Introduction:
The year 2020 has been nothing short of a disaster worldwide. COVID 19 continues its aggression even as Governments across the globe have decided to open up a business, although partially.
With businesses having lower footfalls, retailers need to concentrate on making up for their losses through one secure medium, which is Online business.
This would attract many new customers who fear physical visits to the shop.It is also the right time for retailers to boost their online facilities and attract all those shoppers who believe in online shopping as they collect tips for buying online.
The retailers stand to only benefit by raising their eCommerce standards and provide for foolproof customer experience.
Here are seven ways that retailers can benefit from by keeping their customers buying online this season.
1. Website Appearance Matters
As a customer, when one clicks on your site to surf and shop, the first impression matters. If the site looks confusing and terrible, they will exit immediately and never visit again.
Since we intend to give the customer a real ‘shopping experience’ and endorse the fact we are indeed an online brand, the navigation should be easy but effective. In other words, if the layout of the site is not good, it may be equivalent to a window-shopping experience for the client. What should be avoided is the poor combination of colors, Fonts that do not appeal, and mostly incomplete pages without links.
Therefore the best way to impress is:
● Ideal color combinations
● Logo bright and catches the eye
● Taglines
● A voice from the background.
● A homepage that emphasizes what you can expect from the rest inside.
● Smooth navigation
● Planning target audience
● Suggest online shopping tips
● If possible, include photos
2. Speedy Websites
However, pretty your website is, it would not yield the desired results if the speed is slow.
Generally, if a website takes ten seconds to load, it is considered ‘poor speed’. Clients do not have the patience to hold on online, as there are multiple choices. Plus, the factor of time spent online is also money spent.
The ideal loading time should be no more than three seconds, and lesser if possible.
The primary reason for your site slowing down could be the third party displays or ads. Correct it or even remove it, to get the ideal speed before the objective gets defeated.
3. Popular Websites:
Apart from your site, display your brand on popular websites like Amazon .com, etc. These would increase the confidence of shoppers as there are tips for buying online included.
Moreover, it provides online shopping safety tips, too, with a concern that customers should not get cheated. When such popular sites endorse your product with recommendations to buy online, the sale is bound to happen.
4. Offer the Best Support Online:
Any customer would love to have support from you post-sales. They had earlier relied on and trusted your online shopping tips and purchased the product.
When a problem arises, help them online as much as possible, making them happier as they have followed the online shopping safety tips. This action would result in additional business later.
5. Variety of Payment Options:
Online stores depend on payments, just like any other normal does. The only difference is that they receive it online and not physical cash.
Customers are not bound to carry only one payment mode, and many would carry options of paying it through a method they choose.
Supposing a person wishes to pay through Mastercard or PayPal, you should not decline it by stating, your facilities of dealing with such a payment mode does not exist.
Therefore it’s best to widen your horizons to include all payment modes as the customer would feel it’s best to follow online shopping safety tips as per their judgment.
6. Enhancing Buyers Trust by Including Product Reviews:
Customers are inclined to believe product reviews from your client’s experience. They are bound to look for online retail tips, which would weigh heavily between decision and indecision.
Such product reviews would also pinpoint tips to buy online and choose the ideal product you may have.
The product reviews also build up the product ratings, which would also act as tips for buying online.
As an online retailer, request your customers to post their opinion on the product they have purchased. This should be gently emphasized as customers who are satisfied with the product do not bother to voice their opinion, and as a result, only negative comments fill up your site. Suppose a customer does online shopping for health productsfrom your web store and they put their positive feedback about the health related products they received than this can help you build trust in the market.
7. Matching Prices Online:
One major point that a customer would observe is the price factor. They would browse through various sites to check who provides the best price on a particular product, and it need not necessarily act as online shopping tips to choose the lowest-priced seller. On the other hand, the credibility of that seller could be poor, and that is one of the online retail tips when you are looking for tips to buy online.
The other issue is that you should not be one of those sellers who would adjust a product’s costs. Many include it in delivery charges rather than reflect the original price, and they highlighted it too. This does not form part of useful online retail tips and acts against you when the clients find out the truth. Because when one wants to shop online for fashion products, they will see the price inclusive of delivery charges which will be higher than competitors as it’s not the original price.
Conclusion:
It is clear from the above that retailers need to innovate and enhance the shoppers’ shopping experiences this season and reduce the impact of lockdown. Discount coupons and working through mobile applications are also welcome innovations.
The thrust through mobile phones is more necessary now than before. It reaches the target customers far quicker than the ones which arrive through the email, as the mobile is always on the person.
Retailers should realize that this is the ‘ Golden period ‘ as normalcy is not far away .
Overall, these new practices would stand in good stead for the future.
