Making The Transition From Traditional To Online Retail – A Simple Guide

Posted on Nov 22 2017 - 10:52am by Editorial Staff

If you study a lot of retail businesses, it’s fair to say they’ve been going through a transition period in the last decade. Some top businesses have made the complete transition, while others are still in the main phase.

I’m talking about the transition from a traditional brick & mortar retail company, to an online one. It’s no secret that online shopping is rising, while traditional retail stores are seeing a decrease in foot traffic. As a result, small startup retail companies need to think about making this transition too. You don’t have to fully commit to being an online-only retail company, but opening up an online sales channel will benefit you now and prepare you for the future.

Naturally, you want to know how you can make this transition as easy as possible. Well, there are certain things to consider, and they’re outlined in this simple guide.

Create Your Online Store

The first, and most important, step is to create your online store. This is where you will list your products, and it’s the place people will visit to order things from you. The key here is building a store that people can use easily and shows off all your products as professionally as possible. It’s mentioned on www.WebsiteBuilders.com that there are some website building tools designed specifically for this purpose. It’s worth using one of them to build your website and ensure you get a proper store up and running.

Third-Party Involvement

Next, you have to start thinking about getting third parties involved in proceedings. Mainly, you’re looking for a company to help with logistics. If you have a brick & mortar retail store, then you may have a stockroom full of products that people order online. The question is, how do you get these products to the customers? It’s hard to take on delivery responsibilities yourself, particularly if you’re still running your traditional store at the same time. But, by hiring a logistics company to help, they can deal with delivering your goods and taking a weight off your shoulders. This frees you up to focus on everything else that makes your startup successful.

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Analyse Sales Figures

Lastly, you want to start analysing sales figures from both sales channels. Take a look at online sales compared to your traditional store sales. This allows you to see where you’re doing the best work. It also helps you realise when the time is right to maybe fully commit to online retail. If your online figures are dwarfing the store ones, then you may as well cut the costs of running the store and take your business online-only. If you check out www.docurated.com, you will see some great analytics tools to help you manage your sales.

You don’t have to completely move your business online, but an online retail presence is definitely helpful. At the very least, it offers a new way of making money, and it will get you ready for the future. There are still many traditional retail businesses clinging to the old ways, but the future is almost certainly going to be an online retail world.

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Editorial Staff at I2Mag is a team of subject experts.