Mobile Archives - RetailCare

Is your eCommerce Online Store ready for the Black Friday rush ?

So here it is again, boy did it come up fast …24th of November is the online sensation Black Friday Sale. This has been a huge online sale opportunity in the US which has a huge Australian following not only to American based labels but to Australian company’s and it is increasing each year. The trend of online special days like Singles Day ($23.5 billion in 24hours) and Click Frenzy are directly increasing Australian based online eCommerce website sales. So the big question is ………

Are you ready ?
Is your Online Store ready?

Here are a few tips from all the RetailCare years of experiencing the Black Friday horror stories which we always hear after the event !

New Pre/During/Post Banners
Have you got your images ready for the sale with loud sale discount offers. On the day they need to change to keep the customer excited. Post is just important for over the weekend you may get trailing sales to lead you into Cyber Monday … another great day ….

Customers ?

Do they know about the sale, have you been clear to them what the sale is …what the discount is. Coupon codes would make them feel very special ! Most of the sales will come from your regular customers who have been waiting for this day ! Clean up the database , and send out an EDM to them ASAP !

Black Friday is not one day ….. there is the pre and post…so ensure to hit hard with EDMS during this period … you can automate these before hand so there is less stress for you.

Technology…. is it ready ?

Your online business (website) is sitting on a server somewhere in the cloud, is this server ready ? have you rebooted it? It would be a good idea to contact your web hosting company and ask them what they have done to prepare for the extra traffic of this huge online sale day. If you manage your own server please ensure to reboot it and make sure it is all working. Test the payment gateways so there are no errors.

If you are in the middle of any upgrades or projects for development of your site please put these on hold until the sale is over as you don’t want “beta” or test version of software running that could fail

Your Site goes down ?

Whats your plan? DO you have a redirected landing page with contact details or an error page explaining what to do? Maybe add in a box where people can be contacted once the site is up. Please ask your provider if techs will be available to fix any issues to get your site live again !

Have you updated these for the sale ? your exchanges and returns policy may be different during this time and you don’t want any confusions for customers.

Real World Preparation

This is the most forgotten part of the preparation process for online sales in business. Your inventory, is it up to date and do you have enough in the warehouse to ship out ? Your customers wont want to wait !

If you have retail Stores please ensure your staff know about the sale and they can redirect customers to online to get the discounts … or as some retail outlets they run an in store special so you don’t lose your potential sale .. maybe some window marketing could be helpful

Head office will need phones and email monitored to handle customer enquires if you want to increase your conversions. Chat-bots and plugins can help with this !

Social Media

The beast of social media is bigger than BenHur ! Ensure your online campaign is all ready to go…Facebook allows you schedule your posts for the 4 day experience.

SO after reading this your probably wondering where to start …..

1. Call an internal meeting and see where everybody can help and make an action plan to get onto some of the above

2. Call your IT provider,hosting company, digital/SEO/Social Media agency and ask them lots of questions to ensure they are ready !

Is it too late ……. never !

2016 Back Friday/Cyber Monday Results

Global $8 Billion in sales online – an increase of 18% on earlier years
Portsmans offered 30% , Freedom 30% off , Country Road had 25% off
Australians spent $18.1 billion online from Nov 2014->Nov 2015

____________________________________________________________________________

RetailCare is the best business partner that a retailer could have, offering everything from simple Point of Sale (POS) solutions, to complex, fully integrated systems for multi-store chains, at very competitive prices and with customer service the main focus. After-sales support is available 7 days a week to cover all retail hours. We are the Retailers & hospitality Tech & Digital Agency Partner

RetailCare specialises in personalised, comprehensive consulting & training services on retail operations such as stocktaking, reporting, rostering, developing first-class customer service, sophisticated system security.

We have now been doing digital related services for retailers for years helping them open stores online. We are not about websites we are all about online stores and all the issues that surround this space. We have helped many retailers get a presence and aided in the streamline of the integrations of systems to help run their business. Digital services such as website design, domain names & social networking are areas we work in.

Specialities: Retailing, POS, Online Stores, API development, APP Development, EFTPOS, Training , Retail Customer service and retail training, Project management Consulting.

Call (03) 95149699

email blackfriday@retailcare.com.au

Corporate head office in Melbourne 14/209 Toorak Road South Yarra 3141 – please pop in for a chat and coffee.

Everybody is talking mobile websites

1. Customers now spend most of their time on mobile devices―the Sensis survey found that 78 per cent of Aussies now own a smartphone, and 73 per cent use it to search the internet. Consumers expect a seamless digital experience on their mobile and if they don’t get it from your site, they will bounce to one of your competitors.

2. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)―almost six in 10 businesses surveyed say that being on page one of a Google search is important. Therefore, SEO is crucial and Google now preferences sites optimised for mobile in its search results.

3. Social platforms are preferencing sites that load quickly―Facebook recently announced it will push websites with slow times to the back of queue on its platform. Their research shows that 40 per cent of users leave a site after a single click, frustrated by sites that take longer than three seconds to load.

4. There is no point advertising on mobile if your site isn’t up to scratch―around a third of SMBs now advertise online (32 per cent), with a similar number advertising on social networks (34 per cent). While digital advertising is a great way to reach your customers, there is no point advertising online if you are driving customers to a website that is not up to scratch.

5. It’s probably cheaper and easier than you think―the average SMB only spent $3,300 last year building and maintaining their website. And you can get a new, fully optimised website for even less than that. Given the impact of not upgrading, it’s an investment every business needs to make.

http://giftguideonline.com.au/blog/5-reasons-why-your-website-needs-to-be-mobile-friendly.html

By Marion Gerritsen

Mobile Apps Statistics

• The average time spent on Mobile Apps is 64%.
• On an Average, people check their mobile every 6 minutes.
• People use mobile Apps 6 times more than the websites.
• 79% smart-phones users use their mobile to make purchasing decisions.
• 50% users make purchase on Mobile within 1 hour as compared to 1 month on Desktops.
• 73% of Business Owners use Mobile Apps daily.

*Source Unknown

RetailCare is a full service retailers digital agency in helping small single store and large chains activate their IT to help their retail business to be more efficient and more profitable. We activate Retailers by providing services such as Point of Sale Inventory management software (POS), eCommerce solutions, Software development, social media services, IT support, POS Hardware (Cash draws, POS scanners, Docket & Receipt printers) and Retail Consulting services.

Multidisciplinary Integration

RetailCare has established a simple, single point of management for multi-location Retail Stores to support the creation and maintenance of a truly innovative and efficient Clicks & Mortar business.
Retail Businesses are utilising RetailCare’s multidisciplinary, integrated approach to simplify and streamline the fulfilment process whilst increasing profitability and efficiency for their retail trade by incorporating Counter Intelligence Point of Sale & Office with CI Web Reports, eRetailer with Support and expertise from RetailCare’s team.

The entire system and all its various features are synchronised in real-time. Practical inbuilt functions ensure that minimal effort or time is involved in the updating of available stock as displayed products are linked to stock control.

CI Web Reports database representation for email sms marketing

Marketing is driven from the customer database via the Wishlist and in-store/online loyalty program. All activity is managed through the mobile and/or web interface and accessible from the Point of Sales and Back Office interface. Options include viewable customer database on a geographic map to ease the sorting of groups for SMS and eMail marketing.

Mobile Site User Pathway for gateweay to eRetailer

SEO and tablet friendly pages, incorporating multiple Social Media Channels allow Retailers to maximise the time that in-house product experts are able to apply their knowledge without requiring advanced technical skills or outsourcing.

Mobile sites capture the 30% traffic increase that occurs during the peak trading seasons by creating an iPhone or android interface that provides the response sought by online users at this time.

eRetailer eCommerce Physical Fulfilment Process — Dispatch Process with RetailCare Multidiscipline Integration E-Commerce System

Clever integration and systems management creates a single database and control panel which drives all areas of the business, delivering automation whilst avoiding an increase in staff or labour costs.

multistore expansion module — Multistore Expansion Module

;

Multistore Expansion Module Return Pathway

Retail and wholesale businesses run from single stock and customer databases. The invoicing, ordering and shipment tracking and labelling is managed by dispatch, again in the same system.
Multichannel options; such as managing the Westfield online store or operating under different brand names or price points and URL’s, are able to be driven from the same unified system, with eBay, Amazon, Best Buys and Craigslist in development.

Transports Integration of eRetailer, CI POS, CI Office and Multi Channel Online Stores

The upcoming Transporter links your legacy ERP system with everything. Creating a single system streamlines the whole companies’ infrastructure.
RetailCare facilitates multidisciplinary integrated business for Bricks and Mortar Retail Businesses to suit budgets ranging from single store to multi-store or online only businesses to suit the client’s budget and often work with external designers to deliver aesthetically pleasing and highly functional 3rd generation multichannel business automation.

Welcome to 2012!!!