A few weeks ago I was browsing some websites that were interesting to me, from a design standpoint. I always browse the lists with the best X websites doing something. This list had online stores with a nice design, so that caught my eye for obvious reasons.
I purchased three t-shirts without much thought, from Ugmonk. It was one of the stores in the list, which I really found easy to browse. I didn’t knew about this website or the brand before that moment.
Let me ask you this: when is the last time you purchased a product from a brick and mortar retail store, without being familiar with their brand? I know I didn’t do it many times, unless I had to.
We are the I want this outfit generation
My beautiful gf is manager at one of Zara‘s stores here in Iasi. She was with M&S before that, Kenvelo before that, and so on. In whatever store she worked, she always told me about customers that wanted to purchase the entire outfit exposed in the window. I guess this is similar to how professional recommendations work online, and people are looking for that offline.
As a potential customer, you have access to only a handful of exposed outfits, and usually it’s almost impossible to find the best clothes that go well one with another. Online shopping provides more freedom and control than shopping in a store.
Why shopping online?
I believe a company can bring many advantages to a customer by opening an online store. Shopping has evolved with technology, and now is the time to take your business to the next step. Here are some of the reasons why people shop online:
- Convenience – your customers can visit your store from the comfy of their heated house at any hour, and they can start purchasing in 2 minutes.
- 24/7 every day - the internet doesn’t close after business hours. This means no rush for your customers, and increased profits for you.
- Professional recommendations – your best people can provide the best recommendations to your customers, such as in my example with the exposed outfit, that always gets purchased.
- Excellent customer service – through twitter, blogs, chat, phone. This virtual customer service can handle thousands on clients, while a single staff person in a retail store will not be able to help more than one customer at a time. The good part is you will be able to keep track of how the customer was handled, and improve the communication with them.
- Great customer experience – the customer can use a search form to browse through thousands of products, with no effort, to make an informed decision. The interactivity of this environment allows for a lot of creativity when it comes to helping a customer finding the right product to purchase.
- Product delivery - your customers can purchase as much as they need, without thinking about carrying the products at home. These will be delivered at their door.
Why selling online?
There are serious advantages of opening an online store. I will list only some that come to mind, but remember things go digital, and an online presence is mandatory for any business that wants to be found by potential customers.
- No geographical boundaries – your store is opened world wide, and you don’t have to be where your clients are. You can reach people from middle and upper class through the internet, and you don’t need to be in NY, London, Paris or Rome.
- Online marketing – users can come directly to your online store, through smart advertising (microsites for new collections, interactive banners, social media promotion, etc). They are a link away, if you do this right.
- Less staff needed - since there won’t be much interaction between your customers and your employees, you will only need a handful of people for maintenance and delivery. This way you will save money on training and team building.
- Languages – you can make your store in as many languages as you need. There has to be no staff member to speak with customers in signs or another language. :-)
- Cheaper advertising – no need to do much offline advertising. Online advertising is cheaper, better, and the results can be measured precisely.
- Detailed information - you can allow your clients to view all details about your products before they purchase: videos, images, audios and testimonials from other buyers. How can you do this offline?
- Customer information – you get to keep the email address and real data (address, name, etc) of your customers if they choose to. This way you can easily send them news of any offers based on their previous purchase.
- Sharing (free advertising) – like I did with Ugmonk on twitter and this post. Your users can share the link to your store with their friends and family.
- Infinite virtual shelves – you can display as much merchandise as you want, without the need of renting the largest space around.
- Save on taxes – by having less employees, less merchandise to move around, and no physical presence.
- Handling payments – there can’t be any human error because all transactions are digital, and they go directly in your business’s bank account.
- Less exposure to theft – since there are no customers trying your products, there is no potential thief either.
- Precise statistics - you can collect statistics that will help you grow your business, such as how many users visited your store, when, where from, what they purchased, how much time and money they spent on your website.
- Get personal – you can open a twitter account for your business, or a blog, where you can show customers how the products are built, display testimonials and take advantage of the interactive environment. For example, customize the look of your store to go well with the seasons or any special holiday.
- Not expensive - there are no recurring costs when having an online store, such as rent, product transportation, heating, electricity, water, cleaning, security, etc. This means huge savings every month!
- Get viral – do minisites to promote your new collections, and bring thousands of customers to your online store.
- Use real models - you can use videos to show how your products look on real models. Beautiful clothes look better on beautiful models. Make your products look better!
- Interaction – through your store, your customers can communicate about your brand, compare prices and features. Let users comment and rate your products. Use testimonials to promote your products.
- Customization – allow your users to customize your products to their needs, in an interactive way. Either by creating or assorting different products with ease.
Create your online store now!
Be online, that’s the place where your business can take the most advantage of!
Hire an agency or do it yourself. Vuzum is one of the companies that is able to do that for you, but there are many more companies you can work with, based on your budget and preferences. Make sure you choose the best one for you.
If an online shopper has a good first experience with your website, he will return to buy more. Make sure your website has what it needs to be able to bring back customers.