You’ve created your dream Shopify store, sales are booming, customers are coming in, orders are flying out, and you’re ready to take it to the next level, but how? To take your eCommerce business from entry level 1 to expert level 10 you need to retain existing customers, reach new customers, grow your product offering and keep sane and here’s how.
Reaching New Customers
To grow your eCommerce sales beyond Shopify, you’ll need to be beyond Shopify. In other words, you need to deploy a multichannel sales strategy by appearing on one (or all) of the following:
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Amazon
Love it or hate it, the eCommerce giant sells everything from books and clothing to groceries and personal assistants (here’s looking at you, Alexa). 51% of online shoppers start their search directly on Amazon, so if you’re not there, you may be missing out.
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eBay
Working extra hard to get rid of its pre-loved auction site image and compete with Amazon, eBay is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, machine learning and marketing tactics. They’re doing your marketing for you, and with more than 160 million shoppers, it’s working.
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Wish
The shopping app popular across the globe has 300 million users and over 200 million products, making leaving the site difficult for all online shoppers.
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Etsy
The cutesy, homemade and handcrafted online market has 34.7 million buyers and is the go-to website for those searching for that extra special gift, personalised furnishing or one-of-a-kind treat.
These are the big four online marketplaces that will complement any Shopify store and give you access to millions of potential customers that can help take your Shopify store to the next level.
Retaining Customers
Once you’ve attracted addition customers (and sales) you’ll need to retain them through:
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Building a brand
Maintaining a consistent brand image through your website, online stores and offline stores is crucial. Ensure that the customer journey is seamless throughout and that your brand’s key values are reflected in everything you do – from product descriptions and shipping fees to handling complaints and communicating with buyers.
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Efficient order management
Handling orders through your Shopify store is simple. Add additional products, extra customers and multichannel selling and things just got a little more complicated. Keep on top of your orders, process them quickly and get deliveries out of the door to guarantee happy customers and avoid negative reviews.
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Never selling out or overselling
Additional stock, seasonable items, more customers and multiple sales channel(s) – inventory management has never been more important than when growing your business and it can be the difference between level 1 and level 10. Always stay on top of your stock to avoid selling out or, even worse, overselling.
Growing Your Product Offering
While increasing your customer base, you’ll also want to expand your product offering, which requires a healthy cash flow and data.
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Maintaining a healthy cash flow
With stock and money flying in and out of your business, it can be tricky to keep on top of your cash flow and know if it’s healthy or not. Your inventory is your biggest asset and understanding what assets you have, how fast they move and how much they are worth is key to having the cash to grow your product offering.
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Learning from your data
Reports might not be the highlight of your day, but they’ll tell you the products your customers love (and hate) and when they love (and hate) them. Putting data and statistics behind the growth of your business will make it all the more successful.
Keeping Sane
Administering multiple sales channel(s), processing orders, managing your inventory and running relevant reports is hard work. Make it easier by letting a multichannel management software do the job for you.
– Create, upload and edit all of your listings in bulk;
– View, track, process and update orders from a central location;
– Sync stock levels automatically with inventory management;
– Produce shipping labels, invoices and paperwork while simultaneously updating your sales channel(s); and
– Access and download real-time sales data to keep on track and make informed business decisions.
Ready to take your Shopify store to the next level?
Multichannel management software is a great way to easily manage multiple sales channel(s), such as Amazon, eBay, Wish and Etsy, alongside your Shopify store, from one central location. Contact us for a demo today.