The art of marketing in the digital age
There has been a shift in
the way that buyers has moved their buying habits. We live in a digital age
where almost 60% of the world now has access to information from smartphones.
No longer can a seller just charge what he wants. Larger companies such as Amazon
has taken over the role of supply in so many ways. In the USA there is talk of
using drones to deliver your purchases in your backyard.
This means that we get more
and more reliant on purchasing things over the internet. We have seen this
trend and we at Silver Hills Gems have always kept our clients in mind even
when designing our new website. We said that the website must be mobile
friendly. That was one of our first criteria. It has to be easy to use. Speed
is also essential because you do not want to wait hours for the website to load.
I am planning to relocate the website to South Africa but need help. If anyone
of you have the skills to move it or know someone who can move it I will gladly
use your services. Just give us a call and we can go ahead with it. Currently
we are hosted overseas and we have issues with the sea-com cables that are
unstable. The website itself is lighting fast when accessed from an overseas
computer but might drag here. Please tell us how you find it on your end. We
have had some speed issues but this was related to Telkom and the poor lines we
have at Hartbeespoort.
But most important is
content. If you do not have the right stock you will not make a success. We run
both a retail store and a wholesale online store. The content is slightly different.
In a retail store you need large impressive looking items to impress your walk
in customers. On the internet you need variety. To give you an example of the
different approaches to selling in an online store versus the internet I have
heard of a study they did on jam spreads.
A certain well known company decided
to increase their range by 50% and subsequently sales went down in the physical
store. The complaint was that the choices were too large. They decreased the
range again and sales came back to normal.
We believe in stocking deep. That
means that you must have enough stock of any one kind of item for the buyers to
take you serious. If you stock anything you should have at least a dozen of
that item on the shelves. I am always amazed at stores that buy wholesale from
us who only buy one or two of a kind. I always try and imagine how the display
must look when there is only one of a kind on the shelves. Your sales will
increase if you have more than one of a specific kind on the shelves.
Picture Woolworth s
and see the rows and rows of similar items just in different sizes on the
shelves and you will see a good and tested model of merchandising. We do our
best to stock both deep and varied. The variety is for our online buyers. In an
online store you need larger variety because you can reach more buyers.
But the main advantage from
buying local is that the taxes has already been paid and the goods will be with
you quickly. You must be able to handle orders in quick time. This is one thing
we do well. When an order comes in we try to get it out the same day. Speed
when processing orders are so important.
Many people who do not sell their own
stock but sell stock from a larger company. When an order comes in they must
first go and acquire that stock before they can ship it. This takes time and
inevitably leads to delays and disappointments when the bigger company is also
out of that item. We only sell what we have already in stock.
The final word is that marketing in the digital age require you to be
present 24/7 and you have to give the best service found anywhere if you are to
succeed and thrive. May your business grow and may success be your portion
today.
