AJPark

Websites provide a public face to your business, quite apart from your retail store front. They provide an opportunity to engage and interact with customers. Being creative with technology and all that it offers can enable savvy retailers to steal a march on their competitors. You can help customers make their buying decisions by having websites that give information about specific products.  And the cost of managing multiple websites is not high.

The obvious first question is how many websites should you have?  The answer is as many as you need - but how many is that?

If you're a large company with multiple retail chains working under different brands, it is fairly obvious that you need a separate website for each brand you offer.  You may even see benefit in having a separate website for your company background material, investor information and other material relevant to your company as a whole.  Briscoes Group Limited is a clear example of this. They have websites for their BRISCOES and REBEL SPORTS retail chains, as well as a website for the parent company, Briscoes Group Limited.

But what if you're a small or medium-sized company with a limited number of products or services? Is this situation any different to that of a large company?  The question to ask is, do your products relate to one another? Is your targeted customer for each product or service the same? What about different customers for the same product — do you have customers who need to be targeted in different ways?  And let’s not forget about those special circumstances, like new product launches, time sensitive marketing campaigns, sales and limited availability offers? 

Dedicated product websites can be an effective way of heightening your marketing efforts.  With just the click of a mouse, you can target customers that you may never have otherwise reached using your traditional sales marketing approach.

Websites don’t need to be complex — in fact, simple, easy to navigate websites with clear and unambiguous messages are often the best. 

Below are some reasons why having multiple websites for your retail business may work for you.

Targeting your message

Cramming everything you have to offer into one website aimed at every potential customer only creates clutter and confusion.   It can also lead to complaints before the Advertising Standards Authority if customers feel confused or deceived by your message.

Forcing customers to work their way through volumes of information also creates frustration and irritation.  Unless you make it easy for your customers to find what they are looking for, they may go searching for your competitor’s site.

A campaign or brand specific website allows you to get right to the point.   A focused brand or campaign website can shorten the sales cycle by making what you offer clear and distinct. It tells customers that you are innovative in what you do and how you do it. It also enables you to offer specific promotions about one or more of your products or services. 

Experiment with your approach

Most retailers follow a consistent sales approach.  Following a plan that has worked in the past aimed at your traditional customer base makes sense, especially if it has resulted in sales.  However, it also limits your potential to reach new customers for your products and services.  There may be markets that you have never thought of, or that you are afraid to approach because they conflict with your current methods, promotions, or initiatives. 

Why not target these potential customers with a customer specific message
via a separate website?   With a few targeted websites you will be able to speak to the needs of specific customers, but also insulate your traditional customers from these alternative approaches.  You may be surprised at the results.

Your competition will look for every opportunity to take advantage of markets you ignore. Don't let them. Get to them first and show yourself as a provider of those products and services.  All it takes is a little innovation, creativity, effort, and a budget to implement.

Create impact

A common complaint from website visitors is how much time it takes them to search and find the products and services they need.

A campaign or brand specific website can help avoid this.  A website such as this gets right to the point and delivers the information or the promotion mentioned in your point-of-sale material, banner, print advertisements, or television and radio commercials to those seeking it. 

Your targeted marketing won't get diluted by information or material that just gets in the way. 

Look for new customers

Not every customer can, or should, be approached in the same way. Specific brand or campaign websites allow you to customise your approach to new or alternative customers, appealing to their specific lifestyles, needs, budgets or behaviour patterns.  A one-size-fits-all approach rarely fits anybody.

By customising your approach to different markets you can speak direct to that market's needs and attitudes.  Ask your customers how they use your products and services.  Use that information to then target that market with a direct campaign that takes advantage of that specific niche.  The market can be quite innovative in finding new ways to use old products —  ways the manufacturer never realised existed. Capitalise on your customers’ knowledge.

Differentiate brands

Retailers that offer many products or services often confuse potential customers by overloading them — they simply offer too much by way of choices and alternatives.

Instead, you want to offer a limited number of distinct alternatives, just enough so customers feel they have been given a choice and don't have to look elsewhere. But too much choice within the same product category can create buyer indecision. If a product or service is aimed at a particular market because it has specific features, think about creating a separate website to sell it. Isolating a product line on a separate website allows you to create a distinct image and brand story for that offering.

The manufacturers and importers of the products you sell may be interested in working collaboratively to set up the targeted website.  After all, it does give focus to their products.

Support with other advertising efforts

Campaign websites can work as effectively as a contact point for your other advertising efforts, such as print, television, radio, on-line video, banner, and display ads, as well as for articles, newsletters, and news releases.

By separating your brand or campaign website you can track responses better than if the campaign material was integrated into your main website. Having a campaign website allows you to experiment with marketing initiatives aimed at new or alternative customers. You can adopt approaches that may not be suitable for your traditional customers, or may actually revitalise contact with your existing customer base.

Be bold and have fun

Retailers today, especially small and medium-sized retailers, have to be different to be heard. They have to be bold and innovative and constantly try new approaches to reach their customers.

By having different websites to deliver alternative messages to your customers, you can expand and build your business without the concern that these bold new approaches will negatively affect your traditional customer base.

An edited version of this article was published in NZ Retail, July 2009.

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  Corinne Blumsky

  Partner