If you have a brick-and-mortar store, and you are thinking about opening an online store using Shopify or Shopify Plus, you might be wondering just how that would work and whether or not the two are compatible. Rest assured, there are business owners all over the world that are wondering exactly that. In fact, because of the current pandemic economy, business owners are struggling everywhere all over the world. Many of them adopted their e-commerce website in the hopes that their business will be profitable once again. Here are some things to keep in mind if you already have a brick-and-mortar store and are wondering how it would work with the Shopify or Shopify Plus eCommerce platform:
- Let Your Real World Customers Know About Your Store
You definitely want to let the customers that come into your store know that you have an e-commerce website with your products. This means that if they are at home and are thinking about visiting your store, they can just look online and see if you have the product that they want. That is a much easier task than going all the way to your store or even calling your shop to find out if you have what they’re looking for. What you’re basically doing is offering your customers an instant way to look up a product that they want, but it also means that you’re actually going to have to list those products on your website.
- Offer free in-store Pickup
Another way that this can be very beneficial for your brick-and-mortar store is to allow your customers to buy online and then come into your store to pick it up. This has become a very popular practice for customers of Walmart who have embraced the option so enthusiastically that they have had to set up a separate department in their stores just to deal with people that have bought online and came in to pick up their items. Your customers may appreciate being able to buy online and pick up their merchandise at their leisure.
- Never Miss an Opportunity to Advertise
You never know when an online customer is going to be able to influence one of your real-world customers or the other way around. Make sure that you are not only sharing your web address with your real world customers, and advertising your website through other channels in your local area, but that you are also advertising your brick-and-mortar store to your online customers. One example of when this works out well is when an online customer has a relative or friend in your area.
To find out more about Shopify or Shopify Plus solutions for your business, or to set up a free demo of the Shopify or Shopify Plus eCommerce platform, please contact the Seibert Consulting Group at 760-205-5251 or email the SCG team at hello@seibertconsulting.com.
