Taking advantage of the popularity of online payments is the best way to boost your sales exponentially. Whether you are a small new business or a large seasoned company, working exclusively from a bricks-and-mortar store should be only part of your overall sales. Using perks like VIP members discounts and exclusive coupons can pull in many more customers to your eCommerce site.
Customer behavior is constantly changing and being studied. We know that online shopping accounts for around 19.6% of retail sales worldwide. We are now living in a time where people spend more time online than offline. Shopping is fast becoming an immersive online experience too, with key benefits being the ease of researching products, the best prices for online payments and sales codes for VIP members.
If you are not convinced yet, read on through our 8 reasons why you need an online store.
1. Lower Your Costs
Selling from a traditional, physical store is a lot more expensive than a fully online store. With a traditional storefront, you will be paying for rent, utilities, equipment, maintenance costs, security, interiors, a member of staff at all opening times and expensive public liability insurances.
If you only work from an online shopping platform, these costs are cut dramatically. If you are starting out and don’t have the capital to spend on an expensive web designer, don’t fret. There are many amazing eCommerce platforms you can use to set up a great-looking online store. There are still annual fees of course, for your domain name and website provider, but they are nothing compared to the fees you can be expected to pay overall for a physical retail space.
2. 24/7 Online Shopping
Forget outdated opening times, you can now make money while you sleep. Online platforms are open to the public any time of the day or night. This means that people can also visit your store and peruse your stock as many times as they wish before making a purchase. Without the distracting presence of a store member, your VIP members are now free to browse and make purchases when and where it suits them.
The online shopping experience also has the massive perk of home delivery. This is especially helpful if your store sells bulky or hard-to-carry items. The customer can be assured that the heavy lifting won’t be on their shoulders. Delivery also means that more sensitive items can be bought without fear or prejudice.
3. No Limit to Location
You no longer have to worry that your target customers are not likely to visit the area you rent your store premises. Renting a store is expensive in areas of high footfall and competitive too. You can access a national and international market of customers from the comfort of your own home or a more convenient and affordable premises for you and your staff.
4. Showcase Best Selling Products
The joy of online shopping is in finding the product you need with the click of a button. Stores know what products are in high demand and you can make it easy through good marketing and copy for search engines to point your customer in the right direction. Highlight sought-after products and piggy-back accessory add-ons to the products for an easy up-sell.
5. VIP Members Community
You can create a niche online community of your customers. For example, you may sell organic children’s clothes, thus joining thousands of the same type of people together on the same site. Creating a VIP members area with forums, special discounts, exclusive coupons and online savings clubs would be a great way to market and have a returning customer base of like-minded people.
6. Tracking Online Payment
Online payments can help you see where you may be losing money on products, or in some cases making money. Stock levels will tell you this information in simple terms of demand, but you can see specific spending patterns more easily with online shopping.
7. Targeted Promotions
You can harness the information you know about your customer’s online spending patterns. This can benefit your business as you can identify and push sales of in-demand products. Create promotional offers like exclusive coupons for VIP members, free add-ons for bestsellers, and discounts or free shipping if your customer spends over a certain amount.
8. Beat Your Competitors
Beat your competitors by offering more benefits to your customer through the online store. You have an advantage over any physical store as you can load your customer with product information and promotional material without appearing desperate. Your products will be cheaper than theirs as your overheads will be cheaper too!
Boost your business by opening an online store and offering exclusive coupons to your VIP members! Start receiving online payments today and you will never look back.
