Retail business can grow bigger in a number of different ways, including expansion to other markets or opening stores in new locations. However, launching an online commerce is the single most productive way to grow your company quickly.

According to the report, the global online retail sales should reach almost $2.5 trillion in 2018. It’s a gigantic market and grabbing just a tiny portion of the cake could give your company a major boost. But how can you expand a retail store with eCommerce?

In this post, we will show you practical tips to combine offline and online retail business. Let’s take a look!

The Benefits of eCommerce

If you want to learn how to augment a brick and mortar store, you need to understand the advantages of launching an online commerce. Here are the four major benefits:

• Grow your reach: The Internet allows you to approach global audiences almost instantly. It’s not limited to local consumers, so you can create new audience groups.
• Lower operational costs: Online stores are extremely cost-effective in terms of business overhead, maintenance, and inventory.
• Multiple communication channels: While it is true that eCommerce lacks the privilege of face-to-face interaction, compensation comes in the form of multiple communication channels. You can address prospects via email, live chat, online forms, forums, and many other channels.
• Business analytics: As an online retailer, you have a full set of tools and apps that can help you analyze even the smallest details of your business.

Things to Handle When Going Online

With all the benefits we mentioned above, going online seems like the only reasonable thing to do. However, you still have to take care of various details in order to seamlessly integrate all of your sales channels. The fundamental components of eCommerce are these:

1. Website

A company website is the first thing users see when they start looking for products online. This means you’ll need a quality design with attractive themes and a friendly user interface. The purpose of online retail websites is to convince consumers to engage, so you need to highlight the products and calls to action.

Besides that, you need to optimize a website to rank highly in Google results. Since 93% of the entire Internet traffic comes from search engines, you have to implement the state of the art SEO strategy to be able to outdo competitors. For this reason, try to create top-notch posts because it’s the only way to build website authority and make it look credible in the eyes of the target customers.

Mobile optimization is another major issue. People prefer shopping through tablets and smartphones, so you must design a mobile app and make your website fully responsive.

2. eCommerce platforms

A website is an anchor of your online sales strategy, but the vast majority of eCommerce is done through digital platforms such as Amazon, eBay, or Etsy. A report shows that Amazon alone will take almost 50% of the eCommerce market share in the US by 2021. In such circumstances, you just have to create accounts on eCommerce platforms and focus most of your efforts on this sales channel.

3. Social media

Facebook, Instagram, and other networks have turned into genuine business platforms a long time ago, so you can use them for retail purposes as well. The secret is to perfectly combine high-quality content with the corresponding offers. If you can engage followers and inspire them with great images, videos, and entertaining comments, you can also expect them to take the final step and buy your products.

4. Digital campaigns

Digital campaigns represent a nice tactic to activate both the online and offline customers. The procedure is simple: boost your posts and give incentives. For instance, you can give a 10% discount for first-time buyers on your website.

At the same time, you can encourage offline shoppers to visit your store using online coupons they can materialize only in the physical store. It’s a win-win tactic for both sales channels, so you should launch digital campaigns every once in a while.

Essential eCommerce Tools

It’s almost impossible to run a profitable online commerce without automation tools. There are all sorts of software and apps out there, but here are the most important solutions:

• eCommerce platform: Platforms such as Shopify or WooCommerce will help you to quickly launch a credible online store.
• Domain name: It’s not easy to find a representative domain name, but Name Mesh and Bust a Name will help you find the most appropriate solution for your business.
• Website content creation: We mentioned already that you need a quality content to improve search engine ranking. With the help from A-writer.com and BestEssays, this job becomes much easier.
• Email marketing: Email is still one of the most important business communication tools, so you’ll need reliable automation software to handle the process smoothly. We recommend you test MailChimp and Constant Contact.
• Social media marketing: Keeping an eye on social media accounts while doing regular work can be a daunting task. That’s why we suggest you utilize the Hootsuite or Sprout Social.
• Proofreading and editing: Grammar and spelling errors could ruin your online business, so make sure to consult editing and proofreading services like Assignmentgeek.com.au or Bestessaytips.com.

Conclusion

Running a retail store can be a highly lucrative business, but why wouldn’t you expand it online? Digital sales give you a chance to reach out to the global audiences and build a brand new customer base.

In this article, we showed you the benefits of eCommerce and how to grow your retail store through online retail. It requires minimum costs and the setup process is rather simple, so you shouldn’t waste the opportunity to give your company a fresh boost!

Bio:

Warren is a marketing enthusiast and a blogger at UKBestEssays, who loves music. If he doesn’t have a guitar in his hands, he’s probably embracing new technologies and marketing techniques online! You can meet him on Twitter and Facebook.