In today’s fast paced retail environment, consumers and shoppers use their smart phones and tablets to research products and brands. Online shoppers use smart phones and tablets, as they would relate to sales associates on the floor, to ask questions, gain knowledge, and understand options but not to make the purchase.
Shoppers research first and often visit a website multiple times prior to reaching a purchasing decision. Brands that have a consistent message and visibility across multiple channels such as social media, eBay, Amazon, and other online retailers will see better results. To help retailers, here are some top online retail marketing strategies that drive sales.
Retail Marketing Strategies That Drive Sales
Social Networks are becoming Shopping Platforms
Many retailers already take advantage of social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and many others. Retailers use social media networks to influence consumer decisions, introduce products, and get feedback. Moving into 2016 and forward, most major social media networks are becoming shopping platforms. Companies use social now not to just showcase products, but also sell them.
Consumers Want and Need Product Reviews
Shoppers and consumers rely on product reviews to make educated decisions prior to purchasing the product. Many larger retailers have already perfected this such as Amazon. Clearly displaying product reviews can drastically improve the conversion rates of online store pages, sales, and overall profits. Each product should have clearly visible product reviews by other customers.
Cross-Sell by Recommending Similar Products
One of the easiest ways to improve sales is by focusing on the average order value. Bundling products together is a very efficient and easy way to improve the average order value. This is one of the quickest online marketing strategies that drive sales. Many online stores come already with applications and technology features that allow for cross-selling and up-selling products.
Always Test and Test to Improve Results
It is difficult to make improvements without conducting tests. Retailers should test everything from product prices, marketing channels, calls to action, navigation, button styles, colors, incentives, etc. Test everything and make the necessary adjustments to improve results. The more tests are conducted, the more opportunities for improvements are created.
Retailers that want to ensure better results and improve online sales can work with experts that provide marketing services such as Conversion Optimization, which improves the conversion rates of websites. Professionals can quickly identify what needs to be improved to get better results.