With the rise of e-commerce, taking your brick-and-mortar store online has become more necessary than ever. However, making the transition from physical to digital can seem daunting. Fortunately, with the right strategies and tools, you can successfully take your brick-and-mortar store online and increase your sales. Here are 7 tips to get you up and running in no time.

1. Create an online store

The first step in taking your brick-and-mortar store online is to create an online store. You can use platforms like Salla, Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento to create your online store. These platforms offer customizable templates that allow you to design your online store using a drag and drop interface to match your brand and business needs.

2. Sync inventory with the online store

Once you have created your online store, it’s important to connect it with your inventory management system. The integration ensures a real-time sync that updates your store dynamically with stock levels to avoid stock inaccuracy. You can easily achieve the connection by using integration apps from the platform’s marketplace.

3. Optimize online store traffic

Like a brick-and-mortar store, it’s essential to drive traffic to your online store to improve sales. To do so, you need to implement a digital marketing strategy. The strategy should cover securing traffic from the main channels like search engines (Google & YouTube), social media platforms, and email.

It’s advisable to outsource to a digital marketing partner to apply best practices in drafting Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), and Email Marketing strategies.

4. Offer multiple payment options

It’s essential to offer multiple payment options for a positive customer experience. You should offer cash on delivery, credit/debit card payments, in addition to payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Sadad, Mada and PayPal. This will give your customers the flexibility to choose the payment options that best suit their needs.

You can also provide a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) option through Tamara to attract younger generations, as it has been reported that it’s a desirable paying option amongst Generation Z.

5. Offer multiple shipping options

When it comes to shipping options, you should offer different shipping methods like home delivery (Same-day & next-day delivery), and out of home delivery (pick up from parcel points). This will allow customers to choose the right option that meets their needs.

No matter which platform you are using for your online store, you can find Starlinks app on all the major platforms like Salla, Shopify, WooCommerce, magneto, Odoo, and Open Cart. By downloading our free app, your orders will get synced dynamically to our Warehouse management system allowing for automating and streamlining your delivery process in real-time.

Are you looking for an e-commerce fulfilment partner? Contact us today to get your store integrated in just one day!  

6. Provide excellent customer service

Providing excellent customer service is crucial to the success of your online store. Adding a live chat app to your online store is a must to ensure customers have a quick access for their questions and concerns. It might be helpful to add a chat bot to take care of basic common questions. As it ensures customers are still going to get fast responses even on the busiest days!

Additionally, you need to provide customers the ability to track their orders. By partnering with Starlinks, your customers can easily track their parcels using our website, while at the same time receiving real-time updates via email & SMS about the status of their orders.

7. Offer paperless returns

Customers hate returning products. As it’s a time consuming and a cumbersome process. That’s why offering paperless returns increase repeat customers. By partnering with Starlinks, you can offer a white-labelled portal for your customers to register their returns. Once the return is approved by your staff, your customers will get instructions via SMS to return their order to the nearest parcel point and get a refund on the drop-off!