Eretail made up 14.1% of all retail sales globally in 2019, and it will continue to grow. It’s predicted that the figure may reach 22% by the end of 2023. The online retail sector is booming.
As an eCommerce seller, you can’t just sit back and relax. You must stay on top of industry trends and statistics, or your venture won’t grow and scale efficiently.
One way of staying on top of the game is by sharpening your key retail skills. There are specific soft and hard retail skills that are important when it comes to eCommerce.
Read on to discover the most vital retail skills and see which you are bringing to the game. Let’s go through them one by one:
1. Content
You must have heard the saying, “content is king.” Your online business is filled with lots of content, from product descriptions and blog posts to video scripts. Content creation requires first-rate writing skills and extensive product knowledge.
Content drives your marketing; it’s a top method of communicating with your audience. Writing is a vital skill that shouldn’t be underestimated. Good writing is subjective, but there are a few standards to keep in mind while creating content.
It’s not just the words but the tone that counts. For instance, if the target customer is between 20 and 30, your language would differ from an over 60s demographic.
Whatever market you target, make sure you create concise and appealing content. Engaging and valuable content helps you build authority and customer loyalty.
Make sure you have a proofreader on board. Grammatical and spelling errors give an unprofessional vibe, and your business reputation may suffer as a result.
As a general rule, here are a few points to keep in mind while creating content:
- Develop your story – talk to your audience in a natural, conversational way.
- Keep it as simple as possible – no overly wordy content.
- Don’t write in cliches.
- Structure and formatting are key.
- Be original – do not copy from other websites.
- Research your desired customer base and your competition.
- Images are vital: high-quality, relevant pictures make the content more engaging.
- Editing and proofreading are top priorities.
Read about: 9 Tips for Better Retail Inventory Management
2. SEO
What would be the use of writing high-quality content if very few people read it? Hence, search engine optimization (SEO) is essential too.
Working on SEO makes it easier for your web pages to be found and indexed which drives more customers to your online store and boosts your sales.
Ranking on Google search engine results pages takes a lot of research, planning, and marketing expertise. For instance, what keywords would you want and need to be ranked for as an online clothing retailer? The answer to that question will determine the type of content you create.
SEO is a technical skill, and it requires strategy. Also, boosting your SEO ranking takes time and patience.
Organic search accounts for more than 50% of all website traffic. To master the skills of SEO, reference the following websites and tools:
3. Marketing & advertising
Content marketing is a crucial part of a successful SEO strategy. By generating and sharing SEO-friendly material, you promote your brand.
The material can range from FAQs and blog posts to videos and positive testimonials. It can all be shared on social media platforms.
By marketing your eCommerce business effectively, you drive traffic to your site and build your brand. Here are some top marketing tips::
- Research the competition and what they are writing about.
- Look into what keywords the competitors are ranking for.
- Gather data about which social media platforms you should concentrate on.
- Research brand influencers you can contact and work with.
Creating an enterprise referral program gives customers an incentive to become brand ambassadors. Done successfully, a referral program can widen your customer base.
Referral programs are easily scaled and relatively low-cost. But, if you are looking for other options, consider emailing. It’s an effective marketing medium to focus some of your efforts on. For assistance, tools such as ActiveCampaign or MailChimp offer marketing email templates.
There are various marketing and advertising tactics to consider. Whatever methods you choose must be well-planned and monitored. Only invest in an expensive strategy if you fully understand its benefits and have done a trial run to measure how well it works.
4. Data collection
If you are looking to compare this year’s sales to last year’s, you must have the ability to collect sales data. The same goes for inventory level comparisons.
To curate a successful email competition campaign, you’ll want to measure its results by looking at performance data. Also, if you sent out the competition campaign on social media, you must have the ability to collect data on spikes in followers.
Tools like Google Analytics track visitors to your website. Optimizely helps you gather data to compare different versions of a webpage (A/B testing). DEAR System’s data-driven tools report on customer patterns and behaviours.
Collecting data will help you make informed business decisions. For instance, you can consider a file-sharing application. You can access files from anywhere and annotate them directly. That’s how you and the team can have a single source of truth to refer to.
Every person’s work, notes, and feedback are captured and synced into a clean and up-to-date version. Once you collect the data and have a place to manage the facts and figures, the case rests on analysis.
Read about: Why eCommerce inventory management software is well worth it
5. Data analytics
Number crunching is an integral part of an eCommerce business. Using data, you can investigate an issue, solve the problem, and share the solution.
Analyzing the data you pull from your systems can help with marketing, revenue predictions, and pricing decisions. Nowadays, you do not need a data analytics expert on board. Business intelligence tools offer you product and customer insights and help you make smart decisions.
They also offer demand planning, informative management reports, and detailed financial reporting. They help you build a complete business picture.
Retail accounting tools can also help you gain real-time insights. For example, it’s easy to stay up-to-date using key metrics like profitability, sales performance, and costs.
Call centre analytics software helps you improve the customer support strategy. It lets you monitor and collate data about how your customers feel and how your sales agents respond to them.
6. Artificial intelligence
AI has a key role in the eCommerce world. For example, implement bots or utilize chatbots to automate repetitive tasks. AI solutions help you increase ROI, lower costs, and improve accuracy.
Manufacturers with the right inventory and order management software solutions can automate order processing, fulfillment, shipping, and invoicing of component parts. For instance, cycling brand Bikebug saves 25% of the daily order processing time with warehouse automation.
You can also automate your marketing. For example, platforms like Infusionsoft and Marketo offer marketing automation software.
Automation like this frees up time for human innovation and brainstorming. It allows staff to concentrate on areas like customer service and fuelling growth.
7. Design
Window displays aren’t an option if you don’t have a physical store. You can’t draw customers in through a striking arrangement as people walk past. You can only design an eye-catching website.
Surveys show that 75% of people admit that they made judgments about the credibility of a business based on website design. Hence, how your online store looks matters a great deal.
Decide what image you wish to project with your website. Do you sell luxury goods or discount products? If the online store’s design does not align with the brand’s core message, the potential customers may get confused and put off.
How your website looks, your advertising design and the look of your email campaigns are all important. They all must communicate your brand and be visually coordinated. To help, you need to decide on brand elements such as a logo, preferred fonts, and a color scheme.
A visually pleasing design offers customers a better experience. In turn, good design can potentially lead to more conversions and sales.
Your website must be easy to navigate and calls to action should direct a customer toward your desired behavior. A mobile-friendly site is also crucial. Ensure that you stand out from the competition with a well-designed and user-friendly website.
How DEAR Systems makes eretail easier
DEAR Systems inventory management software helps you with everything from stock levels to order status. You will know exactly how much inventory you have and when it’s leaving or arriving at your warehouse.
All sales are tracked from the physical store and your online stores across all the locations. DEAR allows you to automate your retail and wholesale inventory management so you can focus on growing your business.
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