How to Boost Online Sales
Changes in consumer preferences and the extraordinary circumstances of the last couple of years have led to a shift towards online shopping. While brick-and-mortar stores are still edging out online overall, we may soon see an online-dominated retail landscape.
If you’re a more traditionally-minded business owner, this may seem like the beginning of the end. This blog is here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. Opening your business to the online world could be a huge step up for your business and your sales.
eCommerce can be daunting so it’s best that you make sure you have all the information you can need to approach it properly. In this blog, we’ll be exploring the world of online selling in detail and go through some ways that you can boost your sales.
What are online sales?
In the most basic description, the term “online sales” refers to sales made over the internet using an electronic device. These devices can include computers, tablets, and smartphones. Thanks to advances in sales technology, it’s now perfectly normal for some businesses to forgo brick-and-mortar locations and operate entirely online.
Examples of online-only businesses include dropshipping. Dropshipping is a relatively new practice where a business personally stocks none of their product and instead acts as a middle-man between the customer and the manufacturer. Dropshipping is the perfect business model for those looking to make money with the lowest possible effort.
There are some key differences in how to increase sales between brick-and-mortar stores and online stores. For one, online sales do not benefit from foot traffic and in-person salespeople. This means that you can’t rely on traditional methods when marketing your online store.
Gain all the advantages of an EPOS system with detailed, flexible, downloadable reports, and so much more:
- Manage and update products quickly with easy to use software
- Expand your business into multiple channels and integrate with a variety of online platforms
- Manage multiple locations and salespoints with multi-site management
- Keep queues short with streamlined, modifiable sales processes
- Choose a setup that suits you with software and hardware options
How to increase online sales
While success can never be completely guaranteed, there are a few things you can do to increase eCommerce sales. Below, we’ve compiled a list of online sales tactics that can help put your business in the best position to succeed.
Get to know your target audience
In order to make the right choices with your marketing and product, you need to understand what your customers want. Thanks to the online nature of your business, there are a number of different ways you can gather this information.
For example, some point of sales (EPOS or POS) systems allow you to collect sales data from your website. The Epos Now Complete Solution can collate this information into business reports which show you the most and least popular items. You can then adjust your offerings accordingly.
You can also ask your customers to complete surveys after they make a purchase from you using email lists. Information from surveys can be extremely useful as it’s coming straight from the customer. They’ll be able to tell what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.
Use analytics to your advantage
In the online world, analytics can be one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. They can tell you exactly what your customers are looking for and how they found your store online. Once you have this information, you can gear your marketing efforts toward reaching more of these audiences.
Focus on what makes you unique
Modern consumers are much savvier about the internet nowadays and can quite easily spot an inauthentic seller. As part of your marketing strategy, you should try to express what makes your business unique and why your customers should buy from you.
Keep it simple
One of the main selling points of using eCommerce sites is the ease of buying something online. You should consider the customer experience of your website and make things as simple as possible.
The fewer clicks between your customer choosing what they want to buy and complete the checkout process the better. Work with your web designer to minimize effort on the part of your customer as much as possible.
Embrace social media
When used correctly, social media marketing can make the difference between success and failure. Many of your customers will be social media users and if you can reach them on these platforms, you’ll naturally have a better chance of boosting your sales.
Most, if not all, social media platforms allow businesses to buy ads and target them to certain groups of users. These ads don’t have to cost the world, they just have to be well-executed and grab the attention of users. It’s important to do research on what makes a good ad and work out what platform would be the best fit for your business.
How to increase website sales with powerful POS
Epos Now isn’t just a POS system company. We offer our customers a range of powerful tools that can help them reach success online. This includes our intuitive website builder that is built with business owners in mind.
It can be difficult finding the time to build your own website. Our website builder was designed to be as simple to use as possible. This means you can build an incredible looking website that’s sure to wow new and existing customers.
If you’re interested in finding out more about Epos Now, get in touch with our expert team below.
TIP: Now that you know everything there is to know about online sales, check out our retail vs ecommerce guide to see which option is the best fit for your business needs!
