Digital Strategies for your Retail Business
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This document provides an overview of digital strategies for retail businesses. It discusses products, knowing your audience, having an online presence through a website and social media, selling online, customer experience, free and paid marketing channels, and analytics. Some key recommendations include creating buyer personas, optimizing your website for mobile, setting up an online store on managed platforms or your own website, using social media like Pinterest and Instagram, email marketing, Google ads, and analyzing digital marketing performance.
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Digital Strategies for your Retail Business
- 2. Jo-Jo Burke Senior Marketing Consultant Australian Business Consulting & Solutions p. 02 9458 7071 m. 0419 380 757 e. jo-jo.burke@australianbusiness.com.au w. marketingsuccess.com.au f. facebook.com/marketingsuccessau t. @AusBusMarketing
- 5. Retail in Australia • 140,000+ retail businesses in Australia • Accounts for 4.1% of Australia’s GDP • Employs 10.7% of Australia’s workforce • Growth in retail sales has been modest National Retail Association: 2016
- 6. Overview • Products • Know your audience • Your online presence • Selling online • Customer experience • Free marketing channels • Paid marketing • Analytics
- 7. PRODUCTS
- 8. 1. Seasonal Items • Think about product positioning – both instore and online • Focus on the products that sell best during seasonal times of the year • Use ‘end of season sales’ to push excess stock and entice customers looking for value • Forward plan – get in early
- 9. 2. Non Seasonal Items • Think about other products that you sell that are not season specific but still relevant • Think about positioning • Change descriptions to make them season relevant
- 10. 3. Upsell • Showcase the ‘bigger’, ‘better’, ‘upgraded’ versions of your products alongside standard products • Make sure the points of difference are made clear • Think about pricing and price differences
- 11. 4. Cross-sell • Think about complementary items • In-store – think about strategic placement • Online – think about how you would word suggestive sell
- 12. 5. Impulse Sales • Increase the average value of sales • Think about affordable items • Promote with real or artificial promotions • Positioned at POS or last page before payment is made
- 13. 6. Train Your Staff • Don’t ask “can I help you?” • Do ask open-ended questions – start a conversation • Teach your staff to upsell, cross-sell and to encourage impulse purchases – without being pushy
- 15. 8. Images, Video & Descriptions • Does your product promotion look professional? • Is the product self-explanatory? • Would an infograph or video demonstration be helpful for potential customers? HINT: use online tools like Canva and Fiverr to create professional looking promotional material
- 18. 10. Acquire Customer Data • Name, email address and postcode as a minimum HINT: speak to suppliers about prize giveaways
- 19. 11. Profile & Segment • With competitions you can build up more of a picture – gender, age, street address, likes/dislikes, favourite products • With loyalty programs you can also track purchase history • Use this information to make your communications relevant and to gain valuable insights
- 20. BRICKS & MORTAR
- 22. 13. Window Displays HINT: pinterest.com/melindabp/window-display-ideas/
- 24. 15. Instore Augmented Reality
- 26. 16. Website A website is your online store or office where your audience can find your brand. When they arrive they need to immediately get a clear idea of what it is you want them to do. • Easy and intuitive to use • Answers their questions • Portrays your company as a trusted brand
- 27. 17. Website Considerations • Call-to-action buttons • Trial different fonts and colours • Test, and re-test (ongoing)
- 28. 18. Online Shop Window
- 29. 19. Testimonials & Social Media • People trust people, not brands • Provide opportunities for customers to share your business / products via their own social media • Provide opportunities to acquire and connect with customers on and ongoing basis
- 30. 20. Blogs Use your blog posts to predict and perfectly answer your audiences specific questions before they have even asked it. This will: • Help show your brand as a trusted source of information • Help your audience engage with a person as opposed to a company • And it will help your website to be found in search results
- 31. 21. Mobile Ready • Mobile optimisation applies to every website (not just e-commerce websites) • User experience – reduce drop-offs • SEO benefits
- 32. 22. SEO
- 33. 23. Google My Business
- 34. SELLING ONLINE
- 35. Considerations • Suitable for online sale? • Business feasibility? • Stock control & management • Fulfilment & shipping • Online marketplaces vs own website • Payment options
- 36. Why consider e-commerce • 92% of Australians use the internet • 46% go online more than once a day • 70% go online with a mobile phone • 50% go online with a tablet device • 9.1 million Australians made a purchase online acma.gov.au: 2014
- 37. Have you future-proofed your business? Are your current competitors selling online? What about future competitors?
- 38. The internet has changed how we buy & consume goods
- 39. 24. Online Marketplaces • Good starting point, especially for businesses that are new to e-commerce • Pros and cons
- 40. 25. Managed Platforms • Managed platforms (hosted solutions) allow you to get started quickly with low overheads and little experience • N.B. you will be confined to the platform’s limitations and may find it hard to scale
- 41. 26. Owned Platforms • Owned platforms (self-hosted solutions) provide you with ultimate control over your online store • Customise how your online store looks and functions
- 42. 27. Online Store Inclusions • Trust symbols – PayPal, bank/card logos • User reviews and testimonials • Social media sharing • Easy to find information and policies – delivery times, returns, etc • Customer service contact details
- 44. 28. Flexible Payment Options
- 45. 29. Apps – Making Your Life Easier
- 46. 30. Easy Collection / Delivery
- 47. 31. Shipping Calculating shipping rates depends on distance, item variance, speed of delivery. Shipping calculator Flat rate (per sale or per item) Free Shipping
- 48. 32. Shop Online / Pick Up In Store
- 50. 32. Customer Touchpoints • Receipts / Invoices / Statements • Shopping bags • Company car • Signage • Social media channels • E-newsletters
- 51. 33. YouTube • Product demonstrations • How to videos • Humour/humanise the brand • Introduce staff
- 52. YOUTUBE
- 53. 34. Social Media • Which channels are your target audience using? • Content – are your posts engaging and shareable?
- 54. 35. PINTEREST • For people that like pretty things • Pin photos of your products • Pin results your services produce • Interact with the community
- 55. PINTEREST
- 56. 36. INSTAGRAM • For people who like visual communication • Post photos • Engage with others • Recruit influencers
- 57. INSTAGRAM
- 58. 37. Email Marketing • Send e-newsletters to your customers • Remember to be Spam Act compliant HINT: MailChimp is a free to low-cost, easy-to-use email marketing program
- 59. 38. Leverage Partnerships • Neighbouring stores – how can you work together? • Speak to centre management • Opportunities with local media, schools, etc • Local retail associations – network, get ideas
- 60. PAID MARKETING
- 61. 39. Offline Advertising • Direct mail • Radio • Television • Outdoor • PR • Events • Sponsorships
- 62. Online Advertising • Brands and businesses in Australia spend more advertising dollars online, than in any other channel • 45% of all adspend in Australia is spent online – almost $6 billion annually
- 63. 40. Google Merchant Centre • Support your e-commerce website • Advertise on a CPC basis
- 64. 41. SEM
- 65. 42. Remarketing
- 66. 43. SMM – Social Media Marketing
- 68. ANALYTICS
- 69. 45. Analyse • Website analytics • Social media insights • Track email opens and click-throughs • Trial different subject lines and optimise • Understand which channels are performing best
- 70. 46. Adapt to Future Trends • Will your products be on trend in the near future? • Are there any social or political conflicts of interest?
- 71. 47. Social Conscience • Is the product or service you are providing addressing some of the social issues of today? Eg. Giving support to disaster relief or utilising wastage materials?
- 72. 48. Socially Inclusive • Marketing your business as socially inclusive.
- 73. Additional Resources • MarketingSuccess.com.au • SmallBusiness.nsw.gov.au • InternetBasics.gov.au
Editor's Notes
- ABCS is part of ABSG – commercial division of the NSW Business Chamber Within Marketing we develop marketing strategies, build websites, offer branding & design services and manage marketing campaigns on behalf of our clients
- Independent, not-for-profit organisations, dedicated to helping businesses across the state Mantra: “making Australia better through helping the private sector to flourish” 2nd oldest company in Australia (after Westpac) – over 190 years old 2nd largest privately owned business chamber in the world 20,000+ members 400+ events per year
- Today we’re going to cover off the following topics
- First up we’re going to look at products, and the different ways to sell…
- Put your most relevant and topical products front and centre Leverage seasons and use these to draw in customers / increase sales Consumers are always looking for value Think about product supply If you are selling online – make sure you update your product descriptions to capitalise on online searches
- Example: profile red dresses during Valentine’s Day or Christmas A simple re-positioning of these items, and season-relevant descriptions will help push sales If you are selling online – make sure you update your product descriptions to capitalise on online searches
- Make it easy for your customers to want to spend more with you Practice your sales pitch – how can you encourage customers to buy the more premium version
- Example: if a customer purchase swimwear, encourage them to also buy a beach towel, or sunglasses Complementary items don’t necessarily need to be the same brand or style – but should be relevant to what you are trying to promote. Think about wording – e.g. “customers who bought this, also bought this”, “Think you might also like…”
- Affordable items (usually under $20) – usually not a planned purchase Think about real or artificial promotions to push impulse sales and increase the average value of the sale (purchase)
- Nothing will sell your products better than a well-trained staff member that understands the product, and understands the needs of the customer
- Think about how you could make your products different or unique – or where you can source such products Consumers are always looking for latest trends – customisable products is happening right now From customising design and size online (Shoes of Prey), to ordering custom 3D printed products (United Nude) Shoes of Prey have partnered with David Jones to offer in-store stylists (to help customers customise)
- Think about how you can promote your products Looking professional is key Finally, those product descriptions are key when selling online – you need to ensure you have page descriptions, title tags and image alt tags to maximise organic rankings and increase sales from people searching online – think about the keywords used
- In order to effectively sell your products, you need to truly understand your customers…
- Map out everything you know about your target audiences – their demographics, their likes, their pain points, which channels they consume media in You might have several target audiences, but start with focussing on 1 or 2 until you have the time and resources to focus on more Give your target audience a name – it will help you to related to that persona Having an in-depth understanding of your customers will help you plan your marketing strategy – products to focus on, colours to use, tone of voice, channels to focus on and who to market to.
- Next you want to capture customer data – this provides you with a free way to keep in touch with your customers and to market directly to them There are a number of ways you can do this, from competitions to loyalty programs Competitions can be as simple as a business card drop in a fish bowl – or you can build an online entry form on your website Loyalty programs are a great way to encourage people to sign-up, and to keep coming back – make sure you promote the value proposition – why join – e.g. member discounts, value-adds, find out about sales first, rewards
- The key is to capture as much consumer data as you can – but the real value in data is to begin profiling and segmenting your customers – to build up more of a picture of who they are By doing this you can then tailor your communications to make them relevant – e.g. sending women’s clothing offers to men You can also use these insights to guide future product purchases, product positioning and marketing
- Next we’re going to look at some physical attributes that you should consider in-store…
- This might seem obvious – but we see it all of the time! Check your exterior signage – does it work / is it broken? Ask yourself, is this signage attractive and clear enough to lure customers in?
- Get creative with your window displays – it doesn’t need to be a big expense Lure your target audience in; Catch the eye of passing traffic Promote your most popular products; Promote your sales and promotional messages
- Ask yourself… Is it easy for customers to move around your shop? Is it easy for customers to find what they are looking for? Can they touch products – hold them, try them, etc? Remember, in the shift to online buying, bricks & mortar retailers need to reinforce their point of difference from online Think about IKEA – they create experience zones where you can try their products, get inspired and easily find product specifications – they don’t fill this part of their store with stock (all stock is out the back)… then they get you buy impulse purchases in their marketplace – think about how this differs from buying online
- First question: Who’s heard of augmented reality? Do you know the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality? Australian retailers are already using it – Robina Town Centre, Flight Centre Think about how you could use this in your store to create an interactive experience / to make your customers life easier / to generate buzz
- Who here has a website?
- WHY BUILD A WEBSITE Your website is your business open 24 hours 7 days a week 365 days a year. A strategy will help you understand what you need on your website There is no point building a website and then deciding that you want to sell products or that want to focus on facebook or white papers as a channel … because it is a costly exercise to change to websites functionality and look and feel. Decide what you want your website to achieve for you upfront in the planning.. This will save you a lot of money down the track.
- A few other things to keep in mind… Think about navigation and user-flows Make it clear what action you want consumers to take – take them on a journey There is a whole psychology around colours and fonts – big brands have dedicated teams that switch these out to maximise sales View your website as a customer would – you need to constantly check it
- Go back to your buyer personas – does your design and layout attract your target audience? The home page of your website is your business’ online shop window 3 second rule – is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) or sales / promotional message prominent, and above-the-fold?
- Think about your own online shopping behaviour – e.g. who’s ever used TripAdvisor prior to booking a hotel? Referrals help with SEO, and help to drive sales Again, make it easy for your customers to connect with you
- Use your blog posts to predict and perfectly answer your audiences specific questions before they have even asked it. Use the blog to show you're human. People buy from other people not from businesses only. Its kind of like a website but it’s a place for you to be more personal and write less formal articles. A blog is a fantastic opportunity to give your brand a personal voice. A blog will Help show your brand as a trusted source of information Help your audience engage with a person as opposed to a company And most importantly it will help your website to be found in search results
- If your website is not mobile optimised you are missing out – this is very important Half of your website traffic could be coming from a mobile device – would you turn away half of your customers from your store? Google is paying much more attention to mobile optimised sites – you will be ranked down if you do not have a mobile optimised website
- Increase your chances of being found online Does everyone know the difference between paid and organic listings? You want to be on page 1 A few things to think about: Back-end – have you added page descriptions, title / header tags, alt tags Linking – internal links and external links Referrals and recommendations – social sharing is great for this Content – Google trawls your website monthly for new content
- Your FREE Yellow Pages style online advert Have you registered? It’s free – do it – you just need a gmail account
- Before you think about selling online, you need to think about…
- Australia is online!
- Pros: Reach the masses Get started quickly and easily Cons: Fees are generally a percentage of your sale – ongoing cost of sale Marketplaces focus on the products and not on the individual sellers – this limits your brand presence and direct selling capability (they aren’t on your site)
- When integrating e-commerce on your own website – choice between managed and owned platforms A managed platform / hosted solution is a piece of software that runs on someone else’s server – in most cases you don’t have access to the code – you use their website to make changes
- An owned platform / self-hosted solution is a piece of software that you run on your own machine – you usually see the code and are told where to upload it This solution is best if you are looking to scale and/or have complex online selling requirements
- A few other things to think about including… Australia is PayPal’s largest market An Australian humanitarian charity increased their online revenue (donations) by 17% simply by adding PayPal as a payment method
- Do you offer your customers different and easy ways to pay? Can you take payments from anywhere within your store – or only at the counter? Can your customers tap and go? Do you charge for card payments? If yes, think about the customer experience vs hiding those costs in your pricing Consumers like choice, they like ease, they like flexibility – they don’t like unexpected surprises, they don’t like waiting Messina app example – from cash only, to cash + mobile payments
- Sydney company have created a Great new product called split and pay.com You know when you are out to dinner and the restaurant wont split your bill .. Well with this .. Now they will Figure out how much your friends owe… and pay online Groups gifts Group holidays Split rent, bills with your flatmate
- Think about your opening hours… Think about your target audience… When do they have time to buy from you? What are the alternative options for getting your products into your customers hands? How can you offer more choice and flexibility? Can also reduce the need to keep lots of stock instore – allowing more room instore to create experience zones and enhance the shopping experience
- There is a big trend with shopping online and picking up in store. Or the reverse … shop in store and get product delivered This means that retailers don’t need to keep a lot of stock in their store. This store is Birdsnest - located in Cooma - near the snow. Not what you would call you bustling fashion capital. But now they keep just one item of each piece in store … if people try it on and like it they pop out to their warehouse out the back and give it to them or ship it to them.
- Before you think about paid advertising, think about what free channels you have available to you…
- Think of all the touchpoints where you can promote messages How can you use these touchpoints to cross-promote your product and sales messages Cross-promote on everything
- Engagement is more important than likes – although you still need to build up your audience Black Milk Clothing – online retailer – likes are great, but look at how many people are talking about them Use tools like Hootsuite and Buffer to manage multiple accounts Hootsuite Suggestions can help you curate content and share relevant 3rd party content
- A lot of people say email is dead – think about when an enewsletter has encouraged you to click through to a website or visit a store and make a purchase Email still has its place Use e-newsletters to feature sales and promotional messages, new products, etc Think about timings, trial subject lines
- Don’t forget the traditional channels – an integrated strategy is often best Great for raising awareness Hard to track vs online which is more measurable
- But there are a lot of options – which one is right Hint – you don’t need to be in all – you just need to be targeted and focused
- Cost Per Click
- You’ve probably heard of Google AdWords Option to run display or search campaigns Advertise on a CPC basis You control the budget and per action cost Use the Keyword Planner Tool to find search volumes and get ideas – like a thesaurus Think about where you are driving traffic – which page (not just home page) and are you using this as an opportunity to capture someone’s details (request quote, request call back, sign-up to newsletter) – you can track conversions
- You’ve probably seen it before – one minute you visit a website, and then all of the sudden your Facebook feed and advertising on other websites is all about the website you visited Great way to get people to come back to your website – especially to target abandoned carts - if they’ve gone to purchase online and then dropped off
- Most of the major social media channels offer advertising options – they want you to pay to play You can use it to acquire more fans Or to increase engagement Or to encourage click-throughs to your website You can advertise on a CPL/CPA or CPC basis You control the budget and per action cost
- Automate marketing communications – emails and social media Essentially you set triggers, and schedule communications for each of those triggers – e.g. email a customer when their join, then 1 weeks after, then 4 weeks after There are loads of tools that can help, from expensive platforms SalesForce and Marketo MailChimp allows basic email marketing automation Automate social media posts – Hootsuite, Buffer, Falcon
- The key to improvement is to analyse and tweak Understand where your website traffic is coming from, what pages people are visiting, where they are exiting Understand who your followers are, what content resonates with them Use analytics to guide future content development Track clicks and conversions – really understand the channels that are delivering