BUSINESS SOLUTIONS From corner cafes to your
local locksmith, retail technology is the key to omni-channel retail. Put
another way, mobile retail has arrived.
It wasn’t so long ago that anytime I wanted a new
sweater or needed to buy a birthday gift for my husband, I went to the local
boutique down the street or shopping mall nearby. How times have changed.
Mobile shopping takes flight
By the time you’re reading this, there’s a good chance
you’ll be well on your way to checking your mobile phone for the 50th time
today — nearly the national average. But your phone is no longer just a device;
it’s a mobile behavior, and one that now is changing the way people shop.
And the way small business retailers connect with
their customers.
Want proof? In 2016, Black Friday became the first
day in retail history to drive over $1 billion dollars in mobile revenue — at
$1.2 billion, a 33 percent growth year over year. By Christmas Eve, more than
$17.6 billion was spent on mobile, making up one out of every three purchases.
What to focus on
So how can small business retailers capitalize on
this shift to mobile to achieve their number one goal of finding and attracting
new customers? It starts with leveraging the mobile phone to be their local
advertising and sales solution.
The first step for businesses to optimize for mobile
is to use Facebook and Instagram’s business pages. With a mobile business page,
smaller retailers can enjoy special features to showcase their merchandise
without having to build out or manage an entire website.
Take Kay’s Designer Consignment in Florida. After
more than 10 years in a brick and mortar location, Kay closed her shop to run
her business entirely on Facebook. Now she showcases her new products on her
Facebook page, and even takes and process orders through the platform.
Read more
on... How Small Businesses Keep up
in a Shifting Retail Landscape
Author: KATHERINE
SHAPPLEY
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