MULTICHANNEL ☛ WEB VERSION:
https://bit.ly/38BUxbD
31 March 2021. They can also reclaim 2 weeks’ Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence of any employee due to COVID-19. Other schemes to check out include the retail business rates holiday; the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund; the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme; the (mercifully easier to apply for) Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan and the new Time To Pay Service for taxes.
3 Keep those OAP converts ‘One positive result of the national lockdown has been that increasing numbers of older shoppers jumped online for the first time. Over 65s spent 94 per cent more on home deliveries this April than they did last year. A startling 54 per cent of over 65s shopped online this April, as opposed to just 22 per cent a decade
ago.There are a number of ways online retailers can keep these older converts. Focussed offers and user-friendly Apps can play their part in retaining the grey pound.
A few changes to an eCommerce website will also make it more usable for elderly shoppers. Make fonts simple (eg sans serif) and larger, so that the text is easily readable. Ensure clear contrast between the colours of the font and its background: eg. black against white, rather than light blue on dark blue. Ensure “calls to action” such as ‘Buy Now’ boxes stand out clearly. Avoid complicated dropdown menus. Incorporate easy steps such as a progress bar, 1-click purchases or “Repeat previous order”. Finally, half of all UK over-55s own a tablet, so
etailers must make sure their site is responsive.
4 The multiple attractions of multichannel Retailers who have both stores and web sites must embrace omnichannel sales, with a completely integrated online and in-store experience. Otherwise, Britain’s shoppers may simply lose the habit of visiting stores even though lockdown is loosening.
Key to this is encouraging Click & Collect. Integrated stores that enable customers to buy items online and then pick them up in store will be ideally placed at the end of lockdown. This method of shopping might be preferable for those who no longer find home deliveries as convenient because they are returning to work in June. Other shoppers, particularly the elderly, might prefer this form of limited socialising but will need to know that if they drive to a store, their item will be there. Of course, multichannel retailers must back this up by ensuring in- store shoppers are rewarded with a great experience, with knowledgeable staff and a range of amenities.
5 Spread your wings Let’s not kid ourselves, the healthy retail market we knew before coronavirus will not be the same once the pandemic begins to pass. Many previously regular customers may find themselves on reduced income or with different spending priorities post-lockdown. Online sellers may need to think big to fill the gaps in their traditional customer base.
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One way to do this is to consider international sales. Countries such as New Zealand were quicker to respond to the crisis and are therefore quicker moving beyond it. Different nations will recover at different speeds. Markets such as Australia, parts of the USA and the EU may well find themselves without their usual sources of assorted specialist products, and that could present an opportunity. There is a vast range of reliable delivery services to most countries.
Back at home, large stores and shopping centres that have encroached on smaller online sellers’ profits in recent years might be reopening on 15 June, but that doesn’t mean consumers will be flocking back to them. Over half of shoppers say they will continue to avoid large retail stores and shopping centres even when they have reopened. This is the opportunity for SME sellers to snatch back sales from larger retail competitors and keep hold of them with excellent customer service and reliability.
To do that, online sellers should rethink how they deliver their goods. Online sellers may have used a traditional delivery service for ever, but how did they perform during the lockdown? Now might be the time for e-commerce stores to re- think their delivery partner or perhaps chose multiple couriers based on the size and type of product being shipped. That might make it easier to choose delivery partners based around quality of service, improved convenience for customers and competitive costs.
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