Are Brick & Mortar Stores Becoming Extinct?
Since the explosion of e-commerce giants such and Amazon and Walmart, many people are unsure of the future of physical retail stores. As of 2021, 63% of shopping beings online [i]. Regardless of whether customers complete their sales online or in a brick and mortar location, the majority of potential customers will start online. So what does this mean for your brick-and-mortar shop?
Open 24 Hours a Day
One of the best advantages to creating an e-commerce site is that it operates 24 hours a day for your customers. The #1 reason people shop online is that they’re able to buy at all hours of the day [iv]. Most of our customers are pleasantly surprised to find many orders placed during ‘off business’ hours. This is revenue growth can be exponential. A custom eCommerce store can change your business by making your products available to millions of consumers online.
By the year 2040, it’s estimated that 95% of all purchases will be through eCommerce. [iii]
While it is premature to believe retail commerce will go completely away, it is now important more than ever to have your retail business represented on a website your customers can easily view. You’ve spent years developing your business in the “real world”, now is the time to make the transition into e-commerce. Here are 3 steps to make the transition into the eCommerce world:
Integrate
The first step is to get all of your products displayed on your website. On most occasions, we take inventory data directly from NCR CounterPoint. NCR CounterPoint is an industry leader in point-of-sale systems. .
Set up Infrastructure
Once we have your products and business profile, we set up the integration to a Magneto eCommerce store. Think of this as your “digital storefront”. A content-rich web store will not only give potential customers details about your items/services, but it allows them to purchase it directly or have their order sent for “curbside pickup”. Since the COVID pandemic started, many businesses have been in search of solutions to sell products online and have them picked up in-store. Major big-box retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy have had these services for years, and it’s time for your business to stay competitive in today’s market.
Grow
Once your business is set up on the CP-Commerce cloud, your business is given the opportunity to grow. Our customers are pleasantly surprised at the increase in customers AND sales. Along with our marketing and SEO team, we can assist you in reaching new potential customers from organic search results in Google. Once your store exists in the digital domain, the potential for growth is endless.
SEO and Marketing
Once your business is on the “cloud” it is easy to introduce marketing techniques allowing you to reach new customers. Many customers are searching for products online, wouldn’t it be great if they came to your site? That’s the art of SEO. Search engine optimization is the process of applying internal and external techniques to your website in order to increase traffic via organic search results.
SEO tailors your content to be relevant to popular search terms. It starts with market research, as well as some time in Google Trends. Finally, these relevant keywords are injected into your content. A well-run SEO campaign usually takes 6-8 months to see results, as well as weekly content updates to stay relevant to Google Search Console.
Key Take-Aways
As a result of COVID 19, our world has changed dramatically. Many customers expect to not only get product details but purchase the item online. We have decades of experience helping businesses make the successful transition into e-commerce. Check out some of our success stories here. If you have any questions about this process or how e-commerce works, please contact us . We have experienced web developers ready to answer your questions!
Sources
[i] https://www.oberlo.com/blog/online-shopping-statistics[ii] https://www.statista.com/statistics/534123/e-commerce-share-of-retail-sales-worldwide/
[iii] https://firstsiteguide.com/ecommerce-stats/
[iv] https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2017/01/the-truth-about-online-consumers.pdf
