How to Market Your eCommerce

Store in the Physical World

A must read for all brick and mortar retailers

venturing into eCommerce

“Your online store is like a new born baby. It needs deliberate introduction to the world“

Contents

How to treat your online store in physical world?

Data collection for your online store

Setting the expectations right from an online store

Action sheet

Popular practice of the week

Summary

Introduce Your Online Store to Customers

1.Hanging Banners at key places in your store.

• Entry and exit points

• Announce that the online store is open

2. Personalize the shopping experience and introduce your online store in process

• Handwritten “thank you” notes

• Brochures put in shopping bags

3. Word of Mouth

One the most inexpensive types of promotion is through word of mouth. So, make sure totalk about your business and website with friends, family and customers as much as possible.

Introduce Your Online Store to Customers

4. Talk to your customers Thank you for shopping. We are online @ www.you.com

5. Announce using your productsIf you are a product based companies that sell tangible goods, try including your website name on your product packaging.

6. Advertising in print, radio and broadcast mediaAdvertise in yellow pages ad, classifieds or distribute pamphlets. You can also employ radio and television advertising. All these touch points provide an excellent opportunity to advertise your website depending on your target market.

7. Promotional Items/Giveaways(Freebies) Promote your company’s website through various items such as pens, coffee mugs and calendars. You are in front of your customers each time they use your

promotional products.

8. Participate in forumsOnline forums are very active these days. People have created category specific forums. Participate and comment on such forums regularly.

9. Post URL in your blog postsf you own a blog, mention the store URL in post. If you are posting comments to another blog, include store address in your signature

Introduce Your Online Store to Customers

10. Ask professional bloggers to write about your store.

There are professional bloggers who blog on specific topics. Identify the ones for your domain and ask them to host your website links or to write about your store.

Successfully promoting your business website should include a mix of online and offline promotions to make sure you are reaching your target market.

Introduce Your Online Store to Customers

• Print store URL on all your business/official stationary, like• Visiting cards, Envelopes, Letter heads • Bill and receipts

A mention on official communication gives credibility to online store and improves brand perception of your business

Endorse Your Online Store in Every Way

• Print online store name on all packaging material used in store

• Attractive prints on shopping bags• Packing boxes

The boxes and bags offer a chance to advertise to world about online store.

Endorse Your Online Store in Every Way

Endorse your online store in every way

• Souvenirs – Distribute specially made items to the in-store customers

• Caps, hats, buttons, badges• Name plates on cash counters, pencils and pens printed.

You can even make your website visible by printing the URL on your employees dress code

• Official Signature – Make your online store a part of your email signature. Also include it in

• Office stamps

YourStore.com

Regards,Youwww.yourstore.com

Collection of Data for your Online store

1. Build Customer list

Start collecting visiting cards from your customers. The visiting cards or contact information of your customers in your physical store. This will help you compile a database of email addresses and phone numbers for Email and SMS marketing.

NOTE: These customers know your physical store and will have a natural trust for your online store. They know the face behind the online store. This plays a crucial role in defining online success.

2. Profile Customers

Prepare a list of customer who purchased at you physical store in last 6 months.

NOTE: Upon launch of the online store, you can intimate these customers about your new online entity

Online Store and its Performance – On Launch

• Now you have already set up a online store. Please remember that every venture needs dedicated time and effort to make sales and generate profit.

• Have realistic expectations from the online store. It may not give you traffic or sales from word GO and day 1. Be patient and work on it.

• Every business venture needs a dedicated budget for advertising and promotion. Similarly set aside a certain amount for online promotion of your online store.

• Devote minimum 3 hours per week on your store to update the product, its prices and adding new and exciting offers.

Wont you change the products at window display and center display of your physical store from time to time? Same applies to online store as well. Customers and search engines prefer fresh content.

Online store, its Performance – Review and Revise

Upon launch of the online store, analyze the traffic and customer behavioron your site.• Situation Analysis: Find overview of your online store’sstrengths, weak areas, opportunities and threats.

• How it helps: It will help you optimize the online store.Check the brands and categories garnering more customertraffic. Remove the banners that do not get customer clicks.

• Target Audience: Have a idea of target audience whom you want to target. This will help you showcase the products accordingly.

Example: If a men's watch is not getting clicks, instead larger audience wants to see the women’s watch collection, make the changes accordingly.

Online store, its Performance – Review and Revise

• Budget: Now, Price out the budget once you are clear about your goals and strategies.

Remember, every online store needs to update itself according to the season, trends, top selling products and even customer behavior. Evaluate your plan every couple of months to make sales and profit

Action Plan for 1st and 2nd week post launch

• Hanging Banners

• Business Communications

• Talk to customers

• Set up Helpline NumbersWeek 1

• Collect visiting cards in drop box

• Start Print and Digital Advertising

• Thrust Hand written notes in shopping bags. Collecting Email ids to build a customer database.

• Profiling customers to understand their purchase preferences

Week 2

Popular practice of the week

Billing counter is the most interesting area in your physical store which can be used to market your online store.

• Upon launch of your online store, hang a banner announcing your online arrival. It tells your existing customers about your web presence and also prompts definite eyeballs (as the payment is processed or cash is received you can always engage in word-of-mouth marketing.)

• Billing counter can be used for other marketing ideas also. When youintroduce deals and offers for online store, display them at counter.

NOTE: It will also be a very good place for voucher distribution and promotion/discount voucher disbursing

Summary

• The best way to increase foot falls at your online store is to announce it in all the ways you can.

• Your online store is a new arrival to your world. It is only logical to introduce it to your associates, existing customers, partners, affiliates and the rest of the world.

• Keep online store content fresh and updated. MartJack control panel allows easy edits of content. Spare some time for it weekly

• Endorse your online store, your employees will follow you.

•The steps mentioned here will help you in further activities like e-mail marketing, SMS marketing, social commerce etc.

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