Yes, you read it right. You could soon be out of business if you are in the retail industry.
Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce has taken off, increasing significantly for practically all brands during this crisis.
If you are running a retail brand or even own a small retail outlet and you have not yet considered e-commerce for revenue generation, you can soon run out of customers.
Study shows that e-commerce websites or apps contributed 5 to 10% of revenue for brands before pandemic reaching as high as 30% during pandemic. Numbers are likely to grow upto 50 to even 60% in the near future.
Brands that didn't take e-commerce and digital marketing seriously before the pandemic are practically out of business till date or will soon head to that direction.
Customers at this age are more concerned about the quality of the brand and are constantly judging the brands by their digital history. If you are a brand and you don't have a website or good digital presence, good customers are likely not to hit your door for their purchasing needs.
Cell phones and laptops become a key sales agent and search engines like google become the key tool for your sales pitch.
If you are wondering how any of this is true, just ask yourself how many times a customer reaches your doorstep without the help of their mobile devices?
Or how many times you have met a customer who doesn't compare online before making a purchase?
Many big brands that understood this already, have reached very high numbers in terms of their revenue. But still many brands or retail owners are still skeptical about their digital transformation and still fight to reach expected sales figures.
Brands need to worry about their relative performance to their direct competitors and need to start asking themselves if they are telling the right story through their retail experience in an inspiring, engaging and memorable way.
Do they make their customers crave for their next experience?
Are they inspiring their customers in a way that they would wait in a line to experience the brand and their products? And most importantly, do they inspire their customers to share the experience of the brand with their friends and colleagues?
In our view, very few brands understand this sufficiently. But with the current generation and increasing digital world, physical presence becomes a choice for the customer. They are happier making purchases from the comfort of their own place.
When the customers don't see a brand online, they start judging. They start losing their trust. As a result, they are more likely to go to your competitor and you are more likely hit the road that slowly leads to extremity.
Unless you have a better plan to limit this and still keep your numbers high, we recommend you take the road of digital transformation and think about providing the best experience to your customers without the requirement of physical presence.
Feel free to reach out to us if you want to know the possibilities of digital transformation of your brand whether or not you already have an e-commerce website or app. Our aim is not just to provide you a digital door, but to also strategically define and carve the best brand experience for your customers.
