What Businesses Want to Know About Getting Started with Ecommerce with Derek from New Media Retailer
Participants:
Francesca Halberg – General Manager/CPO of New Media Retailer
Derek Hughes – Sales Manager of New Media Retailer
Video Transcript
[Please excuse any grammatical errors, transcript is machine generated]Francesca (00:02):
Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. My name is Francesca with the New Media Retailer podcast. Super excited today to be joined by one of our own Derek Hughes. He’s a sales manager here at New Media Retailer, Derek. Thanks so much for joining us.
Derek (00:18):
Yes. Thanks for having me and happy Friday to you.
Francesca (00:20):
Happy Friday to you. Yes, indeed. It’s spring finally warming up a little bit here. I, I know you’re in North Carolina, so you’ve probably <laugh> had that for a little longer, but we’re excited. I actually asked Derek to join our podcast today because, you know, I feel like Derek in his role here at New Media, retailer talks to so many different types of businesses, whether it’s single location, multi-location all different sizes from five employees to 50 employees, maybe even bigger than that all over the country, all different industries for sure too. And just kind of wanted to have a little chat with you and pick your brain about like, what are some questions stores are wanting to know more about? Is there like a, a common trend that seems to be similar types of conversations happening across the board?
Ecommerce and putting in-store products online are most important to independent retailers today
Derek (01:11):
Yeah, there there’s a few that come to mind, but I, I think probably the most popular is gonna be, how can you guys help me do e-commerce right. You know, I think we’re we’re past where it’s eCommerce, not just for, you know, the big box stores or the eCommerce only businesses, independent retail has emerged into this space and a lot of stores have questions. Where do I start? How do I make it successful? So eCommerce is probably a hot topic right now. And I think it will be for another few years as everybody kind of catches up to that level. But even at a, at kind of a, a minimum level stores that aren’t ready for e-commerce are saying, how do I put my products online? Right. How can people, when they’re researching, find my website and see what I have on my shelf. And I think where I kind of want to take the conversation is setting realistic expectations for eCommerce. There’s a line that I use all the time and you guys have probably heard it internally, but there’s an old baseball movie and field of dreams. And the famous line is if you build it, they will come. And unfortunately doing eCommerce,
Francesca (02:19):
I thought that was about Noah Ark. No, that’s no baseball movie.
Derek (02:23):
It could be no was art too, but I, I heard it from the baseball movie.
Francesca (02:27):
Wow. I always thought that was snow was art P
Derek (02:29):
<Laugh>, but I, I think a lot of people have that misconception of, okay, I’ve got an e-commerce website, I’ve gotta buy it now button by my product. I’m gonna double the size of my I’m
Francesca (02:41):
Gonna be Amazon. I’m gonna be too,
Businesses need marketing support to move to selling online
Derek (02:45):
You know, unfortunately like anything, you don’t get those instant results, that instant gratification. And, you know, as a, store’s tries to take that next step into e-commerce one question I always like to ask them and this, this answer varies, but I’ll say, you know, Francesca, how long has your business been around? And I’ll get everything from, oh, we’ve been around for 10 years to, Hey, we’re a, you know, three generation family business. We’ve been around for 75 years and I’ll follow up and say, okay, and you’ve never done. E-Commerce right. And they’ll say no, and I’ll say, okay, great. You guys have been around for a while. You’re obviously six successful, but understand for the past 75 years, the past seven and a half decades, your business has never done online sales. So if you don’t have a marketing arm or any marketing support behind your e-commerce website, you can’t expect 75 years of buying habits to just automatically change over or night.
Francesca (03:40):
Absolutely.
Derek (03:41):
And, and marketing’s pretty general, right? There’s a lot of ways in every store is gonna find success with different platforms. But you know, social media is a really great way to market that you have in e-commerce website. One, one way that works extremely well is proven really high for an ROI is email marketing <affirmative>. So if you don’t have an email list and you want do e-commerce, I would start on that. If you have one, I would do whatever you can to help grow that list. Yeah. And if you’re doing social and you’re doing email, you know, well, and you’re doing it consistently, there’s even things you can do at the store level, which cost $0. Put a little sign at your register. Can’t make it to our store, check out our website. You can buy online, pick it up in store. Maybe that business offers local delivery, train your employees every time somebody comes in.
Derek (04:32):
Hey, Francesca, thanks for coming in today. Just as a reminder, if you can’t make it to our store, you can actually buy your products online. Hey it, up whenever it’s convenient or Hey, we’ll actually deliver it to your front steps. And I think some businesses, they get so excited with the e-commerce website, finally, launching, they forget everything else that you have to do to promote that. So, yeah, I, I think as stores are listening to this you know, if you’re already doing e-commerce great, but if you’re of thinking about it, wanting to take the next steps, think about the marketing support because it is not the buy it now button is not a magic button. Yeah. Right. It does. It does need support from a lot of different angles. And I think if stores can kind of wrap their mind around that marketing angle and get that support and that awareness they’re gonna find a more success.
Francesca (05:22):
Yeah. I definitely feel like for, for us, you know, when I first started working here, a lot of like the education we were having with new stories about like, we’re simply, why is it important to have a website? Like why should you even have a website at all? You know, that’s going back like 10, 11, 12 years now. And seeing that education journey shift to, I do think everyone has that general knowledge now mm-hmm <affirmative> of like, okay, yes. Having a website is important. And now I totally agree. You know, obviously you’re having very like introductory conversations with new customers and, and then as we start working with them and I’m having conversations with them, it’s okay, how can I take this? You know, one step further, I’m interested in e-commerce I maybe wanna start talking about, you know, having those conversations. And so that education process has, has shifted, but that is still a really component key component.
Francesca (06:17):
Part of what we do, like stores are still, they know it’s important now, but they’re still struggling with the how to do it. And I, and I think you’re totally right. Like having consistent marketing is, is so important. Like that education process starts with our conversations with the store, but then they need to have such similar conversations with their staff, with their customer base. You know, I on like the social media side that like influencer industry, like paying people that have a lot of influencers to like promote your product and things like that is a multi-billion dollar industry at this point. But taking that like to a small scale, the, these businesses, a lot of them are, are local, small fam you know, family owned businesses mm-hmm <affirmative> are successful because of the community that they’re in and their friends and their customers are influencers in their community.
Francesca (07:11):
You know, when I was getting my Instagram account started, I would do a post and then text 15 to 20 people and be like, Hey, can you like me? My post, can you share my post? But the value in that is you have to consistently, you know, get your messaging out there, introduce your new services, which certainly buying online is, is definitely one of them, but then get people, you know, and trust talking about it so that other people that know and trust them are seeing that, you know, seeing that consist messaging. So it’s definitely never just a, like you said, you build it and they will come, which apparently it’s not about animals. <Laugh> but it is, you know, like that is just something to get a quick tip to get started, you know?
Consistency is key to website visits and driving sales
Derek (07:53):
Yeah. And, and consistency. And we we’ve set it a, a bunch here between the two of us, but it really is. It really is important. Right. You can’t do one Facebook post that says, Hey, we have a brand new e-commerce website and then never mention it again and expect that it’s going to stick with everybody that sees it. Right. You know, and you can get creative. And I, and I tell stores all the time, they’re like, how can I drive sales? There’s so many ways. Right. And I, I said it before marketing is very general. You can still do radio, TV, newspaper, flyers. You can do social media, email marketing, in-store signage. I’ve even seen a few stores. They they’ve gone to like Vistaprint. And you know, for not that much money, you can get like couple thousand, like index cards, size pieces of marketing material. They call ’em like bag stuffers. Every time somebody comes into the store, Hey, thanks for coming in. Don’t forget to check out our website. You can buy online, here’s 5% off, drop it in their bag. Like that consistency over time, you will start to see results.
Francesca (08:53):
Absolutely. And I do think sometimes people can have the like preconceived notion of like, oh, if I’m paying for a new marketing service, a new website or adding an e-commerce feature or something like that, then I can cancel other things that I’m doing. But if there are marketing channels that are working for you, you should layer, you know, in addition to like one thing, not replace something else that is working certainly a bag sufferer is a great idea, but if you’re successful on radio or if you’re successful in newspaper ads, or if you’re successful on social media or email marketing, simply add your new services to it, don’t stop doing something. Just, you know, just because you have something new. But yeah, definitely. And like taking that one step further, I, I get a lot of questions about like, what are the baby steps to e-commerce and, and you had mentioned that too about just having products on your website, but maybe somebody’s not ready for checkout. Do you run into that a lot? Is that something a lot of stores are talking to you about?
70% of users will visit a business within five miles of them after doing a Google search for a product or service
Derek (09:56):
Oh, absolutely. I I’d say it’s probably a 50, 50 split or pretty close to that with stores that are, Hey, I want to jump right into e-commerce. I’m ready for it. Or, Hey, I wanna do e-commerce, but I know internally I don’t have all my ducks in a row. I can you help me get my products online? And, and this is pretty common. I mean, I do this all the time. Actually. I did this yesterday. I’m looking for a new pair of running shoes to believe it or not. I’m getting into running now. Oh,
Derek (10:23):
<Laugh> big stuff for me. So I’m looking at, you know, Dick’s sporting goods, then there’s a couple in the area and there was kind of a, a couple different pairs of shoes that I was set on. And I’m looking to see who has what in stock. And, and then I, and I’m gonna drive. Cause I wanted to try ’em on test them out. But I was doing research just to see what they had in store before I made that dry. And I think a lot of us, depending on the industry and the products that you’re selling, a lot of people want to see it in person before they actually buy it. But all of the research is happening online first, right? So having a website, let’s say you’re are a hardware store. And let’s say you sell power tools, right? Well, you know, they might not actually buy a DeWalt power tool from you online, but they want to know that you carry it.
Derek (11:09):
Now they’re gonna drive to your store because they know that you carry it. They wanna look at a few, they want to ask questions that that is just as valuable as having the actual e-commerce site. So anything you can do to start that process because everybody shops differently. And I think that’s how you should look at your website and all of your marketing channels are some people wanna buy it online and have you bring it to their doorstep. Some people wanna buy it online and pick it up when it’s convenient. Some people just want to see what you have in your store and then drive to your business, or maybe call and ask a few questions by GI, by putting your products online and getting to that point of e-commerce. You give your customers a variety of different ways to shop with you. And I think you made a good point with marketing about layering instead of just replacing one to the next.
Derek (12:00):
Some people are very active on social. That’s how they get their information. Some people love getting e-blast from companies to know what’s new what’s on sale. Some people like to do their own research on Google. Some people are big into clicking on Google ads when they do the research. There are so many different types of consumers and different behaviors that it’s important to be well rounded. I think, to, to kinda summarize that and that you’re giving your customer a variety of different ways to shop, and you’re giving them a variety of different ways to engage with you. You know, regardless of what marketing platforms you’re using.
Francesca (12:34):
Yeah. I actually, I was kind of looking off to the side. I apologize. I just had seen a statistic that I like wanted to make sure I shared while you were talking about that and over 70% of local searchers will visit a business within five miles of them after doing a Google search for that product or service. That’s so, so, so huge over 70% of people, if you don’t have those products on your website like that, you’re missing just such a big opportunity. And I totally agree. I think having products on the website, in fact, we just helped a customer launch a new website and did a post for them on social media. One of the comments that caught my eye was from one other customers that says I haven’t bought anything at the store at the online store yet, but I love seeing what you have before I come into your brick and mortar. And I was like, oh my gosh, that customer gets it. Like that’s, that is a customer speaking exactly as to what Google is saying over 70. If people are looking online first. Oh, they have it. They’re open till five. Great. Let me go there today. So yeah, I totally, I wanted to find that statistic cuz I, when I saw that I was like, it jumped right out at me.
Derek (13:48):
Yeah. And, and I, again, I think that goes back to if you’re ready for e-commerce great. If not, there is still so much value, just getting products online. And you talked about the evolution of, you know, maybe from a business standpoint, at one point maybe 10, 15 years ago, just having a website, right? Your logo, your store hours, a picture of your store, that’s all you needed, then it was okay. Talk to me about some of the departments and services. You have highlight some of the top brands that was really good. Now we’re at a point where I don’t just want to know you’re a hardware store that carries a brand. I want to know what products you actually carry on your shelf. So we’ve seen that evolution and I’m sure that evolution will continue progressing even more. But yeah, if, if you’re not ready for e-commerce, don’t think that there isn’t a next step to your online presence and the value that you can get for everybody that’s doing research. Right?
Francesca (14:38):
Absolutely. Yeah. Super well said. I feel like that’s actually a great pause point. Derek, thank you so much for joining today. I feel like this was such a good chat and, and such good, just insight for stores that are maybe considering what’s next for them or for their website. So thank you so much for, for joining today and kind of walking us through, you know, some of the conversations that you’ve been having with stores.
Derek (15:01):
Awesome. Well, I, I appreciate you guys having me on and you know, hopefully won’t be too long before I’m on again.
Francesca (15:06):
Yeah. Maybe once a year. We’ll see. That’s not getting
Derek (15:08):
A once a year. That’s good enough. <Laugh>
Francesca (15:10):
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, everyone for joining today and be sure to check back soon for another podcast. Thanks.
Derek (15:17):
Awesome. Thanks everyone.