Retail principles still apply online

Now that we can all shop online, or find a service like a plumber online, those of you that have an online business need to take a good hard look at the website you are offering.  “What on earth for” I hear you ask, “it’s only 3 years old”.

There are some very clear retail principles that you should still be following and I am going to go through them individually. Do they apply to your website?

The shop window

In a retail environment, your shop window and the outside of your shop is the very first impression for a new customer passing by. Is the window clean, is there rubbish outside the store, is your signage looking worn? A website should still have clear images, a good looking structure and clear graphics. If it is looking tired and dated, it will need re-doing.

The window display

A shop will change it’s window display every month if not more, particularly if it is fashion. Why? To entice more customers in, show new product, keep the window fresh, or some display items will not sell and need to be replaced. When did you last look at your bounce rate or page views and think you had better change something because it’s not working? Is that the same image on your home page that you put there 3 years ago?

The greeting

How often have you ever walked into a store and the sales person has asked “What size do you want”? There is usually a little pre-amble, chit chat or at least a welcome before they ask this question. Does your site get straight down to business, or does it make you feel welcome, have a firm hand shake and great eye contact? Where is your chit chat?

The customer flow

Shops usually make you follow a path through the store, and you may not even notice it! If you go to my local Pak “N” Save, you enter through the vegetables and you have to walk all the way around to get to the bread that you really want. They do this for a reason, so that you buy other products on your way through, and do you know what? It generally works! With your website, the visitor lands on your home page, and if they decide to go further on in to your site, you leave them to their own devises. They can click all over the place. By letting them do this, they may miss all of the exciting bits you really want them to see and purchase / enquire after, but they miss them. Where is your visitor path? How are you controlling your visitors?

 

Making your selection

In a shop it is easy to make your selection of what you want, and then take it to the checkout operator to take your payment. Is your online selection and payment process as simple? Do you have to click through several pages to find the relevant information about a product you want, then it’s made difficult to add it to the shopping cart and pay? What about delivery options and costs, is it all visible? What about your returns policy, is there one?

Getting in contact

If you want the telephone number of the shop you have just purchased from, it will be on your till receipt, their sign and in the telephone directory. On your website, are your contact details on your homepage, is your “contact us” button the last thing on the navigation, are you hiding your details because you don’t want to get spam? Well what about those visitors that DO want your contact details? Do they matter?

Just because we now live in an online world where you can get just about anything off the web, it’s no excuse for not keeping your standards high, because if you don’t, someone else will take over your market share. They will be slicker, tuned in, and ready to take over.

When did you last update, test and tune your online business? If you need some help or advice on where to start, give me a call.