The challenge for many eCommerce operators is how to bring great real-world retailing experiences online. Retailers find it easier to know what to do when they have a real-life customer standing in front of them – they know how to answer the questions, guide them to the right products, give them trusted advice on what is right for them or not.
The trick is translating those same skills to an online or virtual world.
This week we are delighted to be joined by
• Myriam Doyle of Mimi Toys
• Melodie Fox of Vixi-Gifting
• David Tuohy of Fruitique
The interesting thing is how different businesses can use different methods to drive success. Mimi toys was born out of the need to find really good toys, sometimes educational, for younger children. The business was founded back in 2004 and was always online giving it a long track record of serving this audience. The thing that makes it stand out is the uniquely curated collection of toys and brands that simply can not find in one place anywhere else. That plus a focus on good supporting content means that Mimi Toys ranks in Google for many of the important terms.
Vixi-Gifting on the other hand is a new business that originally focused on the Wedding market so a swift adjustment was required in our Pandemic world.
Broadening the offering to take advantage of a growing trend in gifting set them on the right track. A key driver though was in letting the customer build their own gift box and personalise it. This demonstrated the power of putting the customer in control of the experience – they had the power to choose and create their own collections and Vixi-Gifting made that easy. In the digital world, you have to focus on helping the customer do what they want and not try to corral them into a result that is easy for you the business owner.
Fruitique is not an eCommerce business yet in the traditional way we think about eCommerce but the team here are integrating digital tactics into the core of how they attract and connect with their local customers. Fresh fruit is not an easy product to ship or deliver but like most other sectors there is a niche element to it that lends itself to this.
Success comes from thinking like a traditional retailer but adapting to the new online tactics and techniques to serve your customer.
Most things in the real world have an equivalent in the virtual world.
Like for example Footfall – every shop owner understands that the more people that walk past their shop the more opportunity they have to attract their attention and convert them into customers. Well in the eCommerce world that translates to Traffic and how you invest in the tactics and campaigns to bring good quality traffic to their online store.
For most successful stores that means they have invested the equivalent of their rent money into good Search Engine Optimisation programmes supplemented by Paid Search campaigns. The ones that do that successfully know that SEO programme needs long term attention to good content and site structure and for paid search, they know their campaigns need to be constantly optimised to deliver an affordable cost per new customer acquired. That also needs to include email and of course social has a part to play in growing the right traffic.
You might be lucky and have a store that everyone looks for and finds automatically but too many people still think all they have to do is build a website and people will come and buy. Pandemic or no pandemic that is not what happens – more people are shopping online but guess what there is also much more competition so it’s harder to find you. I like to say every new website is automatically built down the end of a dark alley and your job as an eCommerce business owner is to work consistently overtime to bring it closer to the high street and shine a light on it. Because without good quality affordable traffic you can’t make it successful. By good quality traffic, I mean the right people who are naturally looking for or are interested in your product or service offering. We have more success working with Businesses that have this mindset coupled with a passion to deliver a great experience once they get there more than any other.
Enjoy the listen.