Contact  Affiliates  Client area 

Selling Online: Finding growth zones

Home > Ecommerce  > Selling Online: Finding growth zones

Published on February 06, 2012 Selling Online: Finding growth zones

Posted at 11:09 am in Ecommerce by

Last updated on October 30, 2018

If you set up your own online shop, it’s not exactly like selling in a shopping centre because there’s one  big difference: you have to make your own traffic. There’s no steady stream of people streaming in the door with a hunger to buy your products. That’s not to say you can’t be successul running an online store, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Online is the way of the future, and you can be successful. You need the right mindset, however. You need to find the right customers and the right way to find them. You need to find areas to grow that will spur on your business.

The upshot is that in a shopping centre there may be a lot more people, but there are a huge number of “window shoppers” – who may be browsing the products just to buy them online later. Online you have the opportunity to target your customers more directly, and with a bit of hard work, you can gain sales levels that far exceed the number of people who can come into a physical shop.

A carpet bombing approach to customers will not work online, you need to find your niches and capitalise on opportunities.

For example, in the recent media discussions of the sale of Dick Smith Electronics by Woolworths, it has been noted that competitor JB Hi Fi is looking to step up to gain additional sales following the closure of Dick Smith stores, especially in areas where the two stores are co-located in a particular area. This is not preying on competitor misfortune, it’s thinking about the customer need. Those customers still want to buy hi fi products but will be looking elsewhere.

As the customer mindset online is one of shopping around, you have a huge opportunity to capitalise on sales if you are careful to:

  • Define your market carefully. Don’t try and sell everything your competitors do just because they do. Think about your products, who will buy them and where the weaknesses in your competitors armour are. Take advantage of that.
  • Promote the things you are strong in and where you have advantages over the competitors. What is obvious to you might not be to your customers.
  • Don’t assume that customers will get bored of your marketing message. You hear it every day, but your customers may be hearing it for the first time.
  • Sell the benefits not the features
  • Look for areas that will specifically grow. Don’t just look at TV sets, look at where TV sets are going. Read the news, see the new innovations, subscribe to newsletters, see what is selling in growth countries. The US and UK lead Australia in Electronics in many areas so if you are selling electronics, see what’s selling there. It will give you an idea of what may be coming trend wise and how to market it.
  • Be adventurous but not crazy. Take some risks, but calculated ones. Don’t “bet the farm” on one project, idea or approach.
  • Use the features of your shopping cart software to craft targeted marketing messages. Use content pages in your store as landing pages to link to advertising. Use promotional tools. Use specials. Use quantity discounts. Use together discounts if they are a available. Use free shipping promotions. Use advertising banners. Advertise on partner sites. Build links.

Nobody is successful online unless they work hard. Facebook is a mega success and valued at billions. But it would have been nothing if it hadn’t been for hard work from its founders to grow something that nobody else was doing.

You don’t have to have a world-changing innovation like Facebook to change the world and be successful, but you do need to be doing something different. What is your success strategy: is it leadership of knowledge, leadership of features, leadership of service, leadership of the competitive environment? Whatever it is find your niche growth area, your growth zone and go for it!

Print page
0 Likes
No Comments

Post A Comment