Digital Marketing for Retail Industry

What is a retail market?? How is it different from whole sale market??

Retail market is basically sale of goods directly to the consumers without any intermediaries and a WHOLE SALE market is selling goods to the retailers. They procure goods in large quantities from the manufacturers and further distribute them to stores. Eg retail marketing is selling clothing on fashion outlets, selling of groceries on big super markets etc. Let us make it more simplified; a retailer is an intermediary which makes products available for selling using different channels like stores, vendor machines, shopping websites etc.

Development in technology continues to rule the retail markets as now shopping almost everything is possible online. As a retailer you have to be excellent in your digital marketing strategy else you will lag behind in the race for sure. Below are ten ways which help you survive in the competition in the world of digital marketing:

1. Impressive website

Digital market is driven by GOOGLE. People search for anything and everything on the net before taking purchase decision. Your website is the face of your Company and it has to be effective in all aspects no matter whether it is related to speed, user friendly, informative, navigational etc. Since you are dealing with retail marketing your website should be attractive to grab the attention of the visitors on first visit. Discounts, cash backs etc should be advertised in a very eye catching manner so that the customers are forced to surf further for more inquiry and then to final sales. It has to be mobile friendly and user friendly as most of the shopping nowadays is done through mobiles. Links to your social media like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter has to be there without fail as these are very popular channels and is a part of the daily life of the people now.

2. Mobile application

Another very important medium in the world of social media is having an up to date mobile application which is downloadable on all the versions of smart phones, user friendly, responsive, fast and navigational too. Hot selling products, discount offers should be on the main screen of the app as it is the most important aspect effecting purchase decision of the buyers. People are found shopping more than necessary to avail these offers which helps to boost up sales. The links to install these apps should be available on your social media channels in order to cover up masses as the users of social media is increasing day by day heavily.

3. Multichannel/Omnichannel Marketing

Multichannel marketing is using different channels and promotional channels together for the purpose of marketing your product online like social media, mobile, direct mail, posts on all social media etc. No matter this is an excellent digital marketing tool in hand but needs your time to time attention else you may be having presence at all the channels but may not be capable of creating an impact in the mind of the customer. You need to figure out the appropriate communication tool by understanding your customer’s behavior and preferences. This is very useful for both the small and big scale businesses as multi-channel marketing has the capability to reach the masses at one point of time.

4. Motivate the customers to take action

As we have discussed more and more people are using online medium for purchasing almost everything. Your marketing campaign should be such that your buyer feels the urgency of buying. They should feel that they have limited time to buy the stuff they need so they are motivated to make the final purchase decision. As long as the brand you are promoting is giving a clear message, the time bound purchasing only makes the customer feel the stress to buy right now else the opportunity will be lost.  Currently we have festival discounts coming in several times during the year by almost all the well-known online digital marketers. Frequent buyers definitely tend to buy and rather buy more than necessary. Try to grab this time bound opportunities as and when you have

5. Social media advertising 

You must be having a good social media presence; but have you invested in Social media advertising? Because of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc that it becomes  easy for you to advertise your product for the masses to view at a time. Facebook has developed a targeting technology which allows advertisements to reachre specific audience. This feature is called FACEBOOK AD MANAGER. While posting an ad through this option the advertiser provides a set of characteristics that will define his target market. Hence you have option to customize your target audience on the basis of their gender, work, buying pattern etc. This is while surfing on Facebook you will see advertisement of the products related to your interest. By using this option your time is not wasted targeting unnecessary audience and get good leads and sales results from more prospective buyers. This was just an example and such options are available on other social media platforms also.

6. Creative videos

Videos speak better than text and pictures. Retail market is more or less related more with products like consumer durable and of day to day use. Like if a Company involved in Clothing uploads videos of the models wearing their collection is very much followed and liked by viewers. Further if these products are endorsed by famous celebrities will work like an icing on the cake. Likewise Companies dealing in food items uploading videos with celebs using their products while cooking is also very popular. These are just few examples likewise a similar pattern can be followed by other retailers also. Videos should be uploaded on all the social media channels, on your website so that followers of all the channels get a view of them. They have the capability to motivate the prospective buyers to make the final decision to purchase.

7. Customer centric approach

Customers are the essence of any business and digital world is no exception. Rather customer service and experience should be your main focus area in digital marketing as you are not interacting in person with the customer face to face. Implementing Chatbot is an excellent option to solve the concerns and queries promptly. Training the call centre staff to always have a very polite approach in dealing with each and every customer and also to train them to generate more leads. Reviews to be taken from customer and to be uploaded on the website and other channels; as retail online market is driven by reviews to a considerable extent. Irate customers calling the call to be handled with utmost care as dissatisfied customer can tarnish your image. On the other hand negative reviews and comments on social media are also a part of digital maraketing and handling them is equally important since they are read by the masses and the way you deal with them will win the trust of the new as well as existing customers.

8. Never stop researching

Online marketing and the digital work both go hand in hand and every second day new developments take place. To keep pace with the changing developments and likings you need to keep yourself updated. Research is a part of any business. You have to research about your employees before hiring them as they are back bone of your Company, research about the highest selling products and what developments can be done in your marketing strategy and how you can improve your sales. What are your competitors doing?? Have you checked? What is their area of expertise? What are their best selling products?? You should be aware of all these type in order to sustain in the industry. You can engage a digital marketing expert who are well versed with all the digital marketing tools and can help you get your desired goal.

10. Spend wisely

Social media gives lots of platforms to advertise your product but investing time and money on all the platforms equally is not a wise decision. You need to analyse which social media channel is giving you desired results and in which areas are giving low results. Use Google Adwords tool will work best when your products are in demand and target the audience who wants to buy your products or service. Digital marketing gives you all the tools and techniques to figure how what is best and was is not worthy enough for you.