ADRIENNE DOWN COULSON - General manager, Ebates.ca
According to our company’s annual survey, 76% of Canadians will shop online this holiday season with 27% saying they’ll do more this year versus last year. These are numbers that small businesses simply cannot ignore, and having a solid e-commerce strategy will keep you competitive. Here are some tips to put you on the path to success.
•Find your value-add. Think about what will make a customer shop with you over your competitors. Identify how you can add value for a potential customer by offering free personal shoppers, fast shipping times or unique content.
•Test, test and test again. The key to optimizing your site and turning browsers into buyers is continual testing. Test everything, from the colour of your add-to-cart button, calls to action and promotional offers. Implementing these tests no longer involves hours of development resources but instead can be executed with simple drag-and-drop platforms like Optimizely. These tiny changes can have a huge effect on your bottom line.
•Product pages are king. Invest time in your products’ pages. Use high-quality descriptions that include all relevant product data (longer product descriptions rank better in search results than short). If you’re a clothing company, take the time to include size and fit of your products so customers have all the information they need to make their decisions.
•Capitalize on social discovery. According to Shopify, e-commerce orders coming from social media grew 202% in 2014. This growth is driven by the increase in social product discovery, ad targeting and social peer pressure. People show a greater interest in products shared by their peers, so include social sharing on your site and expand your social media presence.
TANGUY PEERS - Co-founder, Pawshake
According to a Google report, 38% of all offline buyers research online before they buy a product in a local store.
An e-commerce strategy raises a small business’ visibility and increases sales. More people prefer to buy online as it is more convenient. Retail e-commerce will reach $30 billion in 2015 in Canada and is growing at 16.8% year-over-year, which is four times faster than retail commerce.
With an e-commerce strategy, you have the ability to expand your reach. Geographically speaking, the weak Canadian dollar has made Canadian products more attractive both within the country and outside our borders. It also creates an opportunity to increase engagement and win loyalty from your customers. Not to mention that if you don’t do it, you are allowing your competitors to get there before you.
How do you make it a success at your company?
Your e-commerce strategy needs to be a priority and you need to think about pricing and internal operations – for example, shipping and managing returns. From a technical point of view, the easiest ways to start with e-commerce boil down to two options.
The first is to create a profile on an online marketplace, like eBay or Amazon. Advantages include a quick setup and low risk (no technical cost and you pay only a success fee).
The other option is to take advantage of ready-made e-commerce solutions, like Shopify. An advantage is that you get control of your own brand, but you will need to do some online marketing.
STEVE NOUSSIS - Manager, small-business client strategy, RBC
An e-commerce strategy is important for small businesses for several reasons. First, it creates awareness of the brand while highlighting its products and services to its customers. Second, it’s an opportunity to engage and build relationships with current customers while finding new ones as they go about making their purchasing decisions. Third, it allows small businesses to stay competitive by creating a new stream of revenue as more consumers choose to shop online. The inclusion of an e-commerce and Internet marketing strategy can prevent a small retailer from falling behind its competitors as the retail landscape continues to change rapidly. Business owners need to ensure their plans include an e-commerce or social media presence to align with this new reality.
To ensure your e-commerce strategy is a success, start by researching your marketing. Reach out to your target audience and ask for their input on the products and services you want to provide to ensure it is viable. Once you have done your research, write a business plan that outlines deliverables such as your goals, execution of the strategy and sales projections. As you develop your plan, consider your financial requirements to determine your startup costs (i.e. website creation and management) and cash-flow needs. You’ll also need to determine how long it will take to break even. Lastly, ensure you integrate social media into your e-commerce strategy. Social media provides a channel for you to stay connected to your audience while building relationships with new ones. It’s also a great way to generate buzz around your company and offerings while saving money on advertising.
