Is Your Online Store Just an Afterthought? 6 Reasons to Bundle Product.
So you put up an ecommerce website or shopping cart solution and loaded it up with as much product info as you can, maybe did some SEO or Pay per Click and sent off an email announcing the new site. Then you probably went back to business as usual back in the 4 walls of your brick and mortar store.
A few weeks or months later, you wondered, “I haven’t really had many sales on my website. Hmmphh, this stuff is for the birds…even more reason why I shouldn’t waste my time on the Internet”.
Sound familiar? It’s not an unusual evolution.
Don’t fall into the trap! Your ecommerce website is another location for your store and deserves the attention as such. You need to market and merchandise for your web store, but in different ways than you do for your brick and mortar store.
This week, we’ll simply talk about merchandising. You have to create value, urgency and uniqueness to help you differentiate yourself from all your online competition. Just because you can’t sell a product for the lowest price, doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. You just need to get creative.
One strategy is product bundling. This allows you to sell items that are popular, but with other items together for a reduced price, which makes it harder for shoppers to compare pricing apples to apples with your competition. Consider creating weekly or monthly bundles at the lowest possible price, even if perhaps you lose a dollar or two. Why? It will help you…
- Acquire a new customer (what is the lifetime value of a new customer – how much will they spend with you in the future?)
- Encourage current customers to try new things that you sell
- This is why it is very important to have items in the bundle that are disposable or non-durable goods, things that are used up
- If they try it and like it, then they come back and buy more from you at full price!
- Use them as a type of low margin (not loss) leader.
- This helps “get their attention” in the hopes that they will browse the site for other products while they are there.
- It helps to train your current customers on using the site and gets them used to knowing that it is there, so they do not have to delay purchases until they can “get to the store”. They can buy more, more often. Sure we love them in the store, but some just can’t come as often as they may wish, and they need to get used to buying from you online.
- It helps acquire more email addresses for email marketing.
- It gets folks to the site to use the word of mouth, tell a friend and the new Facebook and Twitter tools! (If your store does this…if not check out www.GoXsellit.com)
Good luck bundling and May the Force Be With You!
- JoGonRu, Jedi Master of eCommerce
Why Use Twitter With or Without Ecommerce Solutions?
Amidst your busy days, most of you have heard about Twitter. And my guess is most of you have decided there’s not much there for you to use to improve sales. Really, what are you going to tweet about? It’s just another time sucker, right?
Wrong. Even though, everything you read says you have to tweet 3-5 times per day for it to be effective and you have to spend time following other folks, here are some clear, concise and practical ideas for how you should be using Twitter to drive foot traffic in to your storefront or eyeballs to your online store:
- Use it alert your current customers of a sale: Tweet the promo code to them and tell them to come in and mention the code. This works just as well if you have an online store too!
- If you carry “hot” fad type items that are difficult to keep in stock, consider using Twitter to notify those potential customers that the item is back in stock.
- Consider having Twitter ONLY events at your location. The have to be following you to be notified of a special wine and cheese event or some other customer appreciation event.
- If you offer services or are primarily a service business, consider using Twitter for tips, news, suggestions, how to’s, or other websites that might help you followers, in addition to some of the items above.
The best part of Twitter is you do not have to ask for their info or their email address. You just tell them to go follow you at Twitter.com/YourStoreName. Simple. The other great thing about Twitter is that you never have to worry about your message getting caught in a spam filter! All Tweets get through.
Twitter doesn’t have to be used the way comedians always rip on: “Hey, I’m putting a new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom!” Twitter, like all Internet sites, is just a tool. Just make sure you make it totally obvious and easy for people to know how to follow you and give them incentive to do so. Put it on your receipts, your invoice, your voice mail, your store windows, your website…everywhere you can.
May the force be with your Tweets…
