You’ve done your due-diligence and decided to expand your brand internationally. You’ve pinpointed which regions or countries you want to target. Now it’s time to figure out how to set up your shop. There are two ways you can set up your Shopify store to support international sales. There’s a time and place, and pros and cons for each approach. The trick is asking the right questions to determine which is the right option at the right time for your business.
This blog is part of a series about how and why retail brands must “earn the customer” – their trust and loyalty – to remain competitive in a digital world. See the first post on "Earn the Customer with Unique Brand Content on Your eCommerce Site".
Variety is the spice of life. Many eCommerce merchants take this sentiment to heart to keep their customers satisfied, offering multiple styles and features for the products in their stores. However, the different features or variants offered – colors, sizes, widths, etc. – can quickly add up and add unwanted complexity to the shopping experience.
The behavior shift to increased online shopping during the pandemic is no blip. Experts predict that even after life goes back to some sort of “normal,” more consumers will continue to shop online. COVID-19 has had some interesting effects on not only where consumers shop, but which brands they’re purchasing. For example, many consumers who switched brands due to product shortages or low availability may not switch back. This may come as a big shock to well-established, multi-channel brands that have historically benefitted from pre-pandemic shopping habits, relying on store chains and large online platforms to manage customer service and sell their products for them.
There’s no time like the present to launch a new direct-to-consumer (DTC) E-commerce site on Shopify Plus. Site launches and re-platforming are moving to the top of many retailers’ to-do lists as more consumers are suddenly shopping online due to COVID-19 and shelter-in-place orders. An efficient new site can be a smart investment to be able to continue serving your (previously offline) customers. If you already have an E-commerce website, migrating to a more powerful platform like Shopify Plus will reduce or eliminate ongoing costs to maintain and upgrade, and better performance and customer experience will help convert more consumers to purchase.
E-commerce for wholesale is becoming the norm of how to do business. Online B2B sales surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in 2018. Merchants like purchasing directly from brands. It’s more convenient, gives them more control over their orders, and eliminates the payment of commissions to third-party marketplaces. Brands benefit from being able to process orders more cost-effectively, leverage their current fulfillment infrastructure, grow revenue with new channels, reduce sales team costs and find efficiencies, and better manage inventory. If you aren’t selling wholesale online, you probably should consider it. One survey found that 75% of wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers who didn’t have an E-commerce site said they were planning to launch one in the next two years.
eCommerce growth is nothing new to retail, but with the coronavirus pandemic, brands are having to quickly evolve to meet the needs of consumers. Many reports are showing eCommerce growth for essentials and even sales comparable to BFCM but other industries are going to need to help customers shop in a new way as we all learn to adapt to our new way of life.
Since 2016, we’ve seen increased use of AR by retailers. If you haven’t checked out AR in the last few years, you may be surprised by how much it has improved (in large part thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning and mobile device technology). There has been a large improvement with how brands are using it to create engaging user experiences, and how much shoppers want AR. For example, an Accenture survey found that 61% of consumers said they were interested in using augmented reality to help them better determine how clothes would fit when shopping online.
These are tough times for retail. While eCommerce sales might be up, many omnichannel brands and specific categories are taking a hit. There’s also a lot of anxiety, both personal and financial, due to Covid-19 and an impending recession. We feel it too.
We’re also having a moment of information overload from all of the articles, tips and reports being produced. To help you weed through and find information you can use to determine what modified strategies are right for your business, we thought it would be helpful to provide a roundup of and key takeaways from what we’ve found insightful. As we come across new articles and resources, we’ll continue to update this blog, so be sure to check back.
We're bringing together industry experts and experienced brands for a two-day enterprise eCommerce conference held on April 11th-12th, devoted to sharing insights and lessons learned on how to adapt for success.
As the eCommerce industry continues to boom, competition grows fiercer. To stand out from the pack, online brands must focus on the quality of their user experience. Leveraging the power of Shopify Plus helps online brands find the sweet spot for their target market. Discover how to maximize your store's potential by improving user experience with Shopify Plus.