When it comes to retailing, there is a wide range. It varies in price, target, and scale.
Accordingly, while I am sure there will be individual individual discussions, I will only make some points here about general issues.
Please try to build on this foundation by adding individual expertise on each individual issue.
Assumption: There are two main categories depending on the purpose of the site
First of all, the basic premise is that there are two main categories of retail websites, depending on what the site aims to achieve. It is easier to understand if you think of them separately
Specifically, is the main objective to “sell goods on the site” or to “induce customers to visit the store”?
So-called e-commerce sites are 100% the former, apparel stores that do not do mail-order sales are 100% the latter, and general merchandise stores and bookstores that do not sell online are 100% the latter.
There is a pattern where we do mail order on our website, but we also want our customers to visit our store. This is a pattern where we offer organic cosmetics by mail order, but we also want customers to visit our Omotesando store.
Major retailers that operate in department stores, etc., may generally follow this pattern, and I would guess that cakes and other nama-mono items are 100% in-store.
1. if the main purpose of the site is to sell goods on the site
In the case of a mail-order oriented site, let’s say, this requires the know-how of an e-commerce site.
To put it another way.
- With no object in front of the other party.
- Only “visual” and “auditory” stimuli such as text, images, and videos
- Make them want the product.
E-commerce is an area where there are many web consultants specializing in e-commerce, so if you are just starting out, we recommend that you read books and seminars on e-commerce, gain knowledge, or get support from a web consultant.
At the very least, what you need to keep in mind is “the difficulty of selling things on the Web.”
One point, however, is that selling things on the Web is more difficult than one might imagine.
While impulse purchases of ¥3,000 in the real world are rather casual, making an impulse purchase of ¥3,000 online is 100 times more difficult. There are various reasons for this, such as the hassle of settling the transaction and not knowing if it is trustworthy.
If you are thinking that if you just put your products on the web, they will sell in their own way, that is very dangerous. Please keep that in mind.
Don’t start with “What do you want to sell? Start from the beginning
On the Internet, there are “things that sell” and “things that don’t sell. For example, a product that can be sold anywhere will not sell unless it is at an overwhelmingly low price. Also, items that cannot be judged without actually touching them will not sell.
What sells.
- Fewer competitors with the same products or latecomers can win.
- easy to understand
- The market is already there.
To put it in the extreme, it should be “something that everyone knows, and something that makes people say, “I wanted something like this! I wanted something like this!
The start of an e-commerce site is to first search for such items, or to think about whether we can offer such items ourselves. The idea of “How can we sell what we are selling now? If the product happens to be “sellable,” it is fine, but if it is not, you will have a very hard time.
We recommend that you start by asking yourself, “What is it that I can sell? We recommend that you start by asking yourself, “What sells? The same is true for in-store guidance: “What kind of presentation should I use to get people to come to the store? What kind of way should we show the product?
Acquiring a list of potential customers is key. Especially for products that do not sell in one shot.
Furthermore, as for sales, rather than selling immediately on the spot
The first time someone comes to the site, it doesn’t sell right away. After that, they come back a few times and make a purchase.
This is an appropriate image. And to achieve this, we need “a system that encourages people to come back two or three times.
What you should focus on then is “acquiring a customer list”. In layman’s terms, it is a list of e-mail newsletters, etc.
It is important to collect this list through any means, including below-cost sales and campaigns, and to create a cycle in which 5% or 1% of the list buys the product.
The latest terms are “prospect nurturing,” “prospect follow-up,” and, in recent years, “lead nurturing.
In any case, list utilization is essential. And a house list is appropriate. Advertising in other newsletters to attract customers may be a good way to attract customers, but it is only for the time being.
The quantity and quality of the “house list,” which can be controlled by the company and does not cost much once obtained, is one of the most important points for retailers, including e-commerce sites.
This is the same as retail in the real world. It is also like giving away free samples of pretty much anything, for example….
How close you can be to the buyer is the key.
A major point is whether or not you can create a campaign or issue an e-mail newsletter accordingly, in order to cater to the feelings of the buyers. Also, creating a sales space = creating a website. This is also about how closely you can match the feelings of your customers.
Why does Oden start selling at the end of summer? That is exactly the result of being close to the customer’s feelings (please refer to the book to find out why this is so).
Anyway, this is the point.
Again, we have specialized expertise in e-commerce and e-commerce, so be sure to keep that as well (we have recommendations, so please give us a shout if you’re interested).
2. For inducement to visit a store
The next step is to induce customers to visit the store.
In the case of inducement to visit a store, there is basically no difference from an e-commerce site in terms of “getting close to the buyer’s feelings. The difference is that what appeals to the buyer is not the product on the EC site, but the store itself.
In the case of inducements to come to the store, there is a difficulty. It is
This is the point where it is difficult to create a flow of people who know about the store online and then head to the real store. If it is a well-known store that everyone knows, they will search for it by name and come to the local store’s website on their own.
However, this is not the case for stores that are not yet well known. And if you want to attract new customers, it is even more difficult. You are targeting people who do not know your restaurant…
How do I get people to find me by chance?
However, if you can attract customers from the Internet, there is no better way to do so. To do so, the key to success lies in how to attach to potential customers.
There are two main channels you can use to reach people who do not yet know your store, and they are
- Social, Buzz
- search (e.g. for someone using a search engine)
It is.
About via Social
For the former, it is how to get people’s attention and get people talking. If we can do this, it will be huge. If a nationwide need arises, mail-order sales will be a good form of marketing.
In this case, the important thing is to “create products that will be talked about and sell,” although this is the same process as for e-commerce sites. This is product development. Product development may seem like a lot of work, but once it is done, it will last for quite a long time. In the case of campaigns, you have to think hard to come up with a campaign that will be talked about, and even if it is successful, it will only be talked about for about a week at the most.
But a good product, once made, will continue to be effective for much, much longer.
It is difficult to say what kind of product will “become a topic of conversation. Everyone is working daily to develop products with this goal in mind. If there is anything I can say, it would be that we listen to the market and work together to develop products.
About via search
For attracting customers via search, the most important things to consider are clarity and making the site searchable for keywords that are already being used by potential customers.
New product! Selling! This is great! However, many of these products do not fit into any of the categories of existing products.
If you get access via search, the game is only played within the “current vocabulary and world of the potential customer’s head”.
It’s important that the product is (or appears to be) a product that fits into a category that everyone knows.
So if it really is a new product, it will not sell. Because no one will get there via search.
Accordingly, the first important thing is that the product is (or appears to be) a product that fits into a category that everyone knows.
When ASP and SaaS were not yet common.
It may be well known, but it is true, that SaaS-type tools did not sell well, and as a desperate measure, they were packaged like ordinary software, with a login ID, password, and instructions inside, and they began to sell.
This is also the reason why information products are always presented in DVD-like packages. Even though it is not a DVD.
…and I’m getting a little off topic here, but if you are trying to attract customers to your store through the Internet based on your products, you need to keep this area in mind first. Please keep this area in mind first.
The easy part is to get people who came to the store back online, and then make them repeat customers.
If it is a store induction form, this form is rather more efficient in increasing sales.
In the old days, you would give them a stamp card, get their address and other information, and send them a DM. So you are doing this over the Internet.
Create a system to obtain email addresses at the store (handwritten or otherwise) and distribute information on a regular basis at a non-intrusive level. The newsletter should not be a sales pitch, but rather a fun and informative read, with occasional sale announcements.
People who visit that store must have a reason for coming into your store and not another. That is.
- It looks kind of cheap.
- There may be something else you don’t see.
- Somehow easy to get into.
- Easy to come because of the neighborhood.
It may be such as
Then we will send out emails with useful information that meets those needs. If many people are looking for cheapness, we will use that cut-off point, if it is something else…if it is not available, etc., etc.
I think it would be a good idea to try to do this from the perspective of increasing the number of customer contacts for those customers who have come to us, and to make them repeat customers as much as possible.
In the process, if we can incorporate customer feedback and improve the store, we will be even closer to our customers. The more rural the area, the less likely people are to leave the “store they are used to.
It is often more efficient in the long run to spend resources on ways to create repeat customers rather than trying to attract customers by putting a coupon in a town magazine every time.
However, there are inevitable struggles due to competitive conditions and location
This is no longer a win-win situation…unfortunately. The Web is not a magic wand or silver bullet that solves everything. At that time, it is better to go back to the location, the business type, the direction of the store, or to review the main business strategy.
Many people inevitably expect that the web will help them get by, but if it doesn’t work, it still doesn’t work, especially in the case of store guidance systems.
I think it is important for both managers and consultants to be able to discern that.
At the end.
As for retailers, this is only a base.
An aromatherapy store and a kimono store. The basics are based on what we have so far, but what tactics we take on top of that will be totally different.
Please refer to the sample report on how to do this on the web.
→ Click here for a sample of a proposed 3C analysis report.
It is a very rewarding industry for me personally, but also a very difficult one.
We recommend that new entrants to the market tighten up a bit.
