6 smart ecommerce lessons to boost local business
With more and more people window shopping on a small screen, contributor Wesley Young shares six ways to use online tactics to drive customers to an offline store.
Ecommerce and local search might seem to be exclusive functions. Local search is typically associated with store locations and driving offline purchases, while ecommerce usually involves online transactions.
But recently the crowded ecommerce space has led online-only stores to encroach on the turf of local stores and services.
Amazon opened a bookstore in Seattle and acquired Whole Foods. Warby Parker, the eyewear company, opened its first store in 2013 and now has 61 nationwide. Bonobos, Blue Nile and others are likewise opening retail stores.
The reason for the bleed over is that online brands have realized the cumulative benefit storefronts are having to both marketing and sales, boosting both online sales as well as adding sales from stores.
That’s a lesson that also applies in reverse to those whose primary business is a brick-and-mortar storefront. Many of the components of ecommerce are increasingly relevant as consumers use more devices and more media to research purchases that they plan to buy offline. Omni-channel customers now expect to start their search for goods and services in one place and continue it seamlessly in another whether on a different device, media outlet or store location.
Here are six lessons from ecommerce you should use with your online content to provide a lift to your offline business.
Contributing authors are invited to create content for MarTech and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the martech community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
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