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I know the whole digital ‘thing’ freaks a lot of customers out. I get it. But the time has passed to run a business without one. So while you get your head around how to get started (I will share more on that soon), I thought I would remind you how you can do ‘digital lite’ to compliment your retail business and not miss out on online sales.

Every retailer needs a website. That needs to be said upfront. Customers expect it and it’s a necessary tool to create a great retail business. Customers want to shop when they want to shop from wherever they are, not necessarily in store.

A website is a ‘silent salesperson’, it does the same thing you do with your customers in store. So let’s look at what we need to do to have the silent salesperson work for your business in place of a website.

The 2 largest objectives of digital tools is to:
1. SELL sell sell!!
2. Promote the store, get people in the doors

Before websites and the internet, catalogues where very important for retail success. Your website is an online catalogue of your business and range that customers can browse any time when not in store. Most small retailers couldn’t afford to create or print one for themself but customers poured over them weekly when they were left in the mail box.

So the ‘browsing the range when not in store’ is not a new behaviour. That’s important to remember: CUSTOMERS WANT TO SEE YOUR RANGE AND BE ABLE TO BUY FROM YOU ANYTIME ANYWHERE.

The key focus for you and your activity is EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE. In everything we do in our businesses, providing exceptional customer service should be the reason for it all. When done authentically, this will create the best outcome.

So let’s look at a few important ways to sell to a customer without a website: most of these will require your customer to call you or contact you to discuss and pay, so they are a lot more work that setting up a website.

Remember: A picture tells a thousand words & video is even more informative online. When we talk about content, I mean pictures and video. Use your store as the ultimate photo studio and backdrop, don’t focus on the number of people walking into the store, use it as the ultimate tool that online only sellers don’t have.

Need inspiration? Make yourself a cuppa and dive on into the internet, websites and social media sites. I have used the in store and product pics below from Liberty London (est 1875) and Fortnum and Mason (est 1707), gorgeous department stores in London who get it right every time. As you can see they have been around for centuries so obviously know the business!

SALES TOOLS FOR YOU TO USE

Store Window

Gorgeous windows stand out and grab attention! Put effort into telling the story in the main window and use it to invite people in. Rotate products / department / themes so that customers can see different aspects of the business with each new display.

Please remember to put the store name, phone number & social media icons on the window. That way people can connect with the store at their convenience. Also if people take pics of the window, the name and details are included!

Retail Packaging

Make it easy for customers to remember and connect with you when they have bought from you by adding your contact info to the packaging or bag they get in store. Make the branding attractive with all the contact info so they use it over and over and carry you around for new eye balls to see.

Include:

• name / logo
• phone number
• address
• email
• social media logos

It doesn’t need to cost a fortune, some DIY solutions are:

• Print labels with the info and place them on the bags packaging
• Get a self inking stamp or rubber stamp and brand everything you can

Email / Newsletter

A newsletter is a great way to connect and touch base with customers who know you and have been in store or connect with customers who want to know more about you and your business.

At every point of contact with new and existing customers, make sure you get their email address and ask them to join your mailing list. If you don’t have a digital one yet (more on that in another post soon too) write it down and create an excel spreadsheet, if you don’t have excel you can create a google spreadsheet.

There are a few free newsletter options for small database numbers to get started. They don’t have to be complicated or long. Don’t do a group email in your normal email program, the internet doesn’t like it and your email can get blacklisted. Remember to always protect people’s information.

Use pics of the store as well as product pictures, remember we want them to come in store and buy from us.

Vary the topics of each newsletter, some suggestions:

• You can talk about one product indepth
• Celebrating an ocassion
• Offer some end of lines for a special clearance sale
• Exclusive preview of a new product
• In store updates
• Seasonal products

Word of Mouth

No one will promote you as much as a happy customer. Ask customers to invite their friends or to share your content with their communities. 10 customers with 10 friends is 100 people.

In store events are a great way to invite new people into the store so they can experience it first hand and share with their friends.

Incentivise customers introducing a friend. There are so many ways to do this depending on the type of business, can be as simple as a discount card for your customer and one for their friend, they can use theirs when their friend uses their voucher (add codes to them to make this simple) or run a competition that gets people to answer a question about the store.

Local Communities

Get involved with local community groups and associations. They will show their appreciation by supporting you too. As much as possible, brand everything and have your logo visible at events you support.

Again this is hard to define without knowing the business but in general it can be done by:

• Attending local events
• Introducing yourself to key local identities / leaders
• Sponsoring a local event
• Donating prizes or gifts for local events

Google Business Page

Make sure you have a Google Business Page, you will need a google account for this. This is a snapshot of the business that shows up when people search in google. Update the pics and info regularly, google likes this and will happily promote it.

WHY: because this helps customers find your business when they search in google, online or are physically near your store. When you have this set up, social media sites use this to locate you and connect with potential customers too. It appears to the right of your website on the google page (see image below) or next to any social media pages when people search.

When people search the location and keyword, your business will show up on a map with a marker and your details, eg: customer searches: homewares Sydney CBD, your business will show on the map with a link to your business page.

Add store info:

• contact number
• address
• email
• description
  • write exactly what you would tell someone when describing your business, this is your silent salesperson
  • use as many keywords as you can so customers can find you
• opening hours
  • don’t forget to update when they change, holidays etc
• pictures of the store and products
  • update and add regularly – this is what you will use to sell to customers
• social media links

Telephone

Yep, simple! Encourage customers to always call and ask if you have or can get something. I think people get so caught up in the tech tools they don’t focus enough on leveraging what they already have: the store stocked with products.

Don’t let the phone ring off the hook, you can turn on an answering machine during the day if you get busy but please please please ring the customer right back. Set a reasonable minimum return time, I would say no ore than 10-20 minutes to return the call. The customer will move onto the next business if they don’t hear from you. They have a lot of choice.

Add the phone service to every description in posts, Google business page, albums etc
Let people know you are available to help them buy what they need remotely. Don’t assume they would do this automatically.

Social Media Business Pages

I won’t cover each one separately because the concept is the same for all. At the very least every retailer should have a Facebook Business Page (you need a Facebook account first but it doesn’t show on the business page) and Instagram account.

Additionally, a Pinterest Account is a great addition to your Retail Tool Kit once you have the others set & mastered.

Some things to do and note:

• Remember Social Media is a 2 way communication, not for businesses to broadcast
• Acknowledge that you don’t have a website YET, but explain you are available and people can call to order
• Let customers message and comment on posts always
  • That means you need to monitor and reply, generally as close to the customers commenting and messaging. Notifications can be used to alert when communication is made
• Think of the physical experience people have when they come to your store and replicate it in socials:
  • They should be able to get a snap shot of the business on entry, at first glance
    • Fully fill out the About section / Profile info
      • If you have a physical store, your address is the most important thing to include, people won’t call you to get your address, they will just go to the next store they see online
      • Put your name there, give customers a name to connect with, remember this is a social experience
    • Profile Pic should be retailer in store or with product – people react to faces in socials
    • Use the page header pic in Facebook to communicate your business at a glance
      • Add your address, phone number and email to every header pic, don’t make customers find the info – cause they won’t!
      • If you can, update it weekly and tell a different story each week, the more posts you add and update pictures the more chance Facebook will show your content
    • Create photo albums / highlights:
      • Our Beautiful Store, you pay rent and put a lot of time and energy into your store, show the customers online how gorgeous the physical store is
      • Our Staff
      • Departments if applicable to show product segments: dinnerware, baby clothes, water sports etc
      • New In Store
      • Themes: Florals, Colours, Christmas etc
      • Sale Time – take the opportunity to offer discount for multiple sales to move the stock here too
      • VM – create stories showing products together, like you would VM points in store (pic below)
      • Products in your home – share customer photos with your products (eg below). Customers will share their pic on your page more than just a product shot.
      • Staff picks, things your staff like and WHY
      • Ordering info: create some attractive pic tiles that cover: how to order, delivery, refund and put them in one place so you can share easily
    • Add text / descriptions with every pic – remember this is your silent salesperson, this sells the item to the customer in you absence
    • Add prices, you don’t want to spend precious time answering questions about prices of items
• Selling is not a dirty word, you need to communicate product details, benefits and give them a call to action like ‘We have 3 left, please call if you like to have yours and not miss out’ or ‘Call me now to order yours’. Make sure customers understand they can order over the phone, email or socials.
• Delivery info:
  • Always remind people that they can collect the item if they are local or offer incentive for people to come in store. You can sell people more and connect with them to continue online. We know people often buy more when they collect their order.
  • Keep it simple, this is the last barrier to purchase so don’t make it tricky or scary
  • Make it easy to find, add to the About info too
• Refund info:
  • Make sure this is clear to customers before they purchase
• Extra Touches are always lovely, add a thank you / info card with every order so that customers remember you
• Follow Up, ask for :
  • Feedback
  • Google review
  • Pic of customers with products so you can share in your socials
• Ask people to connect to socials when they are in store, create an interesting sign and make sure you mention it to them face to face

I know this is a lot of info but I wanted to give you the range of things you can do to increase sales.

If you find something in particular that works and resonates with customers, do more of that! Assess what you are doing and what works best. Most of all enjoy trying new things and playing in a new sandpit!