The future of retail is digital.
E-commerce orders surged between March and April as demand for everything from essential items to luxury clothing skyrocketed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
With nationwide closings, many business owners are rethinking sales strategies to capture revenue online.
Whether you’re navigating how to transform your brick-and-mortar business into an online marketplace, scaling sales volume or capturing a new digital demographic, here are the best ways to pivot your traditional business to a competitive e-commerce enterprise.
Narrow down a product category
Most retail businesses sell a combination of two sales categories: commoditized products that are high demand and essential to all customers, and niche items that cater to a specific customer base — like shapewear or cruelty-free skincare products. Assess which items or services will be most valuable to customers online now to claim a competitive edge in the saturated market.
Pick your marketplace
Once you know the products you’re going to sell, decide where you’re going to sell them — direct-to-consumer on your own website or social media channels, e-commerce platforms like Amazon, eBay and Etsy or multiple.
Do market research to ensure you’re selling products on the platform that will bring in the most customers and biggest number of sales.
Create content that sells
Bring the experience of brick-and-mortar window shopping to life through high-quality product content like eye-catching product images and virtual tutorials that show exactly how to use them. Leverage social media platforms to build and grow your customer base.
Outsource shipping
One of the biggest hurdles to scaling an e-commerce business is handling shipping in house. Dealing with logistics to get products to customers can be time consuming and costly when bandwidth can be better used on sourcing new inventory, marketing and advertising products and boosting engagement with customers. Outsourcing shipping to a third-party logistics fulfillment center can also cut costs so businesses can avoid paying retail rates for shipping carrier services.
If you’re brand new to e-commerce, a third party shipping or fulfillment company can help store inventory, distribute customer orders and help scale your business.
Optimize your sales success
If you’re selling a bundle of niche products and you can identify top-sellers based on demand that consumers will rely on weekly or monthly — whether its cosmetics, grooming products or clothing — consider a subscription box service to package your products and retain a customer base long term.
About Brendan Heegan
Brendan Heegan is the Founder of Boxzooka Fulfillment & Global Ecommerce. Headquartered in New Jersey with satellite operations around the country, Boxzooka is a fulfillment center with international landed-cost technology and proprietary warehouse management systems it also licenses, focusing on servicing the logistics needs of online retailers. Brendan has nearly 20 years of experience in transportation, fulfillment and distribution, both domestically and Internationally. He started Boxzooka because he saw consolidation happening in the marketplace, creating a need for more competition and more customizable solutions for best-in-class fulfillment management and technology solutions.
