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Q: How can indies market their sites effectively when competing against big multiples & brands?
Fadi: Firstly, take advantage of what you’ve already got, real customers who shop in your stores. Focus your marketing on getting your offline customers online. Our research has shown that one in two customers who are asked to register their email address at the checkout will oblige. Give them an incentive such as free delivery.
Make sure all your printed collateral, from receipts to bags, displays your web address and spells out that people can shop online. This is really important as people don’t automatically assume they can buy from your shop online.
Finally, display the URL behind the till. This is a prime opportunity to hit customers with the web address as they’re going to be standing still, with nothing to do but gaze around the till area. Topshop does this very well.
Q: How much time and money should a retailer be prepared to invest in the initial launch and maintenance of a website?
Fadi: Nine out of 10 websites that we’ve worked on achieve sales equal to if not higher than the top performing bricks and mortar store within 18 months of launch. You could base your investment on the fact that the average life of an ecommerce website is three years.
However, to ensure you’re getting a solid design and backend system, I can’t imagine any retailer at the level Pod1 targets would spend less than £100,000 in year one.
When confronted with this question, we always ask our clients to think of their website as their global flagship store. The reality is that the website will expose their brand to far more people globally than any offline shop would. So how do they want the world to perceive them?
Q: How much support should an indie request from their website developer?
Fadi: Service level agreements (SLAs) are really an insurance policy - it is important that you are neither under nor over insured. Retailers must calculate the cost-benefit analysis on any SLAs. Different levels of service are usually on offer, and you get what you pay for. Should you be paying £10,000 a month for 99.95% availability? If the site is down for 20 minutes a month (99.95% availability), how much would you actually lose in sales, even in peak times? Would your customers go to a competitor for those 20 minutes, or would they come back later? Is there a non-financial impact to the brand? If 20 minutes of sales is less than £10,000, then you're over-insured.
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15.05.2008 Ecommerce Comment Piece in Drapers
With online retail now big business, Drapers talked to four web developers about the issues independent companies face with online retailing. Drapers selected a panel of experts in the field of ecommerce web design, including our own Fadi Shuman, and asked them the same three questions:Q: How can indies market their sites effectively when competing against big multiples & brands?
Fadi: Firstly, take advantage of what you’ve already got, real customers who shop in your stores. Focus your marketing on getting your offline customers online. Our research has shown that one in two customers who are asked to register their email address at the checkout will oblige. Give them an incentive such as free delivery.
Make sure all your printed collateral, from receipts to bags, displays your web address and spells out that people can shop online. This is really important as people don’t automatically assume they can buy from your shop online.
Finally, display the URL behind the till. This is a prime opportunity to hit customers with the web address as they’re going to be standing still, with nothing to do but gaze around the till area. Topshop does this very well.
Q: How much time and money should a retailer be prepared to invest in the initial launch and maintenance of a website?
Fadi: Nine out of 10 websites that we’ve worked on achieve sales equal to if not higher than the top performing bricks and mortar store within 18 months of launch. You could base your investment on the fact that the average life of an ecommerce website is three years.
However, to ensure you’re getting a solid design and backend system, I can’t imagine any retailer at the level Pod1 targets would spend less than £100,000 in year one.
When confronted with this question, we always ask our clients to think of their website as their global flagship store. The reality is that the website will expose their brand to far more people globally than any offline shop would. So how do they want the world to perceive them?
Q: How much support should an indie request from their website developer?
Fadi: Service level agreements (SLAs) are really an insurance policy - it is important that you are neither under nor over insured. Retailers must calculate the cost-benefit analysis on any SLAs. Different levels of service are usually on offer, and you get what you pay for. Should you be paying £10,000 a month for 99.95% availability? If the site is down for 20 minutes a month (99.95% availability), how much would you actually lose in sales, even in peak times? Would your customers go to a competitor for those 20 minutes, or would they come back later? Is there a non-financial impact to the brand? If 20 minutes of sales is less than £10,000, then you're over-insured.
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