Online Marketing Will Save The High Street

I’m blowing against the wind here, as most of the world predicts that the high street will die as eCommerce and online shopping habits render bricks and mortar assets into liabilities. A slump in consumer footfall in the lead up to Christmas this year has been replaced by sudden record numbers in the days immediately before and after Christmas day itself: at least here in the UK. Cause for celebration surely?

Not if large chunks of that footfall is accounted for by returns.

Classic shopping patterns of buying without trying, or buying multiple items to decide at home (with friends) which one to keep, along with seasonal dissatisfaction with presents received have combined to cause serious concerns about the health of the credit crunch on the UK shopper. Doom is predicted, shortly followed by gloom for the high street as the value of prime real estate is reassessed.

And yet.

Shopping is ideally suited to online. Websites associated with many of the leading high street brands have broken records - again - this year. Bricks and mortar should only be associated with the warehouses of blue-chip retailers the argument goes. The proper response should be: remember the brand. Remember your core values. Remember your customer.

Digital Confidence, and Brand Currency

At its most basic level, eCommerce provides ease of choice; loyalty is not encouraged. Brand becomes paramount. Your reputation will keep you alive, and even cause you to prosper.

We know that close to 80% of converting traffic for products offered for sale by high street names is brand driven of the form “[Brand] [Product]”. This is true whether the product is branded and sold via a high street retailer, or whether the product is tied to the retailer’s brand.

This should sound familiar to the traditional marketeer: your brand is your key sales tool.

What makes a strong brand? Relevant to the niche/USP there will be a couple of specific terms to concentrate on, but universal vales are easy to identify: value, quality, and customer confidence in your product. For the online team this means support post-sale. This means allowing the consumer to easily find and purchase the product. This means encouraging dialogue where concerns are raised. It means honesty of delivery and security in purchase. Address shopper dissatisfaction publicly, and pro-actively. Be concerned for your customers and they will return. Shopping, above all, should be a pleasure: and we all have our preferred method of shopping.

Bricks and Mortar V’s The Shopping Experience

Think about that Christmas footfall. Think about the TV shots of packed stores and shopper frustration evident in queue jumping and long queues. Then think about the privacy of shopping online, the security provided by a well delivered shopping cart, the time allowed for consideration. If you are reading this you probably prefer the second shopping solution, and that’s a viable purchase route. But it can never conceivably be the only route.

Tie your bricks and mortar to your online presence. Use your brand presence advantage over pure-plays to create the perfect shopping experience. Promote your customer-centric solutions online and off. Store support staff should be the face of your returns policy, environmental and privacy commitments, Q&A repository, awards history and market leading values. In store eCommerce terminals can help raise awareness of the options available to your customers. Drive offline users online and online users offline with carefully tailored and timed offers. Promote both channels and analyse your core KPIs. Ask yourself what works best online and off and reinforce your service appropriately by tying actions to your analytics and following them through.

How does this save the high street?

Switching from product distribution to enhancing the customer experience in high street stores will cause a renaissance in the popularity and PR potential of classic bricks and mortar channels in many commerce verticals. Music retailers may find that they are simply providing an environment for their customers to congregate, with actual music purchase simply being seen as an alternative activity while in the store. Entirely venue driven high street properties should now be considered a viable commercial activity. Delivering advertising to support carefully promoted new or re-positioned products should be the core of the new high street community.

Embodying your brand in your retail unit has the handy side effect of bringing the community back to the high street. Of course, looked at another way, this side effect would be the cornerstone of a new approach to digital marketing.