5 tips on how to use your stores to help online, or is it the other way around?

If you run both e-commerce and physical stores, there are a few relatively simple things you can do to connect the stores with your online business. It creates an omnichannel experience for the end customer, and promoting e-commerce in stores or the other way around has proven to create a synergy effect that lifts overall revenue. I even know of certain brands that will not sell to companies that are pure-plays. Having a physical store is an advantage, use it in your marketing.

1. Market the e-commerce in the store!

Tell customers in the store that you have an e-commerce operation. If you open a new store and market it, your online sales from the same area will grow. Stores feed online through credibility and a sense of trust. Make it easy to find your physical stores on your e-commerce site, do not hide the stores away in a submenu. The fact that you have stores builds credibility.

2. Push customers to look up your products online while they are in the store.

Help customers find the same product online as in the store. Put QR codes on the shelf edges that lead to the same product online. Let the customer see more persuasive copy and specifications on their own. Do not be afraid of customers pulling out their phones and checking your products. A customer who starts comparing an existing product in the store against an online purchase is more likely to buy the product in the store than one who does not check, because they are keen on the product and are choosing between getting it right away or waiting a few days. Most people would rather take it right away.

3. Offer click and collect.

Offer store pickup in your e-commerce, and again: promote in the store that people can pick up their orders there, so shoppers there think of ordering to the store. Make sure customers can add new items to the same order when they collect. A person who walks into the store obviously gives plenty of upsell opportunity.

4. Attract shoppers into other channels

Let the different channels actively push customers to the others. Email out discount codes that only apply in store. Put a slip in the bag with the products in the store containing a code that only applies online.

5. Social shopping

Dare to try social shopping. Offer video-assisted shopping in the store via the website, or host in-store events with demonstrations and offers streamed online. Done well, conversion tends to be fantastic on this type of feature and activity.

If you would like help turning these tips into practice for your business, get in touch with us at Commerce Mind. We are experts at helping clients move faster.