Part1 COVID 19 | Retailers must shift from offline to online more ever

At this time almost everyone is feeling the effects of Covid-19. We are all concerned about what the future holds as it continues to look uncertain in this situation, particularly the offline retailers. On the brighter side of things, online selling is still booming, maybe more than ever.

On one hand offline stores are bound to shut up shops, on the other more people are logged on and scrolling than ever right now and it's as good an opportunity as any to spread the word about your business.

While the brick and mortar businesses are getting rough, as an offline retailer you don't need to allow people to forget about you. Your customer base is still there, you just need to be visible online so that they can connect with you. People still need and want the services and products, so whatever your current status is, it's time to set up your online store.

With people having more time on their hands, and a buying mindset, they will be spending more time searching. So now is the opportune time to capitalise on that and look better than your competitors.

As life is little different now, the offline retailers need to do their business little differently. Once you start with that mindset, you need to do three things:

1. Consider making your online presence matter more than your brick and mortar stores.

In the new retail, first you need to establish your digital identity, You can choose light weight solutions like creating a simple Shopify store, make it as your main point of contact, and offer pick up at store to your customers. Gradually you may adopt a more holistic approach of selling most or all your products online.

2. Use your physical stores as showrooms and distribution centres.

Your physical stores are still important. In this pandemic situation where physical stores are going through a lot of uncertainty "Dark store" can be a way for retailers to survive. "Dark stores" are actually retail outposts. Here you can stock all the necessary goods. The sole purpose of it is to fulfil online orders of the customers and they receive doorstep delivery.

3. Build real membership models that provide actual value to the customers (Recurring service).

As COVID-19 spreads it is really going to be a tough time for all entrepreneurs. As the shape of retail is changing it is expected that the return to physical stores will be slow. People will be more dependent on e-commerce stores in future. The brick and mortar store has already slowed down in the era of ecommerce. But covid-19 has pushed it off further. The impact is visible and it seems it will reshape the future of retail.

According to a report "Only 46% people will shop offline post Coronavirus pandemic as compared to 56% before the pandemic". Ref: Shopping online will boom in the post covid world but not without its terms and conditions

The world is stunned by the devastating speed of the coronavirus pandemic and we are all aware of the critical need of our business sustenance at this critical time. The changing dynamics of commerce landscape has changed the behaviour of the consumer and has necessitated traditional retailers to rethink the way they have been connecting with their customers. So to keep up, retailers need to accept the new normal and must consider making a shift to online commerce as fast as possible.

To do so, we are well positioned to give an accelerated shift to online commerce to the merchants. Covid-19 has slowed down commerce globally. But at the same time it has accelerated ecommerce shopping. However, as Einstein said "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." In this case if the physical stores fail to adapt, they will be taking a hit. COVID-19 has brought most of the small and medium sized businesses to a halt.

To adapt to this new commerce landscape, we are helping retailers of all sizes. Being in the industry for 6+ years, StorePlace is working as fast as we can to support merchants to help them adapt to this new reality. Our goal is that, through various ecommerce platforms we help more entrepreneurs and small businesses to get through this. As more than ever retailers need online commerce our immediate priority is to help them shift from offline store to online store. During these challenging times, we are focused to help them build a more resilient business to weather the storm.

We are a complete e-commerce development company and have core expertise in shopify, woocommerce, wix, bigcommerce etc & e-commerce deep-end solutions. Our customers are the heart and soul of our organization. We are here to help our retailers succeed and drive business growth with platforms purpose-built for commerce. StorePlace is a trusted web design and development company dedicated to providing support, strategic direction with a determination to provide the best solution to retailers.

Although the global pandemic has taken over the world, it can not put a damper on our spirits. This article is part 1 of 2 in which we focused completely on why you should start selling online. So how can you go offline to online and how do we make it possible, is a topic for another post. In our next article, you'll learn how we can help you in just 7 days during this COVID-19 pandemic. Until then thanks for reading.

If you want to explore more about us or need any assistance, please visit us at <storeplace.com>.