Where do you usually shop yourself? In the physical store or online in an ecommerce store? It often depends on your own shopping behavior whether you see it as an opportunity for your retail business to start an ecommerce store. But of course it's not about you, it's about your potential buyers! You can't get around the fact that retail today looks very different than it did 10 years ago.
Internet retailing, or ¨ecommerce¨, is increasingly finding its way and continues to grow! Thanks to the advent of smartphones, over the years it has become increasingly normal and convenient to do everything online. It is estimated that as many as 93% of the Dutch now have a smartphone, and that is a huge number! United States is therefore the smartphone country and as an entrepreneur you really have to do something with that.
These high figures are automatically related to how people buy on the Internet. Millennials in particular like to buy online: 75 percent of this group says they still visit stores, but usually purchase the product online.
Do you want a website design? Are you going to have an ecommerce store built? Do you have a physical store but want an ecommerce store next to it? All things to think about and certainly to consider, because the purchasing power of online shoppers is enormous! At Monkey Vision you can have a website design or ecommerce store design and we provide you with the necessary technology and information. Want to know more about the power of an ecommerce store in this day and age? Read on in this blog!
Use multiple channels: website and store
So just doing business offline is not enough. Period. But just being online with an ecommerce store is not enough either! As a retailer, it's best to leverage multiple channels. We call this ¨omnichannel¨. By using multiple channels (both online and offline), you have more opportunities for personalized content for your target audience.
The data you can collect through omnichannel marketing provides you with additional insights and all the necessary information to build upon: Who is your visitor? How often do people visit your site? Who returns? How much is purchased? These are all answers you can continually anticipate. If you have website design services at Nijmegen provided by Monkey Vision , these are questions we can also investigate for you.
Omnichannel
An example of omnichannel is the ¨buy and collect¨ principle. Online buyers can easily and directly purchase an item in your ecommerce store, but pick it up in your physical store. This way you have the best of online and offline: the buyer now wants to buy from the screen, but comes into your store for personal engagement. Just make sure this is all well organized! Make sure your buyers get instant notifications and are kept informed by email or text message. Are you going to have a website designed? Then make sure the automation behind your website plays an important role!
Online sales and free returns
Online sales and free returns go hand in hand in 2020. By offering free returns, online buyers can be won over if there is still some doubt about a purchase.
We have to say that you actually can hardly do anything else in this day and age either. It has now gone so far that shoppers actually expect a return to be free anyway. Can't you offer this as a retailer because it's too big a cost? Then you could substantiate this and inform your buyer about it. It differs per target group who is open to it: people who like to support the small entrepreneur and are aware of the environmental damage of all those free returns, will be more willing to pay for a return than the unaware not-so-green buyer. You can also take the costs involved for a moment and take stock: does it outweigh your income?
Analysis of the customer experience
Machine learning can play a big role in personalizing your customers' shopping experience. Machine learning can help provide analysis and forecasting to better target shoppers and gain a sharper understanding of inventory. Performing and adhering to this type of analysis can result in higher sales as more satisfied customers return. If you have a website designed by Monkey Vision , we can perform these analyses for you.
It is important to keep your customers happy, just like in a physical store. Because: does your customer feel wronged or not well served? Then you can get a negative online review, and that can be devastating. Unfortunately, this is a negative side effect of online sales.
Wondering what exactly it is about customer reviews? Read it in our blog ¨Online reviews, what's in it for you?¨
Website development: automation first
Make sure the automation behind your ecommerce store is in order. From inventory to invoices and shipping confirmations, make sure your customers are aware of everything and there are no hiccups in the system.
Good automation is a short-term investment, but a great gift in the long run! When you have a website created by an experienced web builder, they make sure that everything is right and there is a solid foundation. Over the years you will only need to expand or tighten it up once in a while and you won't have to worry about it yourself.
Store or ecommerce store? Technology is always the answer
Whether you have a physical store or not (yet), you’ll need technology either way. Are you looking for a web designer who can help you set up an ecommerce store and firmly establish the automation behind the scenes? Then have website design done at Nijmegen by Monkey Vision. We are experienced web developers and know all about automation and ecommerce stores. We’d love to brainstorm with you and help lay a solid foundation for the long term. Interested? Get in touch with us, and who knows—we might be sitting down together for a meeting before you know it!
Curious about the benefits of a local web agency (for example, for website design at Nijmegen)? Read about it in our blog post “The Benefits of a Local Web Agency.”
