioned can make the process seamless for you.
