Nearly all of us use the web everyday, as a part of our day-to-day life. We're all pretty good at Facebook, watching Netflix, reading the news and finding out the local gossip. However, how many of us truly know how to apply the web effectively in our businesses? Not many.
Many people with businesses in retail, have a website and do not know how to effectively use it to it's full potential. Many just 'assume' their website will sell itself; while this is true in certain areas such as functionality and user experience; the backbone of an effective online retail website rely's on some conventional business strategies.
Public Holidays Promotion: Make use of them
If you watch TV at Christmas, New Years, what ads do we see mostly? Chances are it's '50% OFF', 'Buy 1 Get 1 FREE' ads, companies utilise the time of the year to get people spending.
It's a great way to increase sales online and increase your revenue. Plan & advertise certain specials on your website and through social media platforms to help drive sales for the period. Christmas is the most important event for this, EVERYONE is essentially buying at this time of the year, so make sure you pick an array of product and promote it.
Making use of the current holiday not only gets more attention and sales, but also shows people your company is a player in the market & up to date... If we see a site dormant during Christmas with no mention of the festive season, we often think 'is this business still running?'.
Market products that suit the season
Winter, summer... the two seasons that differentiate how people run their day-to-day lives. If your business has different 'products' for different seasons, make sure you market those relevant products during that period. Again, utilise Facebook, AdWords, AdRoll - these can all push your products to audiences who are consciously or unconsciously looking for them!
People do not want to buy umbrella's in summer, same with singlets in the winter. People want to know what they can buy now. If you sell surf-boards, or products that are 'seasonal', consider simply marketing 'vouchers' for that product that can be used in the future when the season is beginning again
Follow up 'abandoned' orders
We often see orders that are incomplete, or 'abandoned'. These are missed sales opportunities, it's key to find out WHY these people did not complete their order. Most shopping carts will give you some information as to who was ordering, i.e. an email address.
With this detail, you can ask them 'why' they didn't finish ordering. Was it a site glitch? Was it just too expensive for shipping? Finding out these reasons can not only help you identify how to improve your shopping process, but also find out if perhaps shipping is to expensive, or if a certain feature is causing issues on your site. Mending these issues can in some cases also re-assure the customer, and give them the opportunity to complete their order!
In summary; make sure you explore all the possible avenue's of your websites potential. Don't just sit there and put everything on special and wait for sales! Promote, make people aware using today's popular media platforms and follow-up with existing customers & abandoned orders!
