Shopfloor FOCUS: THE POWER OF ONLINE
‘You can sell more if you’re running an effective e-commerce site’ By Daniel Todaro | MD of Gekko Group
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Creating an effective online presence is hard and maintaining it is harder still, so why do it? Well, it’s the virtual window to your store and even if it’s a non-transactional site, it’s just as important as your store experience.
It is estimated that 21 per cent of UK retail purchases are expected to take place online in 2023. So when considering your own website, always ask yourself what you want the site to achieve. If you want to drive sales, it needs to be set up to have your consumers coming to it. You could make the best website in the world but if you don’t attract the right people to it, no one will know it exists… nor will you sell anything. If you have the luxury of a big budget to launch a major ATL campaign to drive awareness of the site, then great. But if this isn’t an option, then you’ll need to get inventive and use your resources wisely. Therefore, it’s best that you spend as much time on planning the site as you do defining your consumer base, driving the customers with each click-through to your site. And don’t forget to make it mobile compatible, as according to Statista,
59 per cent of all worldwide website traffic is now on mobile devices! According to Hubspot, the industry benchmark for average dwell time is
considered somewhere between two and four minutes. It usually takes around this time to explore a website and get a feel for the design and the retailer’s offering. You will soon know if you have the right audience coming to your website, as they will engage with you in some form; the objective is to not let them drop off and never be seen again! Play to the key strengths of the Internet, with 85 per cent of consumers researching online before making a purchase in store, make sure you use the space at your disposal to portray essential information surrounding the products.
Fact-finding
Consumers will often visit your website for price information and user reviews, so ensuring all this information is readily available, accurate and digestible is key. Furthermore, this also helps with SEO. Potential customers will likely be looking for this info with a view to also then going to touch and feel the product in-store with a view to purchase. Additionally, make sure your website is aligned with your
in-store messaging and values. Too often retailers aren’t aware of how messaging, promotions, experience and brand compliance should transcend from store to site and vice versa. Recent Gekko research found that 69 per cent of people surveyed said that a well-synced online and offline experience would help drive a considered purchase. The customer journey – more often than not – starts with a visit to your website. Our research has shown that 85 per cent of shoppers looking to make a significant purchase will do their research online before actually buying. This shopper journey should be developed, keeping the consumer’s attention, rather than leaving them unmotivated to click beyond the landing page or walk through your physical door.
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