Four Things to Consider When Complementing Cart Sales with a Website
Remember that your cart or kiosk is not only a point of sale, but it is also a platform for you to showcase your products. It gives customers the opportunity to take a closer look and ask questions about your product. Customers may not always be ready to make a purchase right there and then, so it is your job to capitalize on their interest when they walk away. But how can you do that? Nope, we are not asking you to follow your customers around. That’s crazy talk. We are referring to complementing your carts with an on-line channel. Yup. Big box companies do it and so can you.
You just need to think about these four things before you decide to get your website up and running:
1) Be Memorable: This goes without saying, having a memorable product name and shopping experience is critical for your success. But planning ahead can go a long way. Knowing ahead of time that you will be complementing your cart sales with a website can help design a seamless shopping experience and pick a great easy-to-remember name that can easily transcend online.
2) Get an Easy-To-Use Website: Back in the day, it used to be a pain to set up one of these bad boys, but nowadays, it’s easy as pie. You are running a small business after all and will benefit greatly by keeping your costs down. There a plenty of user friendly options out there that will let you customize the customer facing webpages (for the artist inside you) and manage your operations and billing is an effective and efficient way (for the nerd inside). The idea is not to spend a lot upfront on the website and do not need to hire an additional employee just yet.
3) Go For That Look You Always Wanted: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT fall short on the image you present online. The same as your cart, your website is what customers see first. You know what they say: there are no second chances for a first impression. Get creative. This is your business we are talking about. Not only will customers feel more compelled to purchase your products online, but they won’t have second thoughts about online security if your website looks professional. There are a lots of stock photo websites where you can get the pictures you need to get that fun, creative, slick and professional look you are going for.
4) Keep Track: Pay close attention on how your cart and website sales interact with each other. It can be tricky to measure the impact of your cart on your online sales but there are ways. You can ask customers during the online purchase process if they visited your cart, or you can give customers who walk away from your cart a code to get a discount online (you will need to check with your website vendor if this is possible). This is very important because your sales may start shifting online away from your carts and may mislead you to think that your cart is no longer necessary (but it could be the very reason why your online sales are booming!).
Oh boy! Oh boy! Aren’t you excited?! We are. Especially about the potential upside to expand your reach and get more leverage out of you existing carts and kiosks.
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