First, the good news: Many retailers took advantage of the huge jump in online spending this past holiday season. Comscore Inc. reported a whopping 20% increase in jewelry and watch sales over the previous year -- and not just for E-tailers. Many traditional retailers added a shopping cart to their websites this year. The bad news? Too many left customers frustrated when they failed to successfully integrate their online and traditional merchandising strategies.
This became apparent in a study by Forrester Research. It found that while most customers are satisfied with their online shopping experience, that attitude did not carry over when they "pre-shopped" online and then visited a store to make the purchase. Dissatisfaction centers around a disconnect between the two modes of selling. Larry Chasin, president & CEO of Ideal Diamond Solutions, an online jewelry merchandising platform provider, says the remedy is to tightly coordinate your online and in-store sales and merchandising.
He offers these tips to integrate your online sales with your in-store sales experience:
- Be Consistent: Make sure your product information is the same in both places. There are product information management software products that can help.
- Put Your In-Store Inventory Online: “Web-to-store shoppers want to be sure the particular model they want is in stock before they travel all the way to the store,” the Forrester report says. Think through all your promotional choices and make sure they're anchored in in-stock inventory.
- Make Featured Items Easy to Find: Regardless of which online means you use to promote something -- website, blog or twitter -- be sure that the featured items are easy to locate in the store and that all your staff are aware of what's promoted online. Consider devoting a special section of the store—perhaps a showcase—that features items you’ve shown on your website in the past month, as well as mentioned on social networking sites. Identify these items as, "Featured Online.”
Take The Tip:
Ideal Diamond Solutions (IDS) offers virtual diamond inventories and other website enhancements as add-ons to your existing website and also included in their website packages. Jewelers of America provides members with great discounts on website packages from IDS. Click here for details.
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