Marketing in the digital age

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.