moneymatters
How to Compete Online By Kate Tanner, Kidstop Toys & Books and Christine Osbourne Wonder Works Toys
O
ne thing that Christine and I totally agreed on when we got together to discuss this topic was:
1. Listen to your customers 2. Listen to your customers 3. Listen to your customers I think many of us could agree that on any given day, 5-25% of the customers that walk in our door start the conversation with: “I saw this on your website.” Maybe the website portal does not see the actual sale, but your physical brick and
mortar store does. This opens the door for your staff to shine and add onto the sale, capture the customer’s info and make sure they have a great experience to convince them to make return trips. So how do new customers find us? After attending numerous events featuring panels with soon-to-be and new parents to engage and discuss what they are looking for, the conclusion is always the same. They want honest and direct support, great customer service that wows them and keeps them as your customer.
Here are the four points all groups have told us on how they research and shop: 1. They listen to friends and family for referrals about the best toy, best baby clothing or the best scooter. They don’t listen to the retailer in the beginning. Retailers must earn that trust. 2. They click onto the manufacturer’s website for in-depth information about the item. (I strongly suggest partnering with manufacturers who have store locators on their homepage.) 3. Consumers click on the store locator because seeing an item in person is still the top choice of many young families. 4. Finding the store closest and clicking on that website. This is where you score. Be unique, be different and create a one-ofa-kind experience on your website that matches the experience in your store. Make it fun, make it whimsical, make it factual with a secure SSL. That is a must. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and, in short, it’s the standard technology for keeping an internet connection secure and safeguarding any sensitive data that is being sent between two systems. You can’t beat Amazon but you can outpace them for seasonal fun and engagement. Your homepage should tug a little with emotion and then take you into the top toys to accomplish this. These four to eight toys are Googlesearched, and made perfect with pictures continued on page 14
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October 2021 • astratoy.org
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