Starting and growing an e-commerce store is not easy. For most products, there is a lot of competition. But, despite the challenges, every year, tens of thousands of people manage to become successful using this retail business model. So successful in fact that they start to look at ways to extend that reach and secure a bigger slice of the market. Some of them are even taking their online business into the physical realm.

How e-commerce businesses are using pop-ups and event-based sales outlets

How they are doing this varies. Some E-commerce businesses are simply using pop-up shops, which is a great way to generate extra sales. Especially, when they are used during November, December, and January when a significant percentage of people’s disposable income is typically spent.

Others are turning up at popular festivals that they know their typical demographic likes to attend. This is fantastic for branding as well as a fairly easy way to increase sales at what would otherwise be quiet times of the year for an online retailer.

Using temporary physical shops to improve cash flow and increase brand awareness

Handing out discount vouchers or codes to those who buy at these events and pop-up shops also works well. The expiry dates can be timed to encourage sales at the right point of the year, improving cash flow and giving an E-commerce business owner extra buying power. Something that can help them to buy the lion’s share of a manufacturer´s latest highly trendy product.

Why more online retailers are opening on Main Street and in mall outlets

However, some E-Commerce retailers are taking things a step further and opening full-blown stores, which are designed to be open year-round. They are counting on the additional overheads being covered by increased sales. Bolstered by the fact that, in the right place, a physical store is a highly effective way to grow a brand. It is a great springboard for product launches, themed events, and for testing out the market.

But when they do so, as you would expect e-commerce business owners are taking a slightly different approach from the one that many traditional physical retailers do.

Leading with digital displays

There is no doubt that the demographic of a successful E-commerce retailer is going to respond well to digital displays. The fact that they buy online guarantees that these consumers are very media savvy and like being communicated to using screens. So, their use in-store is highly effective.

Tempting people into a store

Attracting people into a store is always step one of any retail purchase. So, it is not surprising that all kinds of store owners are increasing foot traffic with digital signage. They are being deployed in increasingly innovative ways. With sandwich board style digital screens proving to be particularly effective. They give store owners the chance to make at least two tempting offers and because they are directly in the eye line of passers-by more people notice them. Retailers who use them do not have to rely on someone looking right or left as they pass the window display.

Guiding them through the buying experience

The vast majority of online retailers are extremely savvy when it comes to capturing leads (interest) and turning that person into a buyer. To do this many of them use some form of sales funnel. Setting things up so that the person goes in at the right point in the funnel and is quickly given the information to decide whether they want to buy or not. It is an extremely effective way of running any form of retail business. You can learn more about E-commerce sales funnels here.

Naturally, online retailers want to replicate this extremely effective conversion technique in their physical business. As a result, many are augmenting their product displays with kiosk-style screens that a customer can use to quickly answer any questions they may have about a product. Larger stores are also experimenting with the way they direct people around the shop floor.

The future of E-commerce physical store crossovers

It is too early to say whether those E-commerce retailers who have opened physical stores will see success or not. But the chances are that they will. When you see huge players experimenting with the idea e.g., Amazon you know for sure that there is a great deal of potential.

If this crossover approach does prove to be successful, you can expect to see physical retailers replicating what is happening in those stores that are owned by companies that initially only sold online. Weirdly, the very trend that is pulling the shopping mall business model apart may yet turn out to be the thing that saves it.

Infographic created by Fiserv, a mid market payment solutions company