BOPIS and Multichannel approach: The path to success this holiday season

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Repeated studies have found out that BOPIS and Multichannel approach increases the customers to your offline and online stores respectively and also increase the AOV for the customers that finally come to the offline store to pick their orders.

Therefore, in this snap blog, we will uncover some tricks which will increase the efficiency of these multichannel selling campaigns.

BOPIS and Multichannel approach: Let’s Talk

First about BOPIS. A US Consumer’ Self-Reported Shopping behavior survey finds out the highest number of buyers shops both online & offline at 56%. The top reasons in favor of in-store pickup are:

Avoid Shipping Costs
Neighborhood location
Avoid delivery wait-time

Due to these factors, in-store pickup and ship to store options are fast catching up with the buyers. A very interesting study highly shifts base in favor of the establishing in-store pickup even if they’re temporary.

72% customers made additional purchase while picking up a BOPIS (Buy-online-pick-in-store) order.

Following the quick tips, you can encourage customers to drive in-store pickup footfall.

Promise to waive-off shipping fee, offer in-store exclusive products or offer in-store exclusive deals
Offer fee-gifts to customers who choose in-store pickup.
Promote In-store pickup (omnichannel) capabilities online.
Go hyperlocal: Seasonal and region-specific products also drive high in-store footfall.
Make your store fulfillment center to reduce shipping costs.
List your business on Google Maps as increasingly people are using keywords such as “near me” to search for the services.

Adopt Multichannel Approach

Increasingly merchants are adopting the multi-channel approach which essentially means to diversify the customer acquisition channels. There are reasons for it as well:

A State of the Inbound Study states that marketers still find attracting relevant customers and leads to their store the biggest hurdles. Taking Multichannel approach solves these problems.

The Approach includes listing the products on leading ecommerce marketplaces, shopping engines and, comparison websites.

Among all of the options selling on the marketplaces has been the most popular among the retailers. The reason lies in the combined study conducted by comScore & USPS which found that almost all (97%) customers first browse products on the marketplace.

However, if you are adopting a multichannel strategy, keep the following tips in the mind.

1. Optimize the Keywords as per holidays:

A lot of internal search engine of e-commerce marketplace takes into consideration the content in Title, Description and Attributes to display the item search. Therefore, it is a great idea to enter festive season based keywords- Christmas Gift, Thanksgiving Gift, Gift for Mom/Dad and likewise keywords in the item description.

Similarly, keywords such as the gift for cat lovers, tech lovers etch will help you attract customers that have not a particular product in mind but looking to gift it to others.

2. Web-store Traffic First:

Although marketplaces connect with your targeted audiences, selling on them makes your profits thin, therefore, consider selling only a portion of your products on marketplaces and redirect them to your store for the full product catalog.

3. Choose your Channel Wisely:

Though there are hundreds of marketplaces out there, however, choose only those which suits your products. Like if you sell all-things-gadgets, selling on Newegg and Best Buy is better than selling them on Walmart as the latter is universal marketplace whereas former are niche marketplace. Also compare commission rates, other selling fees – account fee, warehouse fee, listing fee before coming to end conclusion.

4. Sell Internationally:

In this connected world, the cross-border sales are on the rise, customers look to sellers outside their country for better pricing and unique products. It is here marketplaces becomes the asset as they help to connect with international clients, offers marketing insights, provides popular payment methods. However, time is now to get prepared as there are several compliance related issues involved in the process.

Conclusion:

Like the other blogs of this holiday marketing series, these tips are aimed to widen your perspective than to walk you step by step through the entire process.

Wait! One more thing!

For the ultimate solution on the best way to excel on Walmart Marketplace this holiday season, check out our eBook: Step By Step Guide To Selling On Walmart Marketplace. Look for regions of improvement yourselves, or let us help. Reach us with your query at apps@cedcommerce.com

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