What would it look like if your online strategy worked perfectly?
Site visits? Catalog pages? Phone calls to your store? Sign-ups for your online newsletter?
In retail, “wins” are often defined by someone other than the business owner. Vendors design product they want to sell at price points that allow them to make money. Advertisers tell the owner they should say this, or do that in terms of marketing. Sales people explain how they “don’t feel comfortable” working in your selling system. Customers do what they want and buy what they like regardless of your opinion or your inventory.
Online presentation seems to be following suit. Retailers aren’t controlling the outcome. Retailers are being told an online “win” is a high number of site visits, or the number of phone calls they receive as a result of website traffic, or maybe it’s the large number of vendor photos they can promote on their retail site. While all of these are good, none directly support sales.
We heard from a Wizard of Ads partner last fall something that won’t let go of me. He said, “If your website isn’t selling as much as your weakest salesperson, you should fire it.” I agree.
Never lose sight of the primary goal of retail: to sell as much product as possible at a profit. If your web designer and web developer aren’t constantly talking about selling product, I would suggest they deserve the same fate as you worst salesperson.
Contact us to schedule a free Needs Analysis, and register now for the Industry-Wide Web Summit 2.0. It’s free, but seating is limited and filling up quickly.