While online marketplaces may be no further from a customer than the click of a mouse, most don’t want to take the time to travel even from one online store to another. Once you’ve gotten them through the digital door, make the most of it with curated collections, product combination suggestions and distinct, dynamic categories to encourage multi-item purchases, and maybe even change your customer’s shopping culture to your benefit.
- Tailor your general product categories and sections based on customer behaviour and specific lifestyles. Instead of, for example, His & hers Tops, group them based on the kinds of activities consumers can use the items for, like Winter Apparel, Active Wear or Business Casual. This can also help identify your brand with those activities, driving further interest and engagement from interested communities.
- Use dynamic combination suggestions that adapt based on your customer base’s buying behaviour. If someone buys a winter jacket from a clothing store, chances are they would be interested in a pair of gloves and a warm hat as well, or a kitchen mixer purchase could be paired with a set of bowls, whisks and recipe books. Presenting these combo suggestions before they hit the final checkout can lead to some great last minute sales, and provide you with valuable information about your customer’s purchasing style.
- Curate special collections to allow for one-stop-shopping. Based on the information gathered from the previous suggestions, build specific collections of products to sell as complete packages, be it selling entire outfits, decore remodelling sets, home garden centres; regardless of the product, offer your consumer a ground floor total package that they can buy into a lifestyle with, instead of returning piecemeal. Even if provided at full price, customers will appreciate not having to go through the hassle of shop around, and will identify your brand with convenience and quality.
- Find out how people look for your products, and adapt accordingly. If consumers typically find the items you sell through more traditional catalogue searches, then keep with catalogues, but if word about new product is more often spread through blogs discussing and reviewing them, include a blog on-site, or pay for an affiliate blog to help drum up conversation and traffic for your store. Tailor the shopping experience to the consumer base’s liking as much as possible, for maximum engagement.
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