When you have been running a business for a while, you have to have a feel for when you have hit your limits, or when there are opportunities that you could (and should) be taking advantage of. Taking your business online makes perfect sense from all aspects – especially financially. Before we move forward, let’s touch on what eCommerce is.
Commercial transactions conducted electronically on the internet.
We are going to look at the benefits for your customers and your business by taking your products and/or services online.
If you have been running a successful brick and mortar store for a while, then you are more than used to the trials and tribulations of sales. Moving online has a new set of challenges. As well as making sure that you have a host with exceptional uptime, you are going to need a cohesive communication strategy too. Because you want your store to be easy to find and access.
Make sure that you have all of your email and social media with your company name (so that you are easy to search for), you can earmark them long before you are ready to use them. If you chose to go with Shopify, then you are going to be given a plethora of options. You don’t need 7 reasons for choosing Shopify for your E-Commerce store, you just need the right company to work with you, and products to sell – Shopify is the no-brainer.
Let’s talk about the wide range of reasons that you should take your store online.
Reviews
Reviews will play a massive part in why someone will spend money with your store, and on something they have no experience with. When you are strolling around a store, you have no idea what people really think about the products. Bring that online, and it is a different ball game altogether.
Customers will share photos and hashtags of products they love, they will give star ratings, write reviews and even reliable feedback you can use. They will talk about what other people really need to know. Is it value for money? How is the quality? Is there a delivery cost? This is a huge benefit to the store owner because UGC is a heavyweight in buyer decisions and brand awareness.
No People
One of the utter joys of online sales is you can sit and view the figures on the screen without having to manually serve each customer. Things like Black Friday sales, Boxing Day, January Sales… They can be very intense for stores. The scrum of people in a store can be overwhelming for other shoppers too. And that overwhelm might just stop them spending what they had intended to.
All of that money customers save on parking, public transport, gas, travel and more can go directly on products in your Shopify store.
All Day
No matter what time of day it is, there are millions of people shopping online. They might be on a commute, they might be in bed, or they might be simply scrolling social media and checking advertisements. You can make sales at 2.34am for hundreds of pounds, and all you needed to do was have the right advertising and the correct Shopify store set-up.
When you sell online, you can make money while you are sleeping.
Harder Working Marketing
Sharing on social media is free, and it is something that you should have automated and running at all hours. Combine that with the share buttons on products, and you are putting a lot of power in the hands of the consumer. Shopify has a range of tools that will double down on all of your marketing efforts, the trick is knowing how to utilise them correctly.
A single tweet can reach more people than a newspaper can now. Which is impressive when you consider a tweet is free. Once your Shopify store is hooked up correctly, a lot of your marketing will be done by customers. While leaving you to focus on running more prominent campaigns.
The dashboards on your social media and your store mean that you can track everything that is important to you. You can see where your most significant conversions are coming from, you can see which products and platforms aren’t working out. This will mean that you can continually refine and clean up your sales process.
Knowing where to put money in your campaigns and where your organic traffic is coming from is incredible when it comes to your bottom line.
Being social is great for engaging with customers and clients, but you need to have a healthy mix of sales and other engagement so that you don’t oversaturate your media with sales content.
Versatility
You have a lot of room to explore the limits of your website. Or, in fact, the lack of restrictions that you have. Timing your call-to-actions, how your products are presented, the bundles, your funnels, and pop-ups are all going to be a well-oiled machine. Something that you should always remember is that your store can be moved and improved as often as you need. The key is that you need to give the best user experience consistently.
Not only that, but what you sell really has no limits. Products, services, live calls, workbooks, and so much more are all on offer.
And the payment options are plentiful too: Apple Pay, PayPal, PayPal Credit plus all majors make it easier for people to pay how works best for them. The limits of the real-world payments are lifted somewhat.
Rebrand or Cement
When you are in the early days of moving your business online, you have a unique opportunity to create a whole new brand look and feel. Or, you might choose to cement your current branding. You should think carefully if your logo and brand voice translate online, or if you might need to rethink how it presents to customers.
Taking your business online, and integrating eCommerce has never been easier. And you have a range of companies that can help you create your online store visions too.
