How the web can reverse the slump in retail

In case your haven’t heard the news from earlier in the week, the retail sector suffered another poor result in January, citing our various natural disasters as at least one reason punters refused to buy.

At the same time though, it was reported as recently as last year that only a measly 10-15% of Australian retailers operated an eCommerce enabled website.

That means that a minority of fast moving ‘etailers’ are capturing the vast bulk of the $13 billion dollars (and growing) Australians spend online (not to mention those pesky tax avoiding overseas retailers).

I recently interviewed a number of Australian online retailers about their recent performance and the trend was unanimous – significant ongoing growth.

Contrast this with the gloom that ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers continue to report.

Get online now!

So the message remains clear: The sooner retailers embrace the internet instead of fighting it, the sooner their sales performance will improve.

The great news for retailers is that the financial barriers to entering the online world have reduced dramatically in the last five years.

What once would have resembled the cost of fitting out a physical store is now more akin to an annual phone bill. What a tiny price to pay to gain access to the two or so billion people across the globe who regularly use the web!

So if you’re a retailer considering an online presence for the first time, here are seven oft-quoted tips to get you started.

1. Close the sale with your website

Being online is about empowering your customer. If they want to buy your product online, let them. If they want to call you with their credit card details, let them. If they just want to see your stock before visiting your physical store, let them.

In other words, offer as many different ways to purchase your product as possible. Remember it’s a WORLD wide web, not just a way to get locals into your store. Therefore, make it easy for prospects everywhere to do business with you the way they want to.

2. Make your website as professional as possible

Successful online retailers all attest to the strong Return On Investment their websites provide – providing of course that they got a good deal from their web designer in the first place. Because you are sitting only a click away from your competitors, it’s critical that you entice prospects as best you can. That means ensuring that your appearance, content, layout, navigation and download speeds are as professional as you can possibly get them. In other words, throw as much investment as you can at your website and you will soon reap the rewards.

3. Collect email addresses at every opportunity

One huge advantage that traditional retailers have over their online competitors is access to the traffic that enters their store. However, few take advantage of this edge because they fail to ask them for their email address. In the online world, an email address is solid gold because it represents an almost impossibly low cost means of communicating with customers in future. What’s more, the fact that they have even entered your store is evidence that they represent repeat business. If you’re in retail, become hellbent on collecting email addresses at every opportunity – even if they are just browsing.

4. Arrange a Content Management System

If you have to pay your web designer every time you want to alter any aspect of your website, you will soon have a large and unwieldy overhead and in turn reducing your profitability. Easy to use Content Management Systems are now commonplace and affordable. The sooner you invest in one the more you will save and in turn take home. Because it costs less (ie. nothing) to alter your website, you will in turn be able to provide more and more content for your website, which in turn attracts the attention of search engines, in turn bringing you more and more visitors.

5. Embrace social networking capabilities

Anyone who has or knows a teenager knows that social networking is here to stay. It’s now an inherent part of their social make-up. So rather than fight it, why not embrace it to make it work for you. On your website you can have visitors review your products, if not in real-time, then ‘cut and paste’ (with their permission) from customer feedback. ‘Off’ site you can establish a ‘business’ page on Facebook and invite people to ‘like’ you. That way they can receive your messages about discounts and new products in just a few clicks.

6. Get a mentor

Most people who have succeeded online love sharing their learnings with pretty much anyone who listens – provided they aren’t competitive. Why not approach a non-competitive online retailer and see if they would mentor you as transverse your online journey? The worst thing that can happen is that they say ‘no thank you’.

7. Email your list regularly

While social networking and search get all the press, email marketing remains a brilliant way to communicate with your customers and prospects. Get into the habit of coming up with valuable content or offers and you will soon find a direct correlation between the time of your email ‘shot’ and incoming queries and purchases. You can also re-purpose your email content for social networks with only a few extra clicks.

Of course, there’s a whole lot more to online retailing than this quick list. But if you can master these ideas, you will soon find your overall sales leaping to exciting new levels.

Agree with the above? Or have you had more success with other techniques? Feel free to tell us about it below.

In addition to being a leading eBusiness educator to the smaller business sector, Craig Reardon is the founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which was established to address the special website and web marketing needs of SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.