It’s a fascinating time to be in retail. More and more shoppers are turning to their phones, tablets and computers to check out the latest deals and make purchases. In fact, by 2023, online shopping is expected to reach 6.51 trillion dollars of all retail sales worldwide. That’s quite a chunk of the market, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. Creating a web presence isn’t just a fun extra. It’s a requirement for keeping up with your competitors.
Consumer behaviors are shifting rapidly. Potential customers are increasingly looking for the ease and convenience of shopping anytime, anywhere. If you’ve been considering taking the leap from a brick-and-mortar shop to an online store, there’s no better time than now. This might be the game-changer that propels your store to new heights.
But how do you make the transition? Our practical, step-by-step guide will show you how.
Benefits of having an online presence
Having an online eCommerce platform is not just more convenient for customers. It allows shop owners to innovate their retail methods. You’ll have access to hundreds of instruments and channels, and multiple ways to attract new customers and improve the experience of the loyal ones.
Broadening Your Reach and Accessibility
Think global or act local? With an online platform, brick-and-mortar retailers can do both. An online store doesn’t have opening hours like brick-and-mortar stores do—it’s accessible round the clock. According to KPMG, 58% of consumers shop online because they can make purchases 24/7.
Your customers won’t be coming from just one area. You’ll be able to reach people in different cities and even other countries. Being online offers opportunities to capture a larger market share and increase your visibility.
Gleaning Customer Insights
Opening an online store unlocks a treasure trove of data about your customers’ preferences and behavior. When businesses decide to embrace digital transformation, they inevitably open up a wealth of information about their customers.
Every action a customer takes online—whether it’s making a purchase, browsing products, clicking on a particular link, or even just visiting a website—generates data. This data is a digital footprint, a breadcrumb trail that reveals a lot about a customer’s behavior and preferences.
Creating Multichannel Retail
An online presence can complement your brick-and-mortar retail store to provide an omnichannel retail experience. According to Harvard Business Review, customers who used seven or more shopping channels spent an average of 4% more in-store and 10% more online than single-channel customers.
Opening an online store doesn’t mean you must abandon your physical store. You can keep both the advantages of a physical store and the benefits of going online.
For example, Home Depot has successfully integrated its online and offline channels. Customers can:
- Order online and pick up in-store
- Check in-store product availability in online stores
- Get text messages guiding them to their orders in physical stores
How to transition from a brick-and-mortar to an online store
At first, the transition from a traditional shop to an eCommerce store seems daunting. But if you break down the process into steps, the whole thing becomes a lot more manageable.
Step 1: Understand Your Audience
This is perhaps the most critical step of going online. You need to know your customer base inside out to ensure your online store meets their needs. This understanding informs the design, layout, and even the products you offer on your site.
When building an online presence for your store, focus on offering a specific product group at first. It’s not a good idea to offer all the items you want to sell right at the beginning. You could create a bestseller list with the products that are doing well in your physical store. Then, integrate those products into your online store.
Step 2: Choose an eCommerce Platform
Choosing the right e-commerce platform is the foundation of your digital store. It should support your business operations, enhance the shopping workflows for customers, and be flexible enough to grow with your business.
If this is your first online store, prioritize ease of use for you and your customers. It should be easy to add products, manage your inventory, process orders and generate reports. For customers, a straightforward, intuitive interface with a smooth checkout process can significantly enhance the shopping experience.
Eventually, your business will grow, and that’s when scalability becomes important. Your eCommerce platform should be able to handle an increase in traffic, products, and transactions without compromising performance. Go for a large, popular system that allows you to add more features, support more users, and expand into new markets as your business evolves.
There’s a vast array of platforms at your disposal. Some of the most popular ones are Magento, Shopify, Shopware and WooCommerce.
Step 3: Offer Secure Payment Options
Providing a variety of secure payment options is key to building trust with your customers. Security in transactions reassures customers and protects their sensitive data. When you are putting your business online, you’ll have to comply with privacy regulations and laws around keeping your customer information secure.
Your choice of payment provider depends on your country, budget and eCommerce platform. Not all payment providers are available worldwide, so be sure to check the list of supported locations in the store documentation.
If you don’t have development skills, check which payment provider can be easily integrated with your system. As for the commission, most providers ask for around 3%–3.5% of every purchase, although if providers also take care of your taxes, that figure can go up to 5%.
Step 4: Prepare Your Shipping for Handling Remote Orders
If you want to create an online presence for your business, be prepared to handle orders across the country or even globally. Choose a reliable shipping carrier that aligns with your business needs. Consider shipping rates, delivery speed, reliability and the geographical coverage of the carrier. The most popular shipping carriers are:
- UPS
- FedEx
- USPS
- DHL
Secondly, consider the shipping costs. Offering free shipping can be a great way to attract customers, but it’s crucial to ensure that the business can absorb this cost. For example, you can set a minimum order value for free shipping, encouraging larger orders while covering shipping costs.
Also, consider setting up a return policy and communicating it clearly on your website. To manage your shipments, integrate built-in shipping solutions or integrations into your eCommerce platform.
Step 5: Launch and Promote Your Online Store
In the beginning, you can gain customers by motivating patrons of your retail store to buy from your online store. Before going public, start with a soft launch. Open your store to a small group of trusted people who can provide feedback on their user experience. Their insights can help you catch any glitches or issues you might have missed, ensuring a smoother experience for your actual customers.
Once you’ve refined the store based on feedback from the soft launch, you’re ready for the final launch. You can create an event at your store, offer discounts for the occasion and hire influencers to spread the word.
To increase online presence, make business pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and create a content plan for every page. To retain customers and get return purchases, start an email newsletter in which you can share personalized product offers, discounts and store news.
Step 6: Provide Exceptional Customer Service
Today, simply having an online presence is not enough. The best way to keep your customers coming back is by delivering quality customer service.
Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Providing multiple channels for communication, such as email, phone, live chat or social media, gives customers the flexibility to reach out in the way they feel most comfortable. Display your contact information prominently on your website, and if possible, offer 24/7 customer support.
Quality is just as important as accessibility. Try to respond to enquiries, complaints, or feedback as quickly as possible. Don’t forget to personalize your messages. You can do this using one or all of the following methods:
- Address customers by their name in communications
- Recommend products based on your customers’ browsing history
- Send personalized offers and discounts
The incorporation of AI chatbots in customer support has arguably made 24/7 support easier than ever. Chatbots can handle multiple enquiries simultaneously and immediately, reducing bottlenecks and wait time. Enhanced by machine-learning capabilities, AI chatbots continually refine their interactions, getting more efficient at problem-solving with each customer engagement.
Conclusion
The process of building a web presence might seem daunting, but in reality, it’s a strategic move that can open up new opportunities. The shift doesn’t necessarily mean replacing your brick-and-mortar store with an online one; you could extend your physical store into the digital space.
Sure, there are things to consider and challenges to face, but with the right mindset, planning and strategies, you’re paving the way for growth and success. Digital retail is here to stay, and it’s never too late to be part of it. Start building an online store today; it’s a journey worth embarking on.
