February Newsletter

• In-line With Online
  - Ecommerce know-how and can-do,
• All Aboard
  - Beating the winter blues with games and puzzles that offer innovative play.
• Lets Be Crafty -
  - What’s hot in DIY arts and crafts.
• Just for You
  - Mother’s Day Inspirations.
• Soft Furnishing Trends for the Year Ahead
  - 2011 and 2012 seasons are expected to explore new beginnings.

In-line With Online

Ecommerce know-how and can-do.

A well-built ecommerce website can improve your brand awareness, strengthen your customer service, increase revenue, drive customers instore, amass a database and more. A website becomes the global face of your brand and an extension of your current retail stores.

GIFTBUYER SPOKE WITH JAMES GILBERT OF AUCKLAND-BASED ECOMMERCE SPECIALIST COMPANY, SOLUTIONISTS, WHO DETAILED THE INS AND OUTS OF OPENING A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE STORE . . .

It goes without saying that ecommerce can have huge implications for your brand, sales and customer service. Whether these implications are good or bad depends on getting your ecommerce business model correct – a daunting task for those new to the online retail sector. Fortunately there are some basic practices and technologies that can help even the least computer-savvy online retailer achieve their ecommerce goals.

Hire a professional ecommerce web development company

The benefits are plenty; the con is often just one. Much of the time spent looking to hire professionals is a ‘mind over matter’ situation – instead of thinking “we can’t afford to do it properly”, think of it as “we can’t afford to NOT do it properly”. As consumers become more dependent on technology to research, shop and interact with products, retailers face a high risk of losing potential brand enthusiasts and buyers by not having an ecommerce website. Hiring a professional ecommerce web development agency ensures you pay bottom dollar for top-shelf product, as they can split the cost of developing expensive software over multiple clients. You’ll also become privy to the latest online trends and technologies as ecommerce companies have the skills and resources needed to make the ongoing developments to software. When you try to build such functionality in-house, you bear the entire cost, and will often wind up with less reliable and less functional software than your competitors (and probably deliver it 12 months later).

Email marketing

Because email marketing delivers the highest return on investment of all online marketing activities, it is most beneficial to utilise this tool. Using your database is a good method of extracting sales from people who are already known as customers. Simple rules to follow include only sending emails to people for whom they are relevant – for example, an email about a Wellington store sale should only go to Wellington customers; use plain text in your emails in case customers’ email browsers can’t read your images; use the right-sized images (kilobytes, not megabytes) so the email won’t jam up inboxes; and have ‘unsubscribe’ and ‘forward to a friend’ links. Emails are an excellent way to share promotions, send out vouchers, update customers about new products and drive traffic to your website. It is essential, however, to ensure you have the permission of your entire customer database before sending them regular emails. The New Zealand High Court doesn’t turn a blind eye to unsolicited email sending, you could be fined thousands of dollars if caught breaching privacy laws.

Make sure Google finds your website

There is no point having an exceptional webstore if no one can find it. Search engine optimisation (SEO) matches keywords that people search for in Google with keywords relevant to your website. If you specialise in selling blue pots, you can have your website optimised so it becomes relevant for the Google search term ‘blue pots’. The more relevant your website is for specific search terms, the higher up in the search results list it will be, and the more customers you will get coming to your website.

Google AdWords allows you to ‘bid’ on keywords relevant to your website, so when people search for these terms, they will view side or banner ads for your website in the Google search results. You then pay Google for every person that clicks on this ad to be directed to your website. These methods direct people who are unfamiliar with your brand, but who want to purchase product from your website. It is a crucial step to take to help the success of your website, particularly for lesserknown brand names and small businesses.

Content is king

To take your website from doing okay to doing quite well requires having lots of everything.

There are four main lots that you should be focusing on: lots of products, lots of change, lots of high-quality photos, and lots of text. This is the type of content that brings customers to your website, makes them buy something, and brings them back again. Here’s a simple breakdown:

Lots of products –

No one wants to buy online if they can get a better range instore. No one will visit your store period if it looks like you only stock 10 products. The more things you put in front of an online customer, the higher the chance they will buy something, and the longer they will spend on your site. There is also more of a chance they will spot something worth mentioning to friends or family – instant word-of-mouth marketing. The more relevant your website is for specific search terms, the higher up in the search results list it will be, and the more customers you will get coming to your website Lots of change – Change is important to encourage repeat visits. You should update your homepage images, promotions, products and blog as much as possible in order to engage your customers and keep them coming back to see what’s new. Make sure your website is designed with an editable homepage so you can easily drop in new text and images whenever it suits.

Lots of photos –

To sell a product online you need as much information as possible to encourage the purchase decision, as customers can’t pick up and play with your products. Photograph your products at multiple angles and take close-up shots of any details. If the product opens or moves or does something, photograph it at each state to give the browser a vivid idea of what the product does. Videos are great for products with multiple features or states. One front-on photo is not enough to sell your product. High-quality photos are a must – aim to take photos that are about one to two megabytes (MB) in size.

Lots of text –

Text is crucial in helping Google find your website to deliver it to customers who are searching for keywords relevant to your products. The more relevant content you have, and the more frequently it is updated, the higher you will appear in Google search results. Blogs are a great way to get repeat visits and provide your site with fresh, relevant and constantly changing content. Try blogging about easy, fun topics such as the top 10 Christmas gifts, new products, or current promotions.

When starting out online, it is important you invest in getting the basics right, so you have a robust, high-quality platform to build on in the future. If you try to cut corners, you’ll most likely shell out more to get to the same level as your competitors, and your branding will be severely compromised. A professional ecommerce platform will allow you to add as much functionality as you like down the track, so invest in high-quality basics now, and expand as your online store increases in profit.

James Gilbert is the creative director of Solutionists, an Auckland-based ecommerce company who specialise in building fully featured online stores for retailers. For further information visit www.solutionists.co.nz