8 Ideas To Strengthen Your Direct Sales Business Model
Have you ever thought about why marketplace websites are so popular? Why don’t buyers purchase directly from the brand website, rather than using retail sites like Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba and others?
The main reason is that buyers go with variety, which will offer them huge discounts and the marketplace is a platform that offers these in a single place.
There are also many other factors to consider. So, what do we do to help commercial brands strengthen their strategy to encourage direct sales?
INNOVATIVE DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES
It is important to have innovative digital marketing strategies for commercial brand websites to maximize leads and sales.
UNIQLO is an innovative Japanese apparel company that urges the world to dress casual. Their mission is to provide simple apparel that makes your life better. They wanted to build on a statement made by UNIQLO’s President and CEO Tadashi Yanai that said, “We [UNIQLO] are not a fashion company. We are a technology company.”
To achieve this, they created an effective digital marketing campaign. UNIQLO created a world-first “fast-moving” image campaign and activated it in 100 locations and online.
This experience was shareable on social media and encouraged people to uncover their own unique code through similar YouTube and Facebook videos. The results were terrific. Online videos were viewed 1.3 million times, and over 25,000 people signed up to receive the UNIQLO newsletters. In total, the campaign reached over four million people, resulting in 35,000 new customers.
CULTIVATING LOYAL CUSTOMERS
One of the most effective strategies to boost your brand’s return on investment is to invest in loyalty programs.
A win-win situation is, offering coupons and discounts to the customers who buy, follow on social media accounts, and promote the store to their family and friends.
Coal and Canary, an online retailer of fragrant candles, is establishing a strong consumer base. While it may not appear to be a big firm, Coal and Canary is a major player with over 2 million in revenue. Return customers account for almost half of the company’s sales.
That is not the end of consumer loyalty. They also have a “Burn & Return” option, which encourages consumers to return candle jars to the store in exchange for a discount on their next purchase.
EXECUTION
Perfect execution of orders is critical. The products should be selected as per customers want and need. After the selection, it is the responsibility of the brand to quickly deliver the orders leveraging distribution channels globally.
Consider this: When customers interact with outstanding brands in the marketplace — brands that connect with our senses, enhance our interactions, build seamless experiences with outstanding UI/UX, or simply express their purpose truthfully through their content — that is when branding becomes real.
GoPro is a good example. GoPro encourages unprecedented engagement between consumers and its brand via events, contests, and challenges, along with platforms and goods. In the process, it has created one of the world’s most powerful brand communities. Although the majority of GoPro owners are not elite athletes, they share the same level of enthusiasm as professionals.
OUTSTANDING USER EXPERIENCES
A good user experience can lead to higher sales by allowing online shoppers to hit on what they’re looking for. Customers can navigate more easily as a result of a good user experience.
This is why MercadoLibre, an Argentinian corporation specialised in e-commerce and online auctions has a dedicated team that handles everything from user research to interaction design to web development. These professionals work with MercadoLibre engineers, product managers, and executives to develop new and innovative products.
CONTENT STRATEGY
The content strategy is an opportunity to define the adequate balance and content mix to achieve both marketing and business objectives. This can be achieved through the use of research, data, and insights to understand what the customer wants and needs through the entire journey and determine what specific content needs to be produced to satisfy her needs regardless of intent.
The focus is how content can contribute to each step of the funnel and attract and engage audiences in a continuous relevant, personalized, and measurable conversation.
Overstock is one such organization focusing on Content strategy. Overstock works on the “Conversion Centric to Customer Centric” principle.
Overstock Branding:
- Brand voice
Fleshing out how to marry promotional intensity with high-quality products and experiences.
- Brand Audience
For a smart, unique, savvy shopper, that focuses on finding high quality items that maintain her style. She has a flourishing family or a powerful elite family.
- Brand Value
- Price: Offer prices lower than other retailers
2. Assortment: Features a wide selection of top brands and current styles that fits your home.
3. Convenience: Offers technology to get ideas & inspiration, as well as find, order and receive exactly what you want.
- Brand Promise
Based on your analysis, think about the next steps to take.
EASY NAVIGATION
When talking about the navigation in website design, the value of a decent user interface (UI) cannot be overstated. The ability of your customer to find what they’re looking for is crucial to your brand’s success.
The header, navigation menu, product category pages, on-site search, and footer are all tools that clients utilize to lead them through their buying process.
For instance, Vans, an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, labels one of its parent categories for Genders, which leads to horizontal navigational categories like Shoes, Clothing, Accessories for a selected parent category.
There is a tile design by gender that has all the subcategories making it easy for customers to navigate.
EASY CHECKOUT OPTION
Offering a variety of payment alternatives allows for a more customer-centric checkout process, which increases revenue and encourages client retention.
According to research from Baymard, average cart abandonment hovers around 70%. At the end of 2020, 1 out of every 5 shoppers abandoned a cart due to a “too long/complicated checkout process.”
Nike keeps the checkout process short where the user is not overwhelmed. It follows the ideal checkout flow rule of Guest Checkout. A clear display of messages enables users to know the reason to request a piece of particular information.
The final order review button gives them the freedom to make a call before placing the order.
SHOPPING CART PAGE DESIGNS
Cart abandonment and other incentives target customers and provide them with the option of returning to shop for what they were looking for at a later time.
Disney is a well-known global brand. Although their store mostly uses standard approaches to the “add to cart” function and cart page, it holds a good idea or two.
For example, when you add a product to your cart — which is referred to as a “bag” in this context — the confirmation is not displayed in a popup layer or in the header.
Right above the Add to Bag button, the confirmation appears and in addition to telling you that the item has been added to your cart, the notification includes a button that allows you to proceed to checkout right away!
It’s great! This is especially useful if this is the last product you want to buy — or if you just want to buy that one. Simply click the “Add to Bag” button, and the “Checkout” button will appear right next to it. It’s a clever way to make it simple for a buyer to finish their transaction.
CONCLUSION
The ideas discussed in this article are a starting point for a brand to rebuild its presence and start a new conversation with existing or new customers.
It is clear that to acquire new customers or retain existing customers, brands need to bring out the best in each sphere, be it user experience or delivery.
Brands need to innovate and deploy the latest technologies to gain millennial customers’ attention and help them realize their aspirations using their brands.
