Shopfloor FOCUS: THE POWER OF ONLINE


34


‘Today’s retail websites have to work seamlessly’


By Hannah Snoeck Client Services Director | Gekko Field Marketing


It doesn’t matter if your retail site is old or new, what matters is what you do with it. Both the setting up of a new site or the refresh of an old one can take time and money, so it’s best to first plan and prove why changes/decisions should be made, before you even go into the development phase. Here are a few proven top tips based on industry insight and our hands-on experience working with household tech customers across their own retailer websites:


What’s the plan? Tis is the first question to ask. You could make the best website in the world but if you don’t entice the right people to it, no one will know it exists, nor will you sell anything. You need to get inventive and spend as much time planning the site as defining your


consumer base, where they travel online, and tailor your budgeted PPC advertising to target them – driving the customers with each click through to your site. You will soon know if you have the right audience coming to the site as they will purchase, not just drop off never to be seen again. And make sure your website is aligned to your physical in-store messaging and


values. Too oſten retailers aren’t aware of how messaging, promotions, experience and brand compliance should transcend from store to site or vice versa. Recent g2 research found that 69 per cent of people surveyed said that a well-synced online and offline experience would help drive a considered purchase.


Forging your reputation Are you set up to manage your online reputation? More than ever before customers are relying on the opinions of others to make an informed purchase online; 99.75 per cent of UK consumers read reviews “at least sometimes” when shopping online according to PowerReviews.


If you create a site that has independent reviews and ratings – which is a must today – then


be prepared for both the positive and negative feedback and the tricky product questions that all retailers get from time-to-time. It’s how you deal with this feedback that matters., Negative feedback online can be turned around to a more positive outcome if


answered swiſtly and correctly, but leſt unanswered and for other users to respond, simple issues can easily escalate. Don’t let this happen, and plan if your reviews will be visible and answerable by the public… or not. In fact, according to Moz, off-site SEO-related factors like third-party reviews carry more than 50 per cent of the ranking factor weight on Google (this means it dramatically increases your chances of being ranked higher on Google searches and found by your potential customers).


Be seasonable and mobile It seems an obvious thing to point out but be conscious of using seasons, events and promotions as a worthwhile excuse to update your website. Keeping fresh and relevant will make sure you are attracting traffic to the site and driving potential customers to shop with you for special seasonal deals. Mobile ecommerce is spurred on by seasonal offers; over the past year there’s been


a 40 per cent year-on-year increase in overall app installs (Apps Flyer). For example, Shopify reported a record Black Friday last year, with sales of almost €2.9 billion around the world and data shows that nearly three quarters of these global sales were made on mobile (Shopify).


Just the start Are you prepared to test, trial and evolve your website? With our brands we run many online programmes that use the retailer’s target audience to mystery shop web pages and assess the customer journey, this way we get feedback from discoverability (finding the page online/on Google) right through to making a purchase. Te results can be very telling. Consider your approach, but above all listen to what your customers want and how


they want to buy. And survey your first set of customers not just on the products but their overall shopping experience – you may be surprised by what you hear. Today’s retail websites have to work seamlessly, as customer loyalty can be lost at the


click of a button!


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40