Many store owners face the same dilemma and they often phrase it like this: “How do I drive more foot traffic to my physical store?”
As 87% of shoppers begin their product searches online, building an online presence is a great place to start!
What Does it Mean to Have an Online Presence?
The term online presence is often confused with the existence of an online store or website. However, they are two completely different things.
Simply put, a strong online presence means that shoppers can easily find you online.
It is much more than just your website or online store – it is your entire existence on the web! This includes your social media, shopper reviews, local listings/directories, your ranking in search results etc.
Why Does My Retail Store Need an Online Presence?
It’s no secret that today’s shoppers spend a significant amount of time online.
The majority of shoppers start their product searches online but end up purchasing in-store, giving rise to the trend of Research Online, Purchase Offline (ROPO).
So in order to stay relevant and meet shopper expectations, retailersmust have a strong online presence.
5 Ways To Increase Your Store’s Online Presence
1) Google My Business (GMB)
Google My Business is one of the most effective ways to increase a retail store’s online visibility. So, if you are a local store owner looking to build an online presence,creating a GMB profile is the first step you should take!
This is why Google My Business is so important. As Google wants to display the most relevant information, it will always display search results based on a user’s location.
For example, if you decided to Google “pet store”, the GMB profiles of local pet stores in your area would appear.
This means that by creating a GMB listing, you can easily target local shoppers in your area.
And the best part? It’s completely free!
By having a complete and accurate GMB profile, the greater your chances are of ranking higher in both Google Search and Google Maps.
This is why Google Shopping is one of the most important tools available to retailers – especially to those who are looking to increase their online presence.
Google Local Inventory Ads (LIAs) give retailers the ability to display their local, in-stock merchandise at the exact moment that a relevant product search is made.
Once a shopper clicks on the ad, they are redirected to your store’s page. Here, they can view your in-stock inventory, current promotions, store location, directions, and store hours.
By implementing Google Shopping Ads in your online business strategy, you can increase your online visibility while driving more foot traffic to your physical store!
So whether you choose to use unpaid (organic) or paid social media tactics, it is a great way to boost online visibility and store sales.
You can start by posting attractive content on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, and Google My Business. You may want to determine which platforms are best for your retail store. Determining the right social media platforms for your business depends on several factors – your target shopper, retail sector/industry, and business goals.
It’s also important to post consistently in order to deliver relevant content to your shoppers. Posting regularly also helps in growing your following and online presence. Ideally, you should aim to update your social accounts several times a week.
Some good content ideas include:
Sharing appealing images of your products and store. Videos and images are proven to receive higher engagement than text-only posts.
Promote exclusive events,limited time offers, and promotions to drive traffic to your store.
Hold social media contests. Incentivize shoppers to follow your social accounts by making it a rule or condition of the contest.
This is why customer review management plays an important part in building your online presence.
It establishes trust and credibility amongst target shoppers. This in turn, helps boost your online visibility and leads to more sales!
Here are a few tips for managing shopper reviews:
Respond to reviews (even the bad ones!)
Responding to customer reviews says a lot about your business – it shows that you are paying attention to the needs of your shoppers and that you care about providing good-quality customer service.
It’s important to thank shoppers for leaving positive reviews. This often encourages other shoppers to leave a review as they know it will be read.
Don’t feel discouraged by bad reviews! In the case that a shopper leaves a negative review, it is best to address it and resolve the issue. This way, potential shoppers will feel more comfortable doing business with you!
Incentivize shoppers to leave reviews
Oftentimes, shoppers do not like taking time out of their day to leave a review. So it’s a good idea to incentivize these busy shoppers!
You can do so by offering every shopper who leaves a review a reward. Some good ideas include:
Offering shoppers a discount on store merchandise.
Holding a monthly contest – where every shopper who leaves a review will be entered for the chance to win a prize (a gift card or popular store merchandise etc.)
Giving out coupons/gift cards(for ex: $5, $10 ,15 off) that are only redeemable in-store.
It’s important to be cautious when offering incentives! Some review platforms such as Yelp discourage incentivizing shoppers. So make sure you carefully read the guidelines of the platform(s) you choose to use.
Display reviews on your website
Review platforms don’t have to be the only place where you leverage the positive thoughts and experiences of your shoppers.
Displaying shopper testimonials on your website can help establish credibility. When they are accompanied by photos, videos, and customer information, they are also highly persuasive.
Here is a great example of ACE POS leveraging positive reviews on their website:
Anyone can make up a positive testimonial and attribute it to a fake name. Since the goal is to establish credibility, it is important to include the customer’s full name, job role, company, a link to their website (if applicable), and other identifying information.
5) Make your Website “Mobile Friendly”
The majority of web searches are now being done on mobile devices rather than desktops or laptops. Meaning – shoppers have high expectations when it comes to mobile sites!
Having a mobile friendly website also has a direct impact on your online presence. Mobile-friendliness is one of the key factors used by Google when deciding how to rank your website.
This is why it is so important that your website is optimized for mobile search!
You can check the mobile responsiveness of your website with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
At this point, you may be wondering : “how do I optimize my website for mobile users?”
Most website builders (Wix, Squarespace, etc.) provide mobile optimization – but it all comes down to what best suits your retail business. For an in-depth review of website builders for mobile editing, click here.
We hope you found this article helpful!
Would you like to learn more about how to increase your retail store’s online presence?
Good news- we are hosting a breakfast seminar exclusively for GTA store owners! We will be discussing how you can attract more local shoppers with POS technology among other important topics. To learn more about the event and to register, click here.
Looking for high-resolution images for your marketing initiatives on Canada Day?
We’ve put together some stunning, royalty-free images – perfect for your website or social media. All images are free for commercial use, no attribution is required.
Learn how to increase store sales and lower costs with in-store technology.
Are you a store owner looking to attract more local shoppers and increase your retail sales?
Our team is dedicated to helping retailers like you grow. That’s why we will be hosting a free event to show you how cloud POS technology can help transform your retail store.
Take Advantage of POS Technology to Grow Store Sales
Whether you own an established retail business or you are just starting out, cloud POS technology can be used to drive store growth and improve operations!
How to attract new local shoppers searching on Google
The top 5 retail POS mistakes to avoid
How to reduce store inventory costs
How much work is it to onboard a POS?
How to lower PinPad processing fees
Event Details
If you are interested, please join us and other local Toronto retailers for an exclusive breakfast seminar. Please note that limited tickets are available.
When: September 17th, 2019 from 8:30 am to 10:30am
Where: Staples Spotlight Studio
375 University Avenue,
Toronto, ON, M5G 2J5
Attendees: Owners and staff of physical retail stores.
Hear from Karen Wong, the founder and CEO of both ACE POS Solutions Ltd. and TAKU Canada Ltd. With over 15 years of experience in retail, marketing, and distribution, Karen is an expert at developing solutions that help drive retail growth.
Karen’s companies have worked with more than 6,000 retailers in North America and are experts in retail POS needs. She holds a Masters degree in Marketing and Strategy from the Schulich School of Business. If you would like to learn more about Karen, click here.
This week, I sat down with Karen Wong, the CEO and Founder of both ACE POS solutions Ltd. and TAKU Canada Ltd. She stresses that while the retail industry is going through many changes, the reality is that, physical retail is far from dead.
About Our Founder
Before co-founding TAKU Canada, Karen has been a part of several ventures – from being a small retail business owner herself, to working in marketing,manufacturing, and wholesale. Her passion lies in helping retailers sell more by building solutions that drive store growth.
The goal of this video series is to share Karen’s broad knowledge of retail and marketing with fellow store owners.
This talk will dive deeper into the importance of physical retail and the pros and cons of physical retail vs. e-commerce.
Enjoy!
Do You Think Physical Retail is Going to Die?
Everybody has probably heard of the “retail apocalypse” – meaning physical stores are dying. The headlines are all about how the big chains are closing down. But in my opinion, it’s heavily overblown. The reality is that 85% of retail is still physical!
It’s not just about one channel. Increasingly, it’s all about being accessible to customers wherever they are. Because customers don’t just want to engage through shopping – they want to engage through discovery.
What is Shopping and What is Consumption?
There is a difference between shopping and consumption.
Shopping means that there is a discovery process. It means you are looking for something but you need more information.
Consumption means you that you are just refilling the pantry. You buy the same brand every time so you just need to find a place to buy it from. In this case, people may just go online.
Why do you Push Physical Retail so Much?
A lot of our customers are established businesses. That means that they are already profitable businesses with fixed costs. But these fixed costs are covered by the fact that they have ongoing business that covers those costs.
Retailers should be leveraging their business while trying to grow their physical and digital channels.
Right now, many of our customers have those established doors and there’s so many reasons you want to push physical retail vs. only e-commerce.
When people say that “I have to go digital, I need to open an e-commerce store”, my first question to them is: have you optimized everything you are doing in your physical store?
You already pay those fixed costs. Everything you sell, you make a higher margin because your fixed costs are already covered.
What are the Pros and Cons of E-commerce vs. Physical Retail?
There are so many pros and cons to e-commerce.
Pros: everybody wants to be found immediately and they want their catalog up there – because shoppers like to see that information. But at the same time, there are huge costs associated with e-commerce.
Cons:
People are much more price conscious online vs. in-store.
Free shipping is a massive cost.
People are more inclined to return items online. The return rates are proven to be more than double than what they are in-store. People are more likely to return online because there isn’t that interaction where people have guilt involved – when you are returning something to the store and you know it shouldn’t be returned.
So you have to think about these additional costs of going digital. Even though there are supposedly no overhead associated with those sales.
What are the Benefits of Leveraging Physical Retail?
Other things you want to think about is that if you don’t leverage physical retail, you are missing out on things such as impulse buys. When a person comes into the store looking for one thing, they often leave with multiple things. It happens to me and still happens to me all the time!
You should also consider thinking about cross-selling and up-selling. You have people in the store and you yourself (if you are in the store) are probably the best person to tell people “that item that you’re looking at really goes well with this”. Or maybe even get them to buy something even better than what they were originally considering.
The Future of Physical Retail
All of these things and moments are part of the reasons why I don’t think physical retail is going to die. It’s just going to be a major core or focus of retail as we move forward.
I mean after all, you are seeing more and more pure e-commerce businesses are opening physical stores because they’ve realized they can make more money in physical stores than they can online.
It means more engaged customers that come back with repeat business.
Data Analytics in Retail
Another thing that you want to note is data analytics in retail(this is where I talk a lot to customers about using technology). Those stores are famous for using data and using the data well to make sure that everything they are doing in that physical store is being driven by some type of statistic or analytics.
This is kind of my reason for encouraging customers to really reconsider re-vamping or reviewing the operations of their physical store first.
Are you looking for the right images to use in your Father’s Day marketing campaign?
You’ve come to the right place!
As a Father’s Day gift, we have put together some free stock images for our retailers. Feel free to use these images as you would like. Whether you’re in need of photos for your website, online store, or your social media – we’ve got you covered!
Father’s Day is just a few days away! And although the holiday is not as big as Mother’s Day, retailers can still take advantage of the special day to increase their store sales.
So keep reading to find out how you can take advantage of shopper spending habits.
Offer a Free Father’s Day Gift With Every Purchase
“Gift with purchase” promotions are a great way to increase your store’s average order value. This type of promotion offers every shopper who spends a certain amount in-store, a free item (a gift-box, gift-card, store merchandise etc.).
I mean what shopper doesn’t like free items?
Uniqlo is a great example of a retailer that successfully implemented this strategy. For every $50 spent in-store, Uniqlo shoppers received a free Father’s Day gift box.
“Gift with purchase” promotions can increase your store sales because:
1) It makes it easy to up-sell. Say for instance, a shopper is checking out and they are $5 dollars away from receiving a free item. This promotion strategy will encourage them to go back and purchase additional merchandise – increasing your store’s average order value!
2) It drives traffic to your store. Offering limited time, in-store promotions will create a sense of urgency in shoppers. “Gift with purchase” promotions make it seem like shoppers are getting a higher value for a lower cost. Simply put, shoppers will feel that they are getting more than what they paid for – making it harder for them to walk away.
Use Father’s Day related keywords so you can appear higher up in search results. Promote your in-store offers and Father’s Day related sales/discounts. Feature a gift guide that includes all of your Father’s Day merchandise.
Promote your in-store offers,discounts, and events. It’s important that you make your e-mail time sensitive by including dates (for ex: offer only valid from June 1st – June 16th.). This way, you’re creating a sense of urgency among shoppers!
Buy one get one free (BOGO) deals. Shoppers have a hard time staying away from these deals! This is because they feel that they are getting more bang for their buck. It also encourages them to buy higher priced merchandise.
Discounted Merchandise. Reducing prices on all or select merchandise can be extremely effective in increasing store sales. When backed by a great marketing campaign, it helps 1) increase traffic to your store 2) sell overstocked or slow moving merchandise and 3) produce brand awareness for your store.
Hosting an event is a great way to drive new and existing shoppers to your store. There are different ways to provide a fun and memorable experience for local shoppers. Some great ideas include:
Hosting a “Kid’s Craft for Dad” event where children are invited to create art for their fathers.
Hosting a Father’s Day photo session. Make sure to set up a nice backdrop in your store. You can also create an incentive for shoppers to share their pictures on social media – by running a contest! For example, shoppers who share the post on social media and tag your store can be eligible for a $100 gift card.
Hosting a BBQ or block party. Think about holding Father’s Day themed games so fathers can compete with their children!
Selling gift basket bundles is a great way to increase sales while offering shoppers a convenient and special gift. It’s important that you bundle your best selling merchandise with slow sellers. This way, you can get rid of slow moving stock – freeing up your shelf space for new inventory.
Creating a point-of-purchase display with all of your Father’s Day merchandise is a good idea. This makes it easy for shoppers to find a gift of interest – rather than walking through multiple aisles to search for one.
As mentioned above, it is also a good idea to create a separate page on your website for Father’s Day. To make things even more convenient, display your Father’s Day gift guide or give your shoppers product recommendations.
Other ways to provide convenience include offering:
Gift wrapping services.
Father’s Day cards as add-on’s to every purchase.
Smaller gift baskets at checkout so shoppers can easily and affordably add to their orders.
We hope you found these tips helpful. Happy Father’s Day and happy selling!
