{"id":54303,"date":"2022-07-30T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-07-30T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?p=54303"},"modified":"2024-07-12T08:56:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T12:56:49","slug":"retail-stores-need-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/retail-stores-need-websites\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail Stores Should Have Websites\u2014Even Without eCommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you listen to all the noise on the internet, you\u2019d probably believe that brick-and-mortar retail was sleeping with the fishes. \u201cIf you\u2019re not selling online and scaling to new markets with fast-deployment growth strategies and a cutting-edge digital experience, you\u2019re dead<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

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Now if you\u2019re actually in the physical store game, you know that\u2019s not quite right. Think of a company that sells totally bespoke furniture: selling online would be impractical to the point of impossibility. Never mind the fact that 33% of Americans don\u2019t make online purchases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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According to research<\/a>, more than 55% of today\u2019s consumers like to see or try an item in person before buying. What this means is that, for your business, investing in full-blown eCommerce might not only be expensive, but tragically unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

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But the power of websites is not limited to eCommerce businesses. Just because you don\u2019t sell online doesn\u2019t mean your business can\u2019t grow faster and make more money by being<\/em> online.<\/p>\n

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When eCommerce doesn\u2019t work<\/h2>\n

There are a ton of scenarios where retailers cannot easily leverage eCommerce and, frankly, where eCommerce is a poor strategic choice.<\/p>\n

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Imagine the bespoke furniture maker we mentioned. If the products are all made to order, an online ordering process leaves huge room for misinterpretation. When costs are custom, it\u2019s a much easier sell in person than online. If they only ship domestically and can\u2019t capitalize on the \u201cglobal\u201d nature of online selling, it doesn\u2019t make sense to give the whole world eyes on the products.<\/p>\n

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And of course, for many brands it\u2019s the in-person experience that moves a shopper from interested to purchasing. Seeing and feeling the product, getting insights from an expert, and asking complex questions\u2014these are all far easier in person.<\/p>\n

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And if this is your business, you shouldn\u2019t pander to the noise and implement eCommerce, since you know<\/em> it\u2019s not going to work. However, you probably should<\/em> build and promote a website\u2026<\/p>\n

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Leads, leads, leads<\/h2>\n

Something like 80% of all<\/em> retail shoppers<\/a> will look online before visiting a physical store. We can\u2019t even put a number on how many would not<\/em> visit a store after seeing it lacks an online presence.<\/p>\n

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This is the key: your prospects expect you to be online. As the population ages, the number of digitally-connected customers increases exponentially. As a result, the decision to travel to a physical showroom or store based on a single ad has become rare. Instead, shoppers will go online to look at more of your products, get a feel for the brand, pricing, or process\u2014and only then decide to come in-store.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

So the goal of your website is not sales\u2014it\u2019s lead generation<\/em><\/a>. In other words, it\u2019s about driving people to your shop. This doesn\u2019t require massive investment, you don\u2019t need to catalog and digitize all your products and you certainly don\u2019t need to hire a full-scale marketing team to implement this\u2014though of course, you can.<\/p>\n

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According to the HelloBar<\/a> guide, you just need a website with attractive product imagery, converting CTAs, enticing copy that encourages store visits, and answers to your customers\u2019 biggest questions. Based on our 80% number, a high-quality website could unlock 4x as much in-store traffic as you\u2019re getting right now.<\/p>\n

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The benefits of a non-eCommerce retail website<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

A chance to share what makes you unique<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Thanks to the raw number of businesses out there, most retail companies in 2022 have fierce competitors. While there are many ways to differentiate yourself, a critical one is personality<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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We are living in an economy where an increasing number of consumers prefer to buy from the right brand<\/em> rather than whoever has the cheapest price. This is a seismic shift from just a few years ago. While giants like Amazon will naturally gobble up its share, a website is your chance to show what makes you unique; to share your story; capture the imagination and attention of prospects and bring them into your shop.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Put ideas in prospects\u2019 heads<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s take our bespoke furniture maker. Their ideal customer might be thinking, \u201cOh, this<\/em> space in the kitchen would be perfect for a larder cupboard, but it\u2019s such an awkward shape\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

They pop onto your simple and attractive website and see you talking about past projects, creating bespoke pieces to fit odd spaces, working off vague ideas to produce amazing results. Throw in a few photos and bam\u2014you\u2019ve got someone that wants to meet and has high buying intent. They start to visualize your company<\/em> helping them solve their problem, even though you\u2019ve done nothing to \u201csell\u201d them on the site.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

If you understand your target audience well, you can absolutely build this kind of persuasive authority into your website.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Digital word of mouth<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Word of mouth has and probably always will be a crucial source of traffic for businesses. The only thing that\u2019s changed is the medium. If someone loves a brand, they like to share social pages or websites with their friends or network.<\/p>\n

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If you don\u2019t have a website, you\u2019re essentially making it harder to be referred by past customers. Like we said, 80% of shoppers look online before visiting in person. A good website doesn\u2019t just catch organic traffic, it can also enable powerful word of mouth marketing\u2014and as we know, referred shoppers are far more likely to buy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you listen to all the noise on the internet, you\u2019d probably believe that brick-and-mortar retail was sleeping with the fishes. \u201cIf you\u2019re not selling online and scaling to new markets with fast-deployment growth strategies and a cutting-edge digital experience, you\u2019re dead!\u201d Now if you\u2019re actually in the physical store game, you know that\u2019s not quite right. Think of a company that sells totally bespoke furniture: selling online would be impractical to the point of impossibility. Never mind the fact that 33% of Americans don\u2019t make online purchases. According to research, more than 55% of today\u2019s consumers like to see or try an item in person before buying. What this means is that, for your business, investing in full-blown eCommerce might not only be expensive, but tragically unsuccessful. But the power of websites is not limited to eCommerce businesses. Just because you don\u2019t sell online doesn\u2019t mean your business can\u2019t grow faster and make more money by being online. When eCommerce doesn\u2019t work There are a ton of scenarios where retailers cannot easily leverage eCommerce and, frankly, where eCommerce is a poor strategic choice. Imagine the bespoke furniture maker we mentioned. If the products are all made to order, an online ordering process leaves huge room for misinterpretation. When costs are custom, it\u2019s a much easier sell in person than online. If they only ship domestically and can\u2019t capitalize on the \u201cglobal\u201d nature of online selling, it doesn\u2019t make sense to give the whole world eyes on the products. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":5037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,204,870],"tags":[176,351,871,648,649,872,656,873],"yoast_head":"\nRetail Stores Should Have Websites\u2014Even Without eCommerce - Sogolytics Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Attract customers to your brick-and-mortar store by being present online! 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