Download GettInG It toGether to Get It on the web

MYSTORE RETAILER'S GUIDE vol. 9.1: TECHNOLOGY
A p u b l i c at i o n o f
s p o n s o r e d by
Getting it together
to get it on the web
Six steps for developing an online presence
By Robert Price
I
n May, a global study of Internet usage found
that Canadians use the web more than any
other country in the world. We spend most
of our time on social networking sites and researching everything from daily trivia to our
next big purchase. At the same time, about half
of small businesses in Canada are operating
without an online presence.
Why the disconnect? Research suggests that
Canadian businesses are tentative about the
costs and the returns of going online. For retailers wanting to develop an online presence
and connect with those web-hungry consumers, this Retailer’s Guide identifies the essential
steps to getting it together to get it online.
1. Have goals and a strategy to reach them
The Internet isn’t the guest house. This is
one of the most common misperceptions about
web technologies—that web stores and social
media stand apart from the main business.
The Internet isn’t the outhouse either. Think
of it as another room in the house. Websites,
web stores and social media are channels for
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reaching customers. They serve as another
tactic for enacting the business’s strategy and
realizing the business’s goals.
And that’s where the planning begins. Before retailers look to build an online presence,
they need to review their business goals. A
web presence should help to enact strategies
and realize these goals. However, getting online is not a goal unto itself, says Leah Skerry,
managing partner of Norex, a web design firm
in Halifax. She also says that succumbing to
the urge to “throw something online” without looking back to the overarching business
strategy will lead to a dead end.
“The first thing is defining what you want to
do online and what the goals will be,” she says.
“Maybe it’s not to increase revenue, maybe it’s
only to build product awareness. It depends
on the type of retailer and whether they want
the long-term sale or the short-term sale.”
When retailers know how they want to grow
their business, they can deploy their resources more effectively—to sell, to build a reputation, to cultivate customers, or to listen.
MYSTORE RETAILER'S GUIDE vol. 9.1: TECHNOLOGY
Caplan’s Appliances makes the Web home
Caplan’s Appliances is a destination retailer—offline
and online.
A family-owned store, Caplan’s has been a Toronto
retail landmark for more than sixty years. For the
last ten years, the store has worked hard to make its
website Caplans.ca the destination for Torontonians
looking for that new oven.
“We use the web now to be a voice of what our store
is about,” says Robert Caplan, president of Caplan’s
Appliances.
Customers visiting Caplans.ca will learn a lot about the
store, including product news, store information and
more than 600 testimonials about the store.
Caplan says the store’s goal is to enhance the online
presence incrementally. In the past year, the store has
posted more than 60 videos of staff talking about
products. Caplan’s has also added an area where
customers can ask for a quote.
Caplans.ca changes monthly. Caplan says the store
continually experiments to see what works and what
customers like. “That’s the beauty of online. You can
reinvent yourself in a month,” says Caplan.
Caplan says the store’s web presence is part of a
larger marketing and advertising strategy. “We
integrate everything,” says Caplan. The store crosspromotes the online and offline experience, offering
coupons online to redeem in-store and vice versa, all
with the goal of building the Caplan’s brand.
“We’re trying to bring people online because it helps
us to tell a story that we can’t always tell in the store. If
the online and offline components are very integrated,
that is a win for us.”
2. Secure the online space
3. See what people are saying
Even retailers that don’t have plans for
the web must secure their online space. For
retailers that want to build an online presence, securing an online space is the move
to make.
Securing online space involves taking
ownership of the store’s online identity. This
means buying a domain name for the store.
“Protect your trade name,” says Rick Silver, president of N49 Interactive, by buying
two or three domain names that represent
the store. “You don’t even need to have a website,” he says. But you do need to make sure
competitors don’t buy your domain name
and use it to direct business to their site.
Along with securing a domain name, retailers will want to claim other brand-related
properties, like their Google+ page and their
twitter handle. Even if the retailer has no plans
to use these tools, taking control of the pages
can help to protect the store’s reputation.
Another aspect of securing online space is
searching the store.
“Google yourself,” Silver advises retailers, and look for two areas of concern in the
search results.
The first is competition. “When you google
yourself, are you coming up or are your competitors coming up?” Silver asks. “Are competitors buying ads under your names?”
The second is presence. Retailers want
to make sure their store appears at the top
of the search results. "That first page on
Google should be you," says Silver. The page
shouldn’t be filled with information about
competitors or stores with similar names.
If the store appears at the top of the search,
retailers will want to know what these search
terms say. Are they positive? How do they
reflect on the business? How will potential
customers interpret the search findings?
Stores with existing home pages need to know
how Google recognizes the page. Does Google
have the store’s web address in its memory?
Has Google categorized the store properly?
4. Look at launching a basic site
Another stage in planning to move online
is launching a basic website. The website
doesn’t need to have the capabilities of Amazon, but it does need to exist. Even the smallest, most independent of independent retailers need a website.
“Here’s the thing: you can have social
media, but if you don’t have a website you’re
losing credibility,” says Skerry. A retailer today without a web presence is like the man
selling stereo speakers from the trunk of his
car. “It’s the same thing. You’re selling products from your car rather than having a place
where people can go,” she says. “You’re losing credibility.”
Silver says the best plan for an independent retailer is to start with a basic site—a
five page website that includes store hours,
a link to Google Maps, a phone number, the
store’s philosophy, and other details that distinguish the store, like a store history or the
store’s contribution to the local community.
Retailers might also want to post their customer service, return and shipping policies.
These policies are a selling point, lend credibility to the store and help to make customers comfortable.
Once a retailer has a basic site, they can
look at adding to it over time.
“We often run into trouble with clients who
think they need everything from the get-go.
Maybe they’re looking at a competitor who
is much further ahead. It is often the case
where they will exceed what they are capable
of doing,” says Silver. “That may not be the
best first step for that retailer. Getting a simple website with a simple online presence so
you come up in Google—that is square one.
People aren’t going to the phone books anymore. They are going to the Internet.”
So the message: start small and be realistic, but have a vision for where the site will
go. Independents should always refer back
to their business goals as they think about
expanding the website. Ask: What are my
business goals? How can I use my website to
realize these goals?
5 don’ts for the web
1. Don’t forget the local traffic. “It’s a huge misconception that
you only want to go online when you’re a global player,” says
Silver. “Local businesses need to have an online presence.
They need to have a growth strategy to service their clients
online as they would in-store.”
2.Don’t forget what consumers do on the web—they
research what they buy. “The local consumer is looking
online. Whether they buy online is an open question, but they
are doing their research online,” says Silver. “You want to
come up when they research stores online, you want to play
in that field. That all happens at a local level, regardless of
what a consumer buys.”
3.Don’t overestimate time or budget. “Make realistic projections of how much time you can spend on social media,” says
Skerry. Retailers don’t want to flash and disappear—to start a
blog or twitter account and then become too busy to keep it
fresh. Constancy is key.
4.Don’t freak out over the technology. Silver says managing the technology is easier and more affordable than ever
before. The costs associated with building an online presence
today are labour costs. “It’s the staffing to keep your product
catalogue populated and up-to-date—that’s often the most
time-consuming piece. That’s where we recommend retailers
hire even an entry-level person to keep the product catalogue up-to-date.”
5.Don’t fall in love with yourself. “Social media is not about selfpromotion,” says Skerry. “It’s about having real dialogue with
customers and using it as a customer service tool.” Use social
media to talk about product, category news and customeroriented store news. Talk about what will benefit customers.
To get them onto the website, never let it go
stale, and never let the investment into online
promotion lapse. Here are two reasons why.
1. Retailers with old content look old. That’s
the first reason to put resources into keeping the website or the social media presence
active. Effective online communication and
customer service needs a line item on the
budget and a column on the time sheets,
and the investment needs to be continuous,
not when it is convenient or when there is
budget. It needs to be in the budget.
2. The web works differently than it used to.
That’s the second reason for staying active
online. “Being on Google used to be about
stuffing keywords in meta tags. Now it’s
really about the social element,” says Silver. “Are people talking about you? Are
you talking about yourself?”
5. Plan to stay active online
“It used to be about getting them in the showroom. Now it’s about getting them to the website, engaging them on the website and then
getting them in the showroom,” says Silver.
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How often does a website need to change?
It should stay current with customers, seasons
and promotions. Retailers should budget to
keep social media updated daily.
MYSTORE RETAILER'S GUIDE vol. 9.1: TECHNOLOGY
TakeAways:
•The biggest mistake retailers
make when they go into social
media is to talk about themselves all the time.
•Ask questions, post interesting
facts, and show relevant pictures
to your target market.
•Respond to questions from customers within 24 hours.
•Learn about analytics and track
social media. Each platform
shows how you are engaging
your audience and what messages are working.
•Don’t know which social media
platform to try? Take an in-store
survey. Ask your customers
where they play online and how
they want to hear from you.
•Remember that social media
also allows you to research your
customer base and acts as a
listening channel for a brand.
6. Engage social media strategically
Independent retailers need a website of some
kind. But what about social media? That’s where
the choice can become overwhelming and the
workload immense.
Skerry says that with a little research and pointedly directed resources retailers can contain
social media bloat and leverage social media to
their purposes.
First, retailers should avoid the mistake of getting into everything. Not only is a broad reach
ineffective, it’s exhausting. Independents should
research what social media networks their customers use. Talk to customers, conduct checkout surveys, surf the web and see what social
networks local competitors use.
The key: go where customers go. “If your cus-
tomers aren’t using a social media, like Foursquare, don’t be there,” says Skerry.
Second, retailers should plan to use their resources to contribute something relevant to conversations regularly. In an era where people use
the Internet for research, retailers should strive
to become a source for knowledge.
“Social media helps the smaller guy,” Skerry explains. “It’s not about how much money you spend,
it’s about how relevant the information is and how
often you update it.” Not only will customers notice what’s new and relevant, so will Google.
To access more Retailer’s Guides and other RCC
resources that can help you grow your business,
visit www.retailcouncil.org/training.