At the beginning of every interactive project, we start by asking ourselves who exactly are we trying to reach and what are we trying to accomplish. Too often, companies are set in their ways and are easily tunnel visioned into thinking they know what their customers want. We always try to be advocates for end users and play an important role in shaping how companies communicate in ways they never really think about.
During the COVID crisis, it's important to consider how these times of social distancing effect how consumers are looking to do business now and into the future. One great example is a small business who may have thought a basic e-commerce store served them well in the past, but now may need to look beyond traditional shipping options and fulfilling options.
We use the Shopify e-commerce system for a number of basic online stores for clients. It is very cost effective and easy to setup. During the COVID crisis, Shopify has worked on adding easy to configure options for standard shipping plus the new additions for Local Delivery and Local Pickup. This allows small stores to serve their customers in new ways.. options not really considered essential before the COVID crisis.
Local Delivery
Local delivery allows you to specify a radius around your location where you are willing to deliver your product to your customers. If the customer's address is within that radius, this option appears for them during checkout. A free Shopify app for the smartphone helps to faciliate delivery and keeps customers informed so they know when to expect their products.
Local Pickup
Local pickup is also great since the customer may prefer to pick up the products themselves. Again, this appears as an option during the checkout process and is very easy to implement and use for customers.
Achieving this level of functionality and options were cumbersome and expensive in the past. Many times, custom development was the only route to go preventing small companies from being able to offer these services online. Not so any longer.
Subscription Sales
Lastly, you might also want to consider subscription sales for your products. There are services the allow you to provide this option for your cusomers to subscribe and receive an order at whatever specified duration they like (ie weekly, monthly, or every other month). This is a great way to increase revenue and provide convenience for your loyal users at the same time.
If you are a small store looking for a cost effective option to do business online and serve your customers in new ways, these services may be perfect for you and can really make a difference not only now, but in the future.
Connect with us to learn more today!