Connecting online and offline sales can benefit your business in several ways. It helps in gaining more customers, increasing engagements and improving brand awareness.
For example, a customer researches your products on your website, then purchases them at an offline store and provides their email address to receive newsletters via your customer id>>.
Marketing
As digitalization and technology became an inseparable part of the consumers’ lives, many businesses decided to focus more on online marketing. However, this doesn’t mean that offline methods should be forgotten about.
A smart way to connect offline and online sales is by using an all-in-one marketing automation platform, like Ruler, that enables you to track the conversions of customers who interact with your website and PPC ads. This way you can understand which of your offline strategies is bringing in the most leads, as well as accurately measure ROI on each individual channel.
Another way to connect offline and online sales is by offering exclusive discounts and offers on both modes of shopping. This will make the connection between the two modes stronger and help you convert more potential customers into actual ones. It’s also important to keep the content consistent across all modes. This will ensure that the brand image stays intact as people switch between different sales channels.
Inventory Management
The biggest challenge for brands that sell both offline and online is keeping track of inventory. It can be
dangerous to sell products that aren’t in stock, which leads to customer frustration, bad reviews and even being
banned from marketplaces.
This is a common issue that can be avoided with effective inventory management strategies.
For example, retailers can use data on past sales to identify when demand for a product is highest and then adjust their inventory accordingly to avoid out-of-stock items during that time. This helps companies optimize their supply chain and reduce lead times while improving efficiency and cutting costs.
Brick and mortar retailers that also sell online often synchronize inventory on POS software or through a warehouse system to minimize the risk of mis-matching data. This is essential for providing excellent customer service that is accurate across all channels and helping to build brand loyalty.
CRM Data
Often, online sales are generated from offline marketing activities. This is a challenge for marketers as the data associated with these offline sales is often stored in a different database – usually a CRM system.
Fortunately, there are several ways to solve this problem and make the most of your marketing investments. For example, by integrating Google Analytics with your CRM system, you can automatically send offline phone call outcomes into GA triggered by specific “events”.
This way, digital attribution is not only more accurate but also gives you the power to personalize customer experiences at scale. Additionally, using the CRM API to track the user through their unique identifier such as their client ID allows you to track leads all the way from their website visit to their offline purchase. This allows marketers to optimize their campaigns for what works, inform smarter budget allocations and deliver measurable results more quickly than they could without offline data.
Keeping the Consistency of the Brand
Even though online sales and shopping are becoming popular, a large section of customers still prefer offline products and services. This is because of the sense of trust and relief that comes while observing a product physically in a store.
Getting consumers to connect with the brand online can help boost offline sales as well. This can be done
through a variety of ways, from putting the social media handles and website URL on receipts to offering in-store
discounts to those who share their experiences or “check in” online.
Keeping consistency between the two modes of sale is one of the key elements for successful online and offline
sales. This can be achieved by doing a close follow up of all the sales information in both the modes, and
synchronizing them. This can be possible by using CRM and analytics solutions to keep all the sales data up to
date. This can also increase customer engagement, which is important for developing the brand. Read more.
