Your product descriptions and photos are on point. Your sales funnel is optimised and tested for success. Your payment process is simple and straightforward. You’ve done all you can for maximum conversions on your online DTC store, and all that’s left to do now is to sit back and start counting cash, right? Not quite…

While you’ve taken great care in making your eCommerce site a lean, mean consumer-attracting and interweb-breaking sales machine, there are other ways of boosting your sales even more. And here are four simple steps to do so!

1. Take Out Virtual Stalls In Online Marketplaces

The popularity of online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Newegg and Shop.com is growing. In the U.S. alone, Amazon now has 197 million unique monthly users. This popularity is not limited to consumers. Retailers are joining the party too. Indeed, they invested 32% more in online marketplaces in 2016. And for good reason. The many delightful benefits to plying your wares at the online marketplace include:

• Access To High Website Traffic

In 2015, Amazon alone reported over 190 million monthly visitors. By featuring your products on online marketplaces, you can exploit this high traffic with no additional work. Nice!

• Global Reach At Scale

Thanks to the global audiences that marketplaces attract, featuring your products on them allows you to reach specific sets of global customers that may be less familiar with your brand.

• More Repeat Sales

Once a customer purchases your product/s through an online marketplace and is happy with the product and buying experience, they’re more likely to seek out and shop at your store again.

• Easy Experimentation

If you don’t currently have an online DTC store or you’re new to selling online, a marketplace can be a great way to dip your toe and see if selling online is a profitable venture for you before investing your time and resources.

2. Leverage Retailer Loyalty

Despite the phenomenal growth of online marketplaces, many brands still baulk at the idea of sending customers off their DTC store. But customers love nothing more than choice, so giving them the option to purchase elsewhere does not adversely affect your own DTC sales.

In fact, our research reveals loyal customers will always look to buy your product from you directly. It’s the 90% that leave your site and look for your product elsewhere you need to worry about, because once they’re gone, you’ll likely lose them to competitive distraction. Not good.

And this is where Buy Now technology is such a boon. It gives that wandering 90% the choice to purchase your product(s) via their preferred retailer with a mere click. Thus empowering customers, extending your reach, and increasing conversions. Absolute no-brainer!

3. Give Consumers Consistency

Nowadays, offering a great online DTC store is not enough. A survey by the New Jersey Institute of Technology found 90% of consumers expect a consistent brand experience at every touchpoint, both online and offline. And they want that consistency before, during, and after purchase. The tricky thing with all these touchpoints though, which can be anything from a billboard to a highly targeted email, is that consumers almost never interact with them in a linear sequence.

Some may encounter your billboard first, others your website following a Google search. For some, a tweet might be their first touchpoint. Others may just walk into your bricks and mortar store. And so on. Touchpoints occur from the moment a customer finds out about your brand through to the decision to buy, and beyond.

So, it’s vitally important to take an inventory of all your brand’s touchpoints and ensure consistency throughout. For when customers encounter your brand touchpoints, they don’t see the marketing department, the customer support centre, or the sale team etc. as separate entities. They simply see one brand.

When taking an inventory of touchpoints, include:

1. The pre-purchase touchpoints (e.g. advertising and social media)
2. The during-purchase touchpoints (e.g. your website, retailer product pages and print catalogue)
3. The post-purchase touchpoints (e.g. follow-up emails and online help centres)

4. Regard The Rise Of ROBO

The ROBO trend (research online, buy offline) is still on the rise. Indeed, according to a recent report by Bazaarvoice that researched consumer behaviour for over 30 leading retailers across hundreds of brands and categories, 45% of brick-and-mortar buyers read online reviews before buying. Furthermore, 82% of smartphone users research products on their phones when they’re about to buy in a store.

The biggest ROBO product categories are:

• Appliances (59%)
• Health, beauty and fitness (58%)
• Toys and games (53%)
• Electronics (41%)
• Baby merchandise (36%)

And this is why there is a resurgence in bricks and mortar stores. Take eyewear brand Warby Parker, who started online in 2010, began opening bricks and mortar stores in 2013, and now operate in 20 stores across the US. According to their co-founder and co-CEO, Dave Gilboa, while the physical stores are successful in their own right, the brand has also noticed a “halo effect” where they act as a brand awareness generator, website traffic driver, and eCommerce sales accelerator. They found that many consumers enjoy testing more tactile products like their glasses in-store, but ultimately buy online.

And Warby Parker is only one of a growing number of eCommerce players trying traditional retail after starting life online. More and more online-first companies (including Amazon, Bonobos, Birchbox, and Casper) are discovering that by launching a physical presence, they’re better able to market their wares, forge closer customer relations, and yes, boost online traffic and sales.

You won’t lose business by sending customers off-site. In fact, you can create a mutually beneficial union between your online DTC store and partner retailers that gives your customers the choice they crave, your partner retailers higher converting traffic, and your brand higher conversions. To find out how ChannelSight can help you in this ‘win win win’ way, contact us today to discuss your options and get a demo of our Buy Now technology in action.