Are you an owner of any established, traditional brick-and-mortar business considering to setup an online store and let your customers order over the web? So, you do realise the tons of benefit you can obtain via online sales channel, right?
When it comes to eCommerce, the first thing that comes into our thoughts is always about trust and credibilty. In today’s world, many people are using the Internet to buy products from the same retailers that they already know and trust. Take Apple Inc. for instance, can you imagine how easy it is for you to buy their stuff? You can easily pre-order the new iPhone and pickup from their store or get it delivered to you because you already know and trusts them.
If you are already running an offline store yourself, we believe you have the potential to make more sales selling online. Why wait?
With eCommerce, you can…
1. Have An Inexpensive Yet Highly Targeted Marketing Channel
With eCommerce, you can also target a new pool of customers. It is important to let search engine like Google understand what your product pages is about so they can properly place and rank your website when users search for keywords related to your product offering.
Online store powered by SEO Shopping Cart Software automatically place all the relevant keywords on Title Tag, Product Picture ALT Tag, Meta Keywords & Description etc. All these are designed to help search engine understand your products and services better.
It properly conform to the search engine webmaster guidelines that will help you to get indexed and properly listed by Google, Bing & Yahoo! that dominates the web searches now.
Besides, it also helps you to tap into email newsletter marketing, feed marketing via Google Base & SMS Coupon Marketing. All which are very affordable ways of extending your brand and services online. It’s proven that email and SMS marketing work best on an opt-in list or your existing database. Good news is, if you are already running an offline store for quite sometime, chances are you already have a pool of customers database. Start from there and you will see more repeat purchase coming in!
2. Have A Low-cost Way To Expand Your Business
Thinking of expanding your business by building another physical store? Compared to a new brick-and-mortar store investment, online storefront cost way lesser. A professional and complete eCommerce system starting from RM365 per year can get you a domain, web and email hosting and SEO Shopping Cart Software. Bear in mind that you are buying all these tools and services to help you make more money. This investment goes a long way and don’t be surprised if it only cost less than a month worth of your physical store rental!
3. Think Big – Expand Nationally and WorldWide
Brick-and-mortar stores are limited within a geographical area – typically in a 20KM radius or lesser. But when you take your business online, the dynamics change significantly because your online store can now be viewed by anyone in the world. With the advancement in online payment technology, any customers can use credit card to pay for your goods and get it delivered to their door steps.
4. Drive Traffic to your Brick-and-Mortar Store – Vice Versa!
Regardless of what type of business you operate, traffic to your online store can translate into traffic to your brick-and-mortar store and vice versa. Your web store, if leveraged correctly, is going to get you more publicity and exposure outside your existing physical store geographical area, which can only mean on thing – Improved Business. Moreover, consumers like multi-channel shopping. Many of them are now doing research online to easily compare products before deciding whether to buy from you offline.
5. Easily Cross-Sell Your Products and Make More Profit
If you’ve ever been asked if you’d like fries with your burger, then you’ll understand the concept of cross-selling. It basically encourages your customers to buy a complementary or related product or service which can have a significant impact on your profit. You can easily relate multiple products to one product with just a few clicks in webShaper eCcommerce solution to automate your cross-selling process too.
6. Allow Pre-order To Be Done Easily
An online store lets you take and process pre-order easily via credit card payment. Imagine for some hot selling products, getting large quantity not just ensure that you wouldn’t have inventory turnover problem, it also means you can negotiate with more competitive pricing with the suppliers since you are getting your stocks in larger quantity. For instance, hardcore gamers will always wanna be the first to get their hands on the latest games available. That’s why GameOn offer pre-order so that their customers can get it immediately once they are available in the market.
7. Have A Complete Range of Products Selection & In-Depth Info
Can you display all the remote control helicopters in your physical store? If you are selling many other remote control toys, how are you going to display all of them if your shop space is limited? You can offer a better choosing experience to consumers who prefer more choices. And you can also provide an in-depth product information or even customers’ reviews that educates well and sells even better!
8. Increase Customer Value Over A Lifetime
Every retailers understand that the key to profitability lies in repeat purchase of their existing customers. You want them to keep buying more from you. Setting up your own online store allows your customers to interact with you consistently and conveniently via both online and offline channel. This consistent experience will extend your brand and also increase their loyalty for your brand.
9. Save Your Customers A Trip To Your Retail Shop
Why don’t you provide an alternative choice for your brick-and-mortar customers? With an online store, customers can avoid traffic jams and parking woes. By setting up your own-branded online store, they can shop and pay for your goods at their own convenience and comfort and get it delivered to their offices or door steps anytime. Not to mention the online shopping experience can easily extend your brand over the cyberspace.
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