Rising above the competition

According to www.digitalintheround.com, there are upwards of 12 million online shops worldwide. More than 2 million of these shops are in the U.S. alone. By comparison, there are 2.14 billion online shoppers around the world. This trend is likely to continue to grow as online shopping has become an integral part of consumers’ lives, just about anywhere on the globe.

In the U.S., approximately 263 million people shop online. Some shop online after they’ve had too much to drink. These online purchases made by intoxicated shoppers adds up to $30 billion a year of — likely regrettable — purchases.

You can compete for online sales. The best place to start is with your existing customers, who likely would welcome more options for engaging with you. Once you get them shopping your online store, you can reward them for purchases, referrals, reviews, and shares to social media pages.

By building an engaging website that appeals to the triggers of choice (discussed in Chapter 2) and providing a fulfilling customer experience from landing page to shopping cart (as discussed in Chapter 3), you’ll also secure new customers.

Often what sets one e-commerce star above another for visits and transactions is search engine optimization, or SEO, which isn’t something you set up once when you launch your e-commerce site or Google Ads campaign. As mentioned in Chapter 13, you need to continuously monitor search terms, keywords, campaign optimization, clicks, click-through rates, and conversions, just as you do your website. Monitoring the keywords and SEO efforts of your competitors on sites like SpyFu is also a powerful way to stay ahead of the pack.

Fulfilling orders and delighting customers

With stores having to offer curbside pickup or stop doing business in 2020, new distribution methods blossomed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Curbside pickup and click and collect — also known as buy online, pick up in store, or BOPIS — soared, and they show no signs of slowing down. According to Business Insider, U.S. shoppers alone spent $72.46 billion on BOPIS purchases in 2020, representing a 107 percent growth rate over 2019. Multiple studies indicate that many consumers intend to keep shopping this way.

BOPIS offers many opportunities for businesses large and small. Small businesses can keep up with online order fulfillment by offering BOPIS options rather than trying to package and ship product. If you assign one or two staff members to prepare pickup orders prior to in-person shopping hours, you can offer BOPIS without adding much to your labor costs or interfering with your in-store customer service. You can also set up lockers in store or outside your storefront. Customers can pick up their packages much like picking up their mail, reducing the need for staff engagement, customer lines for pickup, and, best of all, extra payroll for fulfillment.

Curating customer experiences online

Your e-commerce store must provide the same kind of engagement, services, and support as your brick-and-mortar store, if not more. Expectations for 5-star service online are, and will continue to be, high. Personalizing online shopping with relevant live chat opportunities or customer service follow-up is key because consumer expectations are no different for online engagement as they are for in-store interactions. A 2018 Accenture study shows 91 percent of consumers were more likely to buy from brands that recognize them, use their name, and provide relevant offers and recommendations, off-line or online.

With the right e-commerce or customer relationship management platform, you can offer live chat with employees who have access to customers’ data and can deliver personalized service based on past transactions in real time. By empowering employees to solve issues immediately and offer incentives to keep customers satisfied, your online experience can be just as good, if not better, than your in-store service.

Converting online traffic to sales

Abandonment is a real thing in e-commerce, and while you can’t take it personally, it impacts your bottom line and marketing return on investment in ways that can feel very personal. Abandonment in the e-commerce world happens when people get off your site without making a purchase or leave items in their cart and never come back to check out.

Consider this statistic reported by BigCommerce (bigcommerce.com):

U.S. retailers spend close to $24 billion on digital ads per year to drive traffic to e-commerce websites, and on average experience conversion rates between 2 and 3 percent.

Despite this not-so-encouraging statistic, it’s critical to offer e-commerce in a world where customers want options and will patronize the brands that give them choices that fit their lifestyle and expectations.

The following guidelines can help you secure sales:

• Offer an easy checkout system.
• Do not require registration or account setup to complete a purchase.
• Offer discounts on shipping or products.
• Ensure your product and checkout pages load quickly
• Offer live chat support during extended shopping hours.
• Offer refund policies that favor customers, not your business.
• Execute strategies to increase your shopping cart fulfillment rates.

Upping your SEO rankings

Again, SEO is an important aspect of e-commerce success. If you aren’t on the first page of search engine results pages, or SERPs, you’re not going to drive traffic to your site. Consumers tend to have the patience of a gnat and usually won’t look past the first SERP that Google, Bing, or the like serve up. However, first pages now list several ads before the organic options, making it harder to get a top listing without paying a lot.

The work-around is to put some extra effort into elevating and maintaining your SEO rankings to ensure you’re at the top of key searches related to your business, and that you stay there! You need to constantly monitor key terms in your Google Ads account, keep your website tagging current, and monitor keywords and search result rankings for your competitors. Again, SpyFu is a great site for keeping tabs on your competitors and gives you decent insight for free.

Increasing shopping cart fulfillment rates

Even with 70 percent or more of online shoppers abandoning their carts, you can get them back with some simple tactics, such as emailing or texting incentives to complete a transaction. According to Wix, triggered emails can quickly get back around 10 percent of shoppers. Most e-commerce platforms offer automated triggers for re-engaging abandoned shoppers. You can also use a marketing service like Omnisend.

Following are some strategies that will help you minimize abandonment:

• Progress bars showing the steps left to complete an order tend to keep shoppers on course for completing the checkout process.
• Keep the shopping process simple and easy to navigate. Make it easy to put items in a cart and continue shopping. Amazon goes a step further and lets you click on a Buy Now button, which skirts some of the steps in the checkout process. Keeping items in a cart when shoppers leave your site allows them to start where they left off if they were distracted or interrupted when finalizing their purchase.
• Speedy page loading is essential. Because we’ve become accustomed to instant gratification and speedy access to information, shoppers waiting for a page to load will likely give up and go elsewhere.
• Making shoppers register on your page before checking out will decrease your shopping fulfillment numbers. Many consumers don’t want to opt in to marketing emails or texts just to get what they want. Find other ways, like registering for special discounts, to get email addresses for future marketing.
• Live chat support is not just expected but often critical to closing a deal. Many shoppers would rather ask questions in live chat than search your page for return policies, shipping options, and more. If you don’t have a live chat feature staffed by your team, keep in mind that many e-commerce platforms offer chatbots, which are apps that can mimic conversations and interact with customers. While not the most ideal solution, it’s often better than no interaction at all.
• If possible, have thumbnail images of products in a customer’s shopping cart visible throughout the checkout journey. This can keep their enthusiasm for the product alive and prevent abandonment.

Building your own e-commerce store

There are numerous platforms for do-it-yourself (DIY) e-commerce websites, and numerous review sites to guide your decision process. One example is www.best10ecommercesitebuilders.com.

It’s important to review websites that compare e-commerce platforms to see what users have to say about ease of development, design, SEO management, payment and shipping processes, service, and tech support. And, of course, to find out if they offer the services and features you need to start out strong and achieve sustainable growth.

If you’re just getting started, there are many affordable options that provide the same services and features offered on big brand websites. You may be surprised at how many features you can get for less than $100 a month from an e-commerce platform like GoDaddy, Square, or Wix, three highly rated and highly used platforms.

Features you can get from affordable platforms for small businesses include:

• Design Templates
• Analytics and Sales Dashboard
• Chatbots
• SEO tools and/or support
• Syncing to marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Facebook
• Automated inventory management across multiple channels
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Segmented email campaigns
• Discounts and gift cards
• Automated tax calculations
• Card readers services (additional fees will apply)
• Email and text reminders for customers
• Online appointment scheduling
• Tools for managing business listings on Google, Yelp, etc.
• Posting to social media stores
• Email subscriber sign-up forms

Website Builder Expert (www.websitebuilderexpert.com) lists the following as the seven best e-commerce platforms:

• Wix: best for small online stores
• Shopify: best for larger businesses
• Squarespace: best value for the money
• Square Online: best way to sell for free
• BigCommerce: best for purely online businesses
• Volusion: okay all-around, but best at nothing
• Big Cartel: best for independent artists

Various website builders have various advantages. For example, one of the features highlighted about Wix, a highly rated platform with hundreds of easy-to-use templates for retailers, is its easy integration of products and even full catalogs to Amazon and eBay. An advantage of using Square Online is its automated integration with Square’s point of sale and banking tool.

It’s important to do the research on e-commerce platforms and read what others have to say about ease of site and store development, quality of support, and so on. Uploading your photos, product descriptions, and setting up pricing and shopping options requires a substantial time commitment you can’t recoup if you decide to switch platforms down the road.

With the right system, setting up an online store can be as simple as

• Choosing your platform
• Defining your product line and/or service offerings
• Customizing an existing template around your brand persona and products
• Uploading product images, pricing, and so on to your store
• Connecting your store to a payment system, bank account for credit card fees, and so on
• Setting up shipping options for customers
• Clicking the Publish button

Paying someone else to do it for you

If DIY isn’t your thing, you can find sites that will take care of many of the management functions for you. Many of these sites cater to a specific business line. For example, one company might specialize in e-commerce sites for counselors and life coaches, another for artists.

Darkroom.tech is a site that hosts storefronts for photographers. You choose your template, and upload your photos and prices, and they manage your shop and fulfill orders for you. You end up paying 5 to 15 percent of your revenue for these services, but you gain back the time to focus on your business.

Keep in mind the personal time you have available to maintain your site, manage inventory uploads, review analytics and sales dashboards, and perform other housekeeping functions. If your time is scarce, this option may be best for you.

When browsing options for platforms that manage sites and processes, pay attention to how much you will be paying to process each order. Is it 15 percent, 30 percent or more? How do the fees of those platforms you are considering compare with commissions you would pay resellers such as brokers, retailers, or galleries.

Selling with eBay

You are probably familiar with Amazon but may not have a lot of experience with eBay. Before deciding on a digital storefront, you should know what eBay has to offer. More importantly, you should consider the eBay offers that Amazon doesn’t. Here are some key differences:

• eBay offers a distinct atmosphere that is more like a market than a big online retailer. It’s like a big online farmer’s market for individuals who want to list and sell personal goods at discount prices. Instead of selling your product for you like other sites will, eBay provides guidelines and tools so you can sell your items successfully, but you do the rest.
• eBay has a lot more products to sell. That’s because individuals, not just merchants, are selling goods. This can make it harder for your products to stand out.
• eBay has lower selling fees than on other sites. This allows you to keep more of the revenue from your sales.
• eBay isn’t always considered trustworthy. Consumer perception is that eBay is like a big garage sale with a few new items mixed in. As a result, it’s not perceived to be as much of a trusted brand with customer-centric policies and practices as other sites.

The key to success on eBay is to get your product to pop up on the first page or two of the search results. Here are some tips that can help you get noticed:

• List your product in two or more categories. Some customers may not know which category to search in, so list your products in all the categories that make sense. For example, if you’re selling a winter coat, list it as a jacket and a coat and see what happens. You should be able to track which listing made it to the shopping cart as well. It may cost more to do this, but if you don’t get noticed, you don’t get sales.
• Offer free shipping. eBay gives listings with free shipping preference in its rank ordering of search results. If you offer free shipping, make sure you cover at least the cost of standard shipping in the overall price you list.
• Avoid keyword spamming.Keyword spamming is when you slip a popular keyword into your item description that doesn’t really belong there. For example, saying, If you love Ralph Lauren’s designs, you’ll love these bath towels, is against eBay policy and may get your listing — and you — kicked off the site if the towels aren’t actually Ralph Lauren towels.
• Become the top seller. eBay rates independent sellers and lists customer reviews. Be sure to offer fast, responsive, and honest transactions at all times to maintain a high seller rating. Just one bad review can send shoppers to the next item listed, and because it takes only seconds to move on in a digital store environment, they most assuredly will.

Selling with Amazon

Studies show that more than half of all online shoppers start their search for new products on Amazon. As a retailer on the site, you can sell your products with Amazon.com as the payment processing system for your shopping cart, or you can become an Amazon seller, paying a monthly fee for Amazon to list and fulfill your product. Following are some keys to success for selling on Amazon:

• Continuously manage your SEO efforts on Amazon to ensure the keywords you use in your product listings align with Amazon’s search algorithm. This algorithm, referred to as A9, searches multiple factors to determine how any given product will rank in the results shown to shoppers for related variables. You need to carefully select keywords for your products just as you do for search engines like Google and Yahoo.
• Always make sure your product is eligible to have a Buy Now button in the listing, and be sure to set up your Buy Box eligibility by following the prompts in the Manage Inventory section of your Amazon Seller Central account. The Buy Now button is a distinction some of the top merchants and best selling items earn. When consumers click on that button, they are able to process their purchase more quickly, and this translates into more sales for the seller.
• Uphold high standards for product quality, pricing, and customer service to ensure you show up at the top of search results and maintain your eligibility for having a Buy Now button on your listing.
• Monitor your product listings regularly to make sure Amazon hasn’t suppressed them for any reason. Amazon scores sellers on its site, and maintaining a top position in search results, and the critically needed Buy Now button, depends on having nearly perfect scores for product quality, on-time delivery, product condition, and shipping and return policies. If your score falls unexpectedly, you could lose your product rankings without much warning.
• Fulfill your orders through Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime program so your goods will be listed as Prime products. Being a Seller Fulfilled Prime participant means your products will be easier for customers to find. Your products will also have a greater chance of being among featured products in your category. Amazon also lists your products for two-day free shipping which you are obligated to fulfill at your cost. The extra sales from being ranked higher and featured more often compensates for shipping costs quite quickly. With this program, Amazon can monitor your inventory to ensure product availability, which is key to getting the Buy Now button on your listing.
• Post only high-quality images of your products that clearly depict the value and excellence of the items you offer.
• Use clear and compelling copy to describe your products, and make key features and specifications stand out in bulleted text.
• Include customer reviews and answers to customer questions with your listings. This gives shoppers confidence in you as a seller and helps boost your search ranking on Amazon.

Creating an inviting store vibe

A store’s atmosphere is critical to building traffic and increasing the value of transactions and overall sales. Creating the right atmosphere requires paying attention to your customers’ lifestyle, personas, and why they shop. It’s often about more than just the products you sell.

The best way to do this is to conduct in-store surveys at the cash register. (See Chapter 5 for details on surveys.) Ask customers what they like most about your store environment, what’s missing, and how shopping with you makes them feel. Then find ways to create an atmosphere that supports your findings.

Harlan Bratcher elevated sales for Armani Exchange when he was the brand’s CEO by creating an atmosphere that was emotionally engaging beyond the products he sold. His target audience was young, single adults who enjoy the metropolitan social scene. So he created a nightclub ambiance for his stores. His team researched the music his customers loved to listen to while dancing, created spot-on playlists, which they played loudly, and added lighting that reflected a dance club atmosphere. Sales skyrocketed. This strategy not only made people feel fun, attractive, and glamorous, which in turn made them buy more, but it also drew people off the streets because the music and lights were audible and visible outside the store.

REI is another brand that creates a particular atmosphere in their stores. Some of its flagship stores have climbing walls that allow customers to experience adventure and their own athleticism. The Denver, CO store has a 47-foot climbing monolith with 6,400 square feet of a hand-sculpted rock-like surface that reflects some of Colorado’s most popular climbing areas. It offers 12 routes that are rated for difficulty on the Yosemite Decimal System which governs the sport in the real outdoors, and includes hand cracks, finger cracks, overhangs, and more. They do charge a minimal fee to climb their walls so people will come whether they need to shop or not. However, its likely hard to be in REI, surrounded by things that make you feel you are on top of the world, and not buy anything.

American Girl is one of the best examples of how to create a lucrative retail atmosphere. Their flagship stores, like the Fifth Avenue location in New York City, offer experiences that make lifetime memories for parents and children beyond the dolls and accessories they sell. These include a cafe that serves afternoon tea, a theater, a beauty salon so children can get hairstyles that match their dolls, and much more.

Trust your instincts and imagination. Experiment with your ideas and dare to be different. Look to create an experience that makes shopping memorable and something people want to do again.

If you’re competing with an established brand like Starbucks, find a new or local twist that makes your experience a bit different. Add easy-to-serve lunch foods like soups and prepackaged salads from a nearby café, offer books by homegrown authors, display local artists’ work, provide seating designed for laptop use, and create a different experience that reflects the local culture over the sameness of an international chain.

Stimulating sales at point of purchase

The point of purchase (POP), or the place where customer meets product, represents a critical opportunity to increase your sales. Although customers may have a planned purchase in mind when heading to your store, research shows that the majority of their purchases are actually unplanned. It’s like going to the grocery store for just one thing and ending up with $100 worth of groceries you didn’t have in mind when you left home.

This is the phenomenon of POP advertising, those signs on store shelves or end caps that “remind” consumers they need specific items. Table 15-1 shows you just how important POP advertising is, given the percentage of unplanned purchases at grocery stores and mass merchandise stores. (The statistics are from Point of Purchase Advertising International.)

Your direct, mass, and display advertising and social media messaging drive people to your store. Your merchandise selection, POP advertising and messaging, pricing and display strategies, atmosphere, and interactive experiences including augmented reality (AR) get them to purchase more (see the nearby sidebar for an explanation of AR).

Here are some tools you can use to improve engagement and enthusiasm for shopping at your store:

• Place signage on shelves to draw attention to products for which you want to boost sales.
• Set up freestanding floor displays that grab attention for products and promotional prices.
• Add QR codes to displays, signage, and other POP communications if you want to give customers ways to link directly to a promo or an informational web landing page.
• Display signage with a scannable app code (supplied by a 3D app maker) that in turn produces an AR display on the shopper’s phone or tablet. Let shoppers see in AR how that hat, bracelet, or other product will look on them. When you make the experience “real” through engaging technologies, consumers internalize the value of your products and become emotionally invested, which is when you increase your chances of closing the sale.

Technology changes quickly for all businesses. You must stay on top of marketing technology changes that impact how you distribute, sell, and market your products and the type of experiences you can create. If you don’t, others will, and you may fall behind. Best advice for anyone in marketing today? Don’t blink!