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May 9 2016
Is your brick-and-mortar store on brink of the cliff? where it can no longer lead to generate revenue?
And are you still craving for growth? When you look around it seems customers prefer to buy online and you are nervous, scared, maybe terrified or possibly just confuse about this shift.
Right! Then let us help you.
We know that e-commerce seems like a huge oblivion for many brick-and-mortar stores…NO WORRIES…Do you know? With the development of agile-commerce, you can boost your brick-and-mortar store’s sale by simply leveraging an online store.
Yes, YOU can!
Well, first thing first lift your fear toward online store; shifting your brick-and-mortar store to an online shop is one of the easiest and simplest methods you might tackle as an entrepreneur. Still, why you need it? Because the online world has totally infiltrated into our meat-space from a long time ago and already so many of your business functions rely on them such as inventory management, marketing, customer service etc.
Trust me if you would unite your physical and online store, you are going to be a pro at really… hard… stuff.
Yes, we know you still have some concerns related to this entire online business stuff, so we recommend you to hook up till the end of the page to grasp the actual advantages of integrating an online store with your brick-and-mortar store. Afterward, we will also discuss the strategy and steps to sketch an outline for a magnificent online store.
Advantages of Pairing Online Store and Brick-and-Mortar Store
In today’s world, it would be an Epic fail if you would not be selling your things online. Thanks to the modernization you can sell whatever and whenever over the internet. We can find some businesses generating a huge amount of revenue from their brick-and-mortar store BUT one should never terminate the possibilities of the online store.
It has always been fruitful for setting a business plan for your business or store to make things work in your favor. Why not setting a plan for your online store/business? Try it once, you will know that how an online store’s advantages can significantly compensate a physical store.
Come let’s find the benefits of having both online and brick-and-mortar store.
- You can greatly reduce the cost of your business by transferring the load of your physical store to the online one.
- You can offer a “pickup in store” for the limited items, so they can book or buy them online before anyone else.
- You can facilitate customers by providing in-a-day or few hours’ home delivery for same city or same area customers on your online store.
- You can easily make changes to your online store and can easily post new available items or services, which are now available at your brick-and-mortar store with or without discounted price.
- You can even post advertisements by targeting your local area market to attract the local customers to build trust and improve sales.
- You can escalate the reach of potential customers; a physical store only helps you to sell locally BUT an online store can help you to the market whole internet community.
- You can post promotional activities on your online store related to your brick-and-mortar store, and can inform people at the physical store that they can get discount coupons through online shopping. This will help you cross promote both of your online and physical stores.
- You can increase your visibility by adopting digital marketing campaigns; can reach more and more qualified customers compared to traditional marketing campaigns. Plus with digital marketing you can measure your results and can have accurate feedbacks.
See! Selling online can bring multiple added advantages to your business. Always remember, it is your own responsibility to analyze the situation, make decisions, outline steps and implement them to reach ultimate goals.
Find 5 Steps to Shape Your Brick-and-Mortar Store into an Online Store
STEP 1: Pick the right software platform.
You are running a reputable brand or store and looking for a software powerful enough to bear all tasks and promises related to your brick-and-mortar store. Of course, there are so many platforms which can help you to start it at small business pricing.
Now it is time to conduct a little research, so you can identify the features you need most for your business. The platform should have plenty of software integrations and excellent customer services. It would be a plus point if it has a decent reputation in e-commerce community. (Still if you won’t be able to find any, then consult a good tech-firm like PureLogics or take a look at their e-commerce and content management services.)
STEP 2: Design a website that reflects the image of your physical store.
You work hard to maintain the reputation of your brand/store, and your customers are always expecting same from you. It is important for you to deliver the same experience to your customers even on an online store.
You can find two options when it comes to designing an online store. You can see numerous templates on your selected platform, which can be customized according to your own requirements. If you are looking for a design that can reflect the exact image of your brick-and-mortar store, then the best solution is to hire a UI/UX developer and designer. Always make sure to choose or develop software that allows you to access customization options.
STEP 3: Sync your inventory and finance related software online and in-store.
If you are using a program to track and organize your inventory, you can also use it to enter data for your online store. That way, you can save a lot of time by eliminating the manual entry and can avoid problems that can arise by maintaining two different inventory management systems.
Same goes for accounting/finance software, plus you can find a huge amount of e-commerce software that can directly sync with multiple platforms.
STEP 4: Promote your online store through marketing channels.
When your whole website is developed, designed and working properly, next step is to get a shoutout. The best way is to use your in-person audience to blowout the news through posters, mailing, flyers or any small event etc. If you already have the email list of your customers, make sure to directly subscribe them and let them know about the new online store.
STEP 5: Promotional activities for customers.
Design several promotional activities for your customers either they are new customers from an online store or old brick-and-mortar store. Offer rewards or discounts on frequent and first purchase. This technique is very effective to build the loyalty among customers and helps you to roll the ball. Discounts can also help you to increase the size of sale plus ensures the improved monthly profit.
Well, now you got it! What it takes to develop an e-commerce store while integrating with your brick-and-mortar shop.
Drop us a line in the comment box to get your feedback, how is it going or if you have any query related to this article… must share your thoughts!
