You may think that e-commerce creates a challenge for you as a bricks and mortar retailer and having an online presence will keep customers away, but this may not be true. Think of many of the brand names you know in retail – Walmart, Target, etc. – they maintain a strong, consistent physical presence alongside a growing website. So how do you ensure they work together and grow your sales? Branding and retail marketing experts AGRetail have extensive experience in developing successful retail businesses and help them reach their full potential. If you are comfortable in running your store but are confused about where to start with your website, our highly knowledgeable team can guide you through the process to help develop a strong, consistent online presence.

E-commerce for retail stores

For almost every business who sells, an e-commerce site is an essential requirement to succeed in business in 2017 and beyond. Even for smaller purchases, customers like to research pricing and alternatives online, and if the offering is preferential in your retail store, they may make the journey to visit you. Encouraging visitors to your online store is important and you can use a variety of techniques on your website. Walmart, for example, offers a free click and collect in store service, which offers the customer the chance to pick up at their local store in order to save shipping costs. This is a great technique as placing the collection point amongst point-of-purchase displays, and promotions means they are likely to make more purchases in-store when they visit. Other ideas include showing products on the website advertised as “ Available in store only” and vice versa, using retail graphics to show product ranges in your store that are “Only available online” will complete the association between the online and offline.

For retail marketing online and offline, talk to AGRetail today.