Introduction & Platform Overview

Kooomo Coronavirus Aid to Retailers
Recently, we announced that we at Kooomo are waiving set up fees in a bid to help bricks and mortar retailers get set up online. Kooomo has created the aid scheme in order to mitigate the risks to those retailers that have come about due to COVID-19.

With the world pulling together, and eCommerce becoming recognised as a lifeline for many retailers now is the time for Kooomo to open the door and ensure retailers can make it through this difficult period. For more details on the scheme and to find out how it may benefit your company click here.

The Kooomo Platform

We work with clients to maximise all digital sales channels globally by combining our expertise and cloud-based platform in a proven and affordable digital commerce solution. Our aim is to ensure businesses are future-proofed and keeping up with the evolving digital commerce landscape.

Why do you need to transition at least part of your business online?

Many retailers might have resisted the option to move their business online in previous years, but recent events have highlighted the essential need for multichannel operations in order to future-proof and maintain an existence under circumstances such as the recent pandemic. 

Previous to this urgency, however, we have expressed vital reasoning as to why some sort of an online presence is essential for businesses today which include: 

People’s expectations have changed. Consumer demands are far removed from the typical 9-5 function and want to shop and be assisted at their convenience – with 59% of customers saying that personalisation influences their shopping decisions.
Essential for building consumer relationships.  A bad website or lack of presence at all can affect the trust consumers build with your brand. 75% of consumers admit to making judgments about a company’s credibility based on its website. Absence from eCommerce may deter potential customers who would have initially researched you online.
You’re conceding to the competition without one. Need we say more?

Things to consider before you move your store online

Business Strategy

Use your platform to focus on your USP and most popular products. Communicate who you are as a brand, your mission, what you believe in, and why people should buy from you –  Prioritise and emphasise your brand story. Given that there are so many eCommerce sites out there, people should register straight away what your site is about and what you’re offering them. 

The Kooomo platform will offer you a competitive advantage, bringing all of these aspects together quickly and easily including:

  • Quick to Market launch– our platform can be launched in a matter of weeks, minimising gaps in your sales process.
  • One-click integration – with hundreds of integrations to grow your business and the world’s best-in-class technologies across sales, marketing, project management, payment gateways, courier networks, and more, your business will always be ready to expand, improve and adjust to your needs.
  • Omnichannel Commerce – This allows for the synchronised stock, enabling shoppers to click and collect their orders, have more returns options, and experience a seamless customer journey – whether in-store or online.
With these three primary advantages, we’ve helped retailers such as Fabi Boutique, migrate from their previous platform quickly, with a facelift and immediately saw sales climb –

“The Kooomo platform empowers us with real-time information at the click of a few buttons, it enables the day to day management of the store with ease and enables time-saving and seamless workflow through its simplicity. On top of this, we have seen a sales increase of 150% from Q1 & Q2 of 2019 compared to Q3 & Q4.”

Alessio Berdini – Fabi Boutique eCommerce Manager

Product data and Content

On your website, data will fuel your content and vice versa – you will need to provide clear communication of your products and supply the right content your consumer is looking for. Therefore collecting data will be as essential as providing it.

Product Data

When buying online, consumers are forfeiting a key element of shopping – experience (for example, being able to try on clothing). You need to ensure your product descriptions are accurate and up to scratch with plenty of imagery from different angles to assist in the visualisation process – videos of modelled items or tutorial videos are a major plus. 

Context

Remember, if content is king, context is the crown. If you want to get sales over the line, you need to inject as much context into your product pages as possible. That means if you’re selling a dress and you have all of these fabulous images on your product pages of a model wearing it, you need to list the model’s height in the product description, so that potential customers can gauge how long or short it would be on them.

Collecting Data

Personalisation is an essential aspect of shopping in today’s climate, with 59% of consumers expecting it as standard. The more data you begin to collect such as social, email, web data, readership, etc, the more accurate a digital profile of your customer you can build – In short, the customer is more likely to be satisfied and revenue is more likely to increase.

Find your audience

As your online store gains more traction, we use plugins such as Circulator that allows you to harvest information, segment your audience, and reach out to them with personalised communications as discussed above. With 53% of marketers saying ongoing communication with existing customers results in a significant revenue impact – so now it’s time to consider how you will use that data to reach out to potential customers.

Email Marketing

While some retailers may not have a lengthy list as of yet, generating referrals can effectively increase your consumer base as 81% of consumers say that a recommendation from a friend or family member heavily influences their buying decisions.

Social Media

User-generated content and reviews can really help establish your presence. Plug all of this information into your website, so that it not only adds that layer of social proof to your offering but further supports the decision-making process, as well as the overall customer experience.

SEO

Utilising SEO may seem like a daunting task, but we have specialists on hand who can help you. We believe that focusing on the basics will get you started in the right direction. Investing in Google Ads is one of the fastest ways to drive to your site. This pay-per-click advertising method means that you only have to pay for your ad when someone clicks on it, views your video, or calls your business. – but it’s important to set out a budget for this before going live.

Customer Support and Operations

As discussed, consumers seek an experience that they can utilise with as much convenience as possible. This means minimising and removing any disruptions to your sales process. We support plugins that allow for timely customer assistance, improved CX, and simple delivery. 

These technologies have proven to be an essential aspect of maintaining business during lockdown – allowing for information updates, maintaining a high level of customer assistance, and support for retailers who are subjected to reduced staffing. 

Assistance

It’s imperative that investments are made in AI in order to bridge any current gaps between themselves and on-demand consumers, as 92% of customers feel satisfied when they use a live chat feature. We implement customer assistance apps such as Zendesk and Chatify so that you can support customers through their journey with ease.

Transparent Information

It’s important that the messaging on your website accurately reflects your service – especially in times of crisis and delays. Customers are willing to have a longer delivery window now that physical shopping is off the table so make sure communication is transparent and as accurate as possible to ensure a positive customer experience.

But it is very important to keep your communications with customers timely and up to date as the situation changes. So updating your delivery and express delivery timings on your online store is crucial to avoid disappointment. This will help alleviate fears and build trust in a difficult time.

Delivery Experience

Shipping and distribution are the key most important elements of a successful eCommerce store. We have an impressive courier management system integrated with nearly 20 of the most popular couriers in Europe. This offers retailers the ability to request shipments, apply labels and conduct tracking. You can then supply an end-to-end seamless communication to your customer about every single order that the customer has placed.

Tools to Scale and Grow

Bringing your business online offers a certain level of security in terms of business longevity – but with the right platform (like Kooomo) it also offers you the ability to scale upwards and outwards.

Personalisation

Personalised preferences are based on information such as previous purchases, what similar consumers have purchased, and previous interactions with the brand. With certain plugins, we can then extend personalisations across your website and emails. For example, Kooomo assisted Italian fashion retailer Camomilla – bringing the brand onto our omnichannel solution with personalised suggested items in order to increase their online sales. This resulted in a 59% online sales Increase from 2018 – 2019.

Payment gateways

Flexible payments are becoming more and more of a demand for consumers – with 83% stating the offer of finance heavily influenced their decision to purchase. We employ technology such as Scalapay – which allows you to buy now and pay it in three instalments of the same amount, without interest. We can now plug this into your site in the back end creating the opportunity to increase your conversion rate and average cart amount.

Channel diversification

Omnichannel brings all your sales channels together, providing a seamless shopping experience – ie. in-store, by desktop, by device, or by phone. This allows for an integration of your channels of distribution, promotion, and integration at the back end of your website. Most recently, we have implemented a WES solution for a number of big-name clients – WES application (Warehouse Engineering Software) allows for a unification of shopping online or in-store. It will also create a synchronised automated system for managing your range of stock.

To Summarise

Kooomo has always operated on a model that ensures we are all driven to succeed – this has never been more true than now. This scheme is designed to help retailers who currently don’t have an online presence or perhaps need to upgrade what they do have quickly. We want to get retailers trading online as quickly as possible and believe that those who create plans around the items we have discussed above can quickly overcome the challenges of the pandemic. eCommerce is complex and requires a powerful platform to help fuel success and the Kooomo platform does just that. We’re looking forward to a future where current struggling retailers can prosper and hopefully future-proof themselves if similar scenarios were ever to arise.