Staffing your online store

So you’ve made your investment and jumped on the e-retail bandwagon. Unfortunately, while you may currently be enjoying increased sales and decreased overheads you still need to maintain your webstore as much as you would a physical store. And yes, that means employing someone to actually run the stores, an online equivalent of a sales assistant if you like.  Too many online store owners underestimate the upkeep an online store requires if it is to succeed - and no, you as a manager, designer, director, cannot do this job this yourself on the side. Keeping your website current is not as simple as just uploading your current season and being done with it. Staffing your online store is crucial to maintaining and increasing traffic levels, keeping your products and merchandising up to date, and maintaining/furthering your brand integrity. Fortunately in most New Zealand cases one staff member dedicated to the online cause is generally sufficient to keep things ticking along, as opposed to the 3, 5, 10 you may be employing to run a physical store.  There are several other aspects of your webstore that should be maintained as frequently as daily if you are to leverage your ecommerce investment to its full potential.

PROMOTIONS

You need to ensure that your promotions are up to date online. For your shopping experience to instil trust in your customers, all deals, specials, promotions and pricing need to be replicated across your retail channels. If you are having a “Buy 2 summer knits, get the 3rd free” promotion in store you need to apply the same deal online. A “further 10% off all sale stock” day will be implemented throughout all your retail stores, thus it needs to be implemented online etc. etc. However, setting up these promotions online can take time and planning - YOU don’t have time to sit down and set it all up, therefore you need someone who can. Having the resources required to properly run your webstore ensures that your multi channel retailing strategy is implemented, as it means that you will never drop the ball with your webstore as your physical stores take priority in the rush of it all. Running your online and offline retail stores in synergy means your customers will never hold out on buying something online in case they can get  a better deal/better service in store, and vice versa – something that can lose you customer confidence, sales and affect your branding.

PRODUCT

To increase your chances of online success, your product ranges needs to be roughly similar between online and offline outlets. Where is the incentive to shop online if your customers can get a range three times the size in store? It is important that you have a staff member who  has the time to sit down and create spreadsheets containing all necessary product information (size/colour SKU’s, product images, descriptions, prices, garment care, fit etc.) and get them uploaded onto your site as soon as each drop hits stores. If a customer can’t find a coveted item in store the first place they will look will be online, and you don’t want to be missing out on sales because you haven’t had time to update your online stock this week. The quality of your information is also important, just throwing the bare essentials up online won’t get you far. You need someone who can sit down and consider what a customer wants to know before they buy a product – How does the garment fit? What’s it made out of? Does it stretch? Will it fade? As a customer can’t try on an item of clothing before the purchase it the quality of the  information you give them online makes all the difference between making the sale, and not.

CONTENT MANAGEMENT & BRANDING

This is equally important for both fast-moving retail giants and smaller boutique designers. Your website can be a powerful branding tool, and customers seeking out your website expect it to be representative of your label, meaning you need resource dedicated to both customer service and content management. Online queries are common and an important thing to consider when thinking about how your company is presented online- having a staff member dedicated to replying to online queries increases your response time infinitely, and provides the type of customer service that serves to increase brand loyalty. Content management is the other biggie, it is necessary to keep your website content fresh and engaging enough to encourage repeat visits and increased traffic – while still protecting your brand. This means you need to spend time and care updating your website and deliver content relevant to your brand and its customers. You need staff on hand who can write regular blogs, update your lookbooks, manage your merchandising tiles (i.e. “Sign up for our VIP database and receive a voucher today”), update your media page, and drive your social media tools (nothing is worse than a Facebook page updated once a year). You want your customers regularly coming to your site and spending time on it in order to encourage sales and brand interest, as opposed to having them see a homepage that hasn’t changed in a month and clicking the “x” button instantly.  Successful fashion company Ruby Boutique [www.rubyboutique.co.nz], home to the Ruby and Madame Hawke fashion labels, have certainly seen the benefits of having staff on hand who can constantly update web content. Recently appointed Brand Manager Eleisha Balmer has increased Ruby Boutique’s website traffic by 400% (compared to this time last year) since she started writing near daily blog posts which feature on their homepage.

WHO TO HIRE?

Hiring one or more people to manage your website doesn’t have to be expensive. Graduate students are often extremely technically savvy, have a good handle on the ecommerce business model, and understand the powers of social media (and can be very cost effective). In the apparel industry you are likely to benefit from employing someone passionate about fashion and your brand, and someone who has worked in the retail industry who understands the importance of customer service, merchandising and branding. They will bring a fresh set of eyes the task, and having probably bought online before can possibly offer valuable opinions about what your website may require to meet today’s customer expectations. Hiring at least one person to maintain and update your webstore ensures you are really leveraging your ecommerce investment and getting the best out of what can be an extremely profitable retail channel when utilised correctly.