All eCommerce businesses share a singular goal: sell more stuff. Easier said than done, right? As a new online retailer, you’re facing a lot of competition. You’re inundated with administration tasks, such as taking photographs and writing product descriptions. And, you don’t have the direct customer contact you’d have in a traditional brick-and-mortar store.
Don’t worry. All is not lost. It’s possible to efficiently bypass these difficulties and distinguish yourself in the saturated digital marketplace. Grow your online retail business fast with these easy to execute tips.
1. Expand Your Market
If there’s one thing eCommerce offers that Main Street doesn’t, it’s the ability to sell to anyone living anywhere. By expanding your market to foreign nations, you’re opening yourself up to customer bases that haven’t already been tapped. If you’re worried about converting currencies or language barriers, don’t. There is software already developed that makes accepting global online payments a cinch.
2. Use a Supplier Portal
Dealing with suppliers will only slow you down, but how else are you going to organize shipments and accounting? The solution is SAP or Supplier Portal, which links your company and your supplier over the web. If you’re low on funds, a supplier portal helps eliminate costly personnel whose sole job function is to deal with your supplier(s).
With SAP, you and your suppliers are synched in a portal where you’re able to order, cancel, pay, track deliveries, and enter disputes. It’s far more efficient. And, both parties are granted access to processes, which allows for careful monitoring on both ends.
3. Ask Tastemakers to Promote Your Product
On Main Street “word of mouth” can make or break a business. The same goes for the internet. Negative reviews can damage your reputation, but so can a complete lack of reviews. Before shopping at a new online store, don’t you Google it to make sure it’s not a scam? A lack of positive reporting can make would-be shoppers weary. They may see your newness as a sign of illegitimacy.
Engaging tastemakers to review and promote your business will ensure that anyone Googling your business is sure to run into positive information. Tastemakers, aka influencers, are people who have large and active social media followings. You can offer them free products in exchange for honest reviews on their blogs or social media accounts. Or, you can pay them to promote your product, such as offering their followers a discount or other incentive. Their promotion will result in a great deal of engagement, and may encourage others to positively review your store too.
4. Send Out Customer Retention Emails
Repeat customers are your bread and butter, especially when first growing a new eCommerce business. You can re-engage prior customers with customer retention emails. These automatic emails are regularly sent to the people who’ve already shopped once, and they encourage them to shop again.
They’re designed to remind the customer to make another purchase. The important thing is that you wait a good amount of time before suggesting another purchase, such as two to four months. Also, you may want to include a discount code or additional incentive to motivate the customer to return.
5. Offer Potential Customers Safety
Finally, it’s important that you understand the modern online shopper. The modern online shopper isn’t too trusting. They understand that hackers are after their information, so they’re not going to shop somewhere where they don’t feel safe. Make sure your Verisign buttons stand out, and that you’re advertising your fraud and security protections.
Overall, if you’re dedicated to safety and you take steps to promote your business, it’s possible to attract customers to a new online retail establishment. The trick is to be different, but also offer traditional safety measures. Be relatable, marketable to influencers, and be open to new markets.
