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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 www.retailcouncil.org/training/retailersguides 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. www.retailcouncil.org/training/retailersguides 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.