Whether you’ve taken the leap and decided to set up an online swag store or you’re still contemplating, it’s an exciting time. The first steps include doing research to ensure that your e-commerce stores are successful. When starting any business venture, it’s imperative that sales take off right from the beginning. This article will walk you through some practical steps to lead you towards a successful beginning to your store.
Key Points:
- Be Clear About The Mission Behind Your Online Swag Store
- Refine And Elevate Your Order Fulfillment
- Do Your Market Research And Know The Competition
- Sell The Best Promotional Products You Can
- Produce A Winning User And Online Shopping Experience
- Don’t Forget SEO And Marketing For Your Online Swag Store
- Use Marketing Promotions To Get People Buying And Excited
- Focus On Relationship Building And Customer Retention
- Always Support A Good Cause And Be Sustainable
1. Be Clear About The Mission and Goals Behind Your Online Swag Store
Taking the time for preliminary organization and documentation is necessary. Before taking the leap, be sure to gain clarity on the following things:
- Write a solid Executive Summary: Be clear about your mission, business goals, objectives, and marketing strategies.
- Write clear goals and be SMART: When producing goals, use the SMART method. All goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
- Have a strong Value Proposition: Strategize on how your store will be unique, fill a niche, solve a problem, and stand out compared to the competition.
- Have a clear Business Model: Know how you plan on making money and succeeding with your new store.
- Define an Operational Plan: Have a clear plan on how you will define roles and responsibilities of key team members, problem solve how production and inventory management will unfold, and know how the delivery processes will happen.
- Support A Good Cause: It’s good for your business to stand out as having outstanding morals. Outline how you will execute doing positive things for the world and mean it.
2. Refine And Elevate Your Order Fulfillment
One of the trickier components of an online promotional products store is order fulfillment. Having experienced partners will take a massive load off your shoulders for this vital piece of your business. Social Imprints is at the top of the industry and can handle the backend of your store. Everything from warehousing, pick and packing, distribution, and shipping. Social Imprints can help you at every step of your business and host your store as well! Let the experts guide you in having the best merch possible to support your mission!
3. Do Your Market Research And Know The Competition For Your E-Commerce Stores
Doing adequate e-commerce marketing research is imperative to the success of your business. Make sure you have a good idea about the following things:
- Know your target audience: Having a clear target will greatly increase your chances of success. Having at least an estimate on standard info like demographics, psychographics, and behaviors will go a long way. You want to be ahead of the curve and know what they want, their interests, and how they go about getting what they want.
- Know the competition: Identify your direct and indirect competitors. Know their pricing, products, how they interact with their customers, and market their brand.
- Conduct a SWOT Analysis: Conduct a SWOT analysis for your competitors. Assess Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats so you can strategize getting ahead of them.
- Utilize social media: Find out insights into your target audience and engagement strategies. Think about utilizing Social Listening Tools to up your game.
- Estimate what should sell the best: Draw conclusions that will directly influence how you stock and manage your store. Be sure to utilize your research to the best of your abilities.
4. Sell The Best Promotional Products You Can
- Utilize all your analytics and research to create and sell the best products you can. This looks like constantly re-evaluating what you’re doing, so you can stay ahead of the tide.
- If you’re targeting Corporate Events, be sure to check out what’s trending. Ask yourself, what are the popular themes happening now? What are the most popular giveaway items this year? The market is always in flux, and it’s vital to your business to change along with the seasons.
5. Produce A Winning User And Online Shopping Experience – Look Fabulous
When a customer is online shopping with e-commerce stores, the look of the website will generate a lot of conclusions for your potential buyer. Your store design is arguably one of the most important features of the online shopping experience.
Be sure to do the following when trying to produce a quality aesthetic experience for your users:
- Choose A Smart Store Design
- Show Off Your Products Effectively
- Be Careful About Language And Messaging
- Use The Best High-Quality Photos
- Include Digital Video Content of the Products
6. Don’t Forget Search Engine Optimization (SEO) And Marketing For Your Online Swag Store
Promoting your Custom Web Stores will propel sales in a positive direction. SEO is vital for any business today in order to acquire new clients and customers. Be sure to up your SEO stats to keep up with the competition.
Advertising is always a good way to go if you need to boost your sales. There are numerous ways to go about this. Be sure to consult an expert and stay within your budget so the expenses are realistic.
Social Media is an excellent way to engage with your target audience, either through directly using it or paying for advertising. Have a strategy in place and execute that as your first go-to. It will likely yield positive results, even with a low budget.
7. Use E-commerce marketing Promotions To Get People Buying And Excited
Everyone loves a good sale! Don’t forget to use promotions, sales, discount codes, and special offers. Sometimes, a little perk can be enough to tip the scales and launch your sales upwards.
Here are some promotional ideas to get your creative ideas flowing:
- Holiday Discounts
- First Time Buyer Discounts
- Buy-One-Get-One (BOGO) Offers
- Free Samples and Trials
- Email Discount Codes
- Tiered Discounts
- Bi-annual and predictable Sales
- Flash Sales
- Loyalty Programs
- Free Shipping Offers
- Birthday discount or free giveaway
8. Focus On Relationship Building And Customer Retention
Don’t forget to keep it personal. People like to feel connections with the people and things around them. Little things like asking and remembering a birthday or anniversary with a discount code will go a long way. Make sure that communication is effective. That means not being too pushy or annoying with too many spam emails, but keeping things more intentional and meaningful.
9. Always Support A Good Cause And Be Sustainable
Last but not least, support a good cause. It’s possible to boost sales and contribute to cleaning up the oceans, stopping slavery and human trafficking, and promoting sustainable products with your store. Be on the right side of history, and people will take notice. There is a massive surge of customers preferring sustainable products today. Be sure to give them what they want.
In conclusion, there is a lot of research and practical application that goes along with setting up e-commerce stores. Whether you are targeting employees, families, or corporate events, be intentional about your objectives and actions.
For help setting up custom web stores, reach out to bizdev@socialimprints.com, and one of our product specialists will be in touch!
