Today, most retail businesses operate both a retail space and an online store because it allows them to reach customers 24-7, provide a larger variety of product (without actually stocking or paying for it), tap into customers who may live thousands of miles away, and then some.
Most experts agree that a businesses’ storefront should be different from its Web site, though at the same time, it should make doing business with consumers easier—no matter which site they shop. According to Dave Taylor, President of strategic marketing consultancy, Intuitive.com, in Boulder, Colo., and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Growing Your Business with Google, “The key idea is to recognize that your retail store is designed to attract people and convert visitors into customers in the real world, but what works there doesn’t necessarily work online.
“Online businesses,” Taylor explains, “should be designed for online customers and tailored to their concerns and interests. For example, an online store might focus on free shipping, being safe from hackers, promoting its membership in the Better Business Bureau, and cross-listing items with sites like eBay to drive traffic.
“It’s also a smart idea to consider hiring at least one person to run your online store and presence and to use well-established merchant solutions like Yahoo Stores to build the back end. Since information is the key currency of the Internet nowadays, a blog, series of articles or even an audio podcast can also be a smart way to differentiate your new company from its online competitors. And finally,” concludes Taylor, “don’t be afraid to try things. Just try smart.”
More Ways to Buy and Return
“There are a lot of good reasons why retailers should look at Web sites as an enhancement tool to the retail business. When you look at today’s consumer,” adds Fred Towns, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing and Operations, New Age, “about 80% of them typically go online and do some research before making a purchase. So it’s important to realize that customers do have knowledge about the brands in your store—and your store brand. For instance, consumers that are familiar with Wal-Mart’s stores are comfortable buying product on the company’s online site. That’s because they know they can buy online today and go to the store tomorrow to return or exchange an item without a hassle.”
This is a key issue for customers, though not all retailers realize that. For example, I recently tried to purchase a product online at Radio Shack. For whatever reason, the site would not allow me to add the product to the shopping basket. So I went to my local Radio Shack where the salesperson ordered the product for me and had it shipped to the store.
A few days later I picked it up, paid for it, took it home, and then brought it back because it didn’t work with my setup. I wanted to return it and buy a product that was in stock at the store that was also twice the price. But Radio Shack would not take the product back because it couldn’t read the bar code (yes, that was the reason given). I was told I had to return it online. How was I to do this if I couldn’t order it online? The manager would not budge. In the end, I purchased a three-dollar jack to convert the product and Radio Shack lost both a bigger sale and a customer.
So, although your online business should operate independently from your retail space, they should also work together to better serve the customer. “As independents gain more of a presence and more connectivity with the customer,” notes Towns, “plus have more ways that customers can get in contact with them should they have a problem or question, the more comfortable the buying experience will be.”
Information is Key
According to advertising and marketing consultant Richard Laermer, co-author of Punk Marketing (Collins, 2007), retailers need to be the perfect hosts, but online they have to turn themselves into an automation machine full of information.
“The store itself can’t be a conduit for the online space; they have to be very different,” says Laermer. “People who shop online are looking for the convenience. The store is the place they go to touch and feel product and get to know you. Online, you need to know every trend in the photo space.” Laermer suggests retailers invite photo experts and vendors into their stores for product demos and “touch and feel” sessions. Online, the best way to get people interested is with content.
“Post articles about new product or trends and make sure someone who knows the English language edits them.” Don’t inundate people with information—add a new item once a month or once a week. And don’t send it to them; have them log on to read it. “People just want to be communicated with—they just want access. Share your knowledge with your customers and don’t just advertise your hours and specials,” concludes Laermer. “You may think no one cares about that stuff, but they do.”
New Age’s Towns adds that with all the new technologies built into today’s products, consumers can still walk away from the retail store confused, even with the best salesperson on staff. “Retailers can only take (information) to a point,” says Towns. “They can lose money if a salesperson spends too much time with a customer one-on-one in the retail environment. If the customer wants to learn more about the product they can go online and learn about other features and be guided through different training materials, etc.”
When it comes to product on your site, most consumers don’t necessarily want to know about your specials, they want to know what products you have available that are right for them. “Allow people to search for things based on who they are,” notes Laermer. “For example, have your Web designer add a feature that allows customers to put in key words to search for product. That search should provide said product plus several products they might also like. This makes people feel special. And that’s more important to the buyer than the fact that you have something on sale.”
Finally, Laermer concludes, make sure your site has contact information. “The only reason people go to your site is to find you. And don’t use automated responses telling people you’ll get back to them soon. Interactivity means ‘you and me together’. If you really want to get business from people, the minute they click, you respond. And don’t think you can’t respond to everything, because you can. People love that you took a second to acknowledge them. If you can’t respond quickly, then don’t have an online site.”
Virtual Store
Having an online site can also help retailers expand their product offerings without actually purchasing or stocking items. According to New Age’s Towns, “We give retailers the capability of connecting (to an assortment of product) electronically. Retailers can visibly get accessibility to our inventory with an online tool; and they use that tool to pull the product knowing they can propagate their Web site with the data from our inventory.”
“We’re housing and promoting the goods for them,” reiterates Towns, “yet they can show it on their Web site.” Retailers simply make a credit card transaction and the product is shipped. “The beauty is they have a much wider, deeper assortment of goods that’s available to rep the lines,” says Towns.”
Several distributors are beginning to look at ways to help their retail customers better manage their online businesses and New Age is as active as any in this area. Like the idea of your business having an online presence but don’t have the time or desire to run it? New Age will do it for you. “We’re playing a very important role for people that want to have representation on the Web but don’t necessarily want to do all the pick, pack and ship of that product. So we do blind ship fulfillment with an invoice with the retailers’ name, logo, address, etc., even though it came from one of our facilities. We do that for a host of different retail partners from independents to national chains.”
As e-commerce continues to reshape the retail landscape, learning how to leverage your cyber-storefront with your actual storefront is vital. Those that succeed will find this new breed of customer that use both will form the future core of their business. yy
