Welp MagazineWith the online business landscape becoming increasingly competitive every year, now is the time to move your brick-and-mortar business into the world of eCommerce. Although transitioning to an eCommerce setup might seem as straightforward as simply setting up a website, there are in fact many things that you need to be aware of and take into consideration before you even think about launching your online channels.
From choosing the right platform to finding the best way of highlighting your products and everything in between, there are many steps that you need to go through to ensure that your online venture is utilising all its potential avenues for success.
What many business owners don’t realise is that moving your business online can actually help with your organisation’s overall efficiency, as there are a range of digital business tools that you can use to automate just about every business process you can think of.
Accounting for small business tools, staff rostering software, payroll platforms, project management solutions, and other similar business management software, can help to make your life easier both when you’re hoping to get your online business up and running, but also well into the future operations of your organisation.
Let’s take a look at how you can make a successful transition from a traditional in-store set-up to a multi-channel online business.
Select The Right Products
When starting out, it may not be feasible to launch all the items that you sell at once. Instead, select products depending on a few different factors. First, consider the stock levels of each of your products. If you only have a few units of a certain item and you know that there are some items that may take a little longer to re-stock, then you may want to consider listing other more readily available products on your website.
Secondly, it’s a good idea to make your selection based on what is proven to sell with ease, and at which times select products will be likely to sell well. Although this process can always be improved upon once you already have a few months of sales data to go off of, making some well-informed estimates can prove to be a great starting point that will help you determine which products to sell when you launch.
Research Is Key
When setting up your online store and outlining your brand awareness plan, the first thing you need to think about is your competitors. As a physical store, your competition is likely to be those that are geographically close to your business. When your enterprise moves online, however, you will have a whole range of new and different competitors that you may not even be familiar with. For this reason, detailed research of your new online competitors is key in your decision making moving forward, and will help to consistently guide your business in the right direction as your digital development continues.
Using The Right Platform
Many businesses have adopted an e-commerce approach to boost sales over the years. To help them achieve this, different software companies have created website templates designed solely for selling products online. These platforms can be tailored to capture the essence of your brand, and they come equipped with vital inventory and automation functionality to help everything to run smoothly. Be sure to research your options thoroughly in order to find a solution that will meet the specific needs of your business.
Create Awareness
Once your online store is set up, it’s time to start attracting your customers! One great advantage of having a physical store is that you can use physical signage and other visual advertising in and around your immediate community. Be sure to use these tangible channels of communication, and actively tell your customers that you’ve launched a new way for them to buy your products, whether from your eCommerce store or via your social media accounts. You can help to spread the word about your transition to the online realm, and can in turn, encourage your existing customers to do the same. Never underestimate the power of ‘word of mouth’.
Take Your Brick And Mortar Store Online With Ease
Taking your retail business from being a solely physical retailer to a multi-channel enterprise, can be exciting and daunting in equal measure. However, following the steps outlined above, you can be sure that your new online venture will have every chance of succeeding.
Be sure to create a website that offers visitors the best user experience possible, a digital identity that your customers love to interact with, and start marketing your online store to attract visitors from the moment you open your virtual doors.
