Keeping It Upscale In Cyberspace
http://www.iwebdevs.net/articles/2053/1/Keeping-It-Upscale-In-Cyberspace/Page1.html
Jane Dawson
eSources is the Internet's largest database of verified wholesalers, dropshippers, wholesale distributors, importers and manufacturers from the UK and worldwide. In addition to being a wholesale trade resource, the site helps startups and experienced traders in the development and growth of their online and brick and mortar retail businesses. By Jane Dawson
Published on 01/20/2011
If you are an online retailer of luxury items with a well heeled clientele, you can have a more difficult time supplying the perks of bricks and mortar luxury shopping such as a cup of espresso, a designer atmosphere and plenty of sales people willing to do whatever it takes to make sale.
If you are an online retailer of luxury items with a well heeled clientele, you can have a more difficult time supplying the perks of bricks and mortar luxury shopping such as a cup of espresso, a designer atmosphere and plenty of sales people willing to do whatever it takes to make sale. So, what can you do instead? There are actually many ways to make your affluent customer feel at home and pampered on your website.
Make your website a luxurious experience for the senses.
Your website is your customers experience. Pamper your customer by creating a website with audio, video and visual design that is exciting and breathtaking. These are the customers who will enjoy a spectacular video introduction to your site. Just be sure that any video that you use is a high quality production and that your branding message is carried through in the colors and sounds. Your introduction should make your customer excited at the prospect of moving further into your site to see what you have to offer.
Be sure that your entire website captures the mood that you would have created if you were hosting a bricks and mortar store. If it is posh luxury, be sure that your colors are lush and deep. If it is up to the minute and edgy, be sure that your website has splashes and surprises.
Do not just use photos of your products. Allow your customer to click on a video that shows your product in action. If it is jewelry, add a video that shows a model dishing for the paparazzi wearing your gems. If it is outrageously expensive accessories for small dogs, be sure you have video of pooches dressed to impress, being as cute as possible.
Make it personal and customized.
In your bricks and mortar store, you would be sure that your sales staff knows every customers name, their spouse and children, where they like to lunch and how they take their coffee. Do the same on your site. Offer a personal profile that your customer can fill in with important informational about their life such as birthdays and anniversaries, favorite colognes and movies and books and colors, measurements and more.
From that profile you can begin to fashion the personalization. For example, when your customer comes onto your site, you can greet him or her with a personal message such as, 'Did you enjoy your anniversary last week?' or 'The weathers been wonderful in Palm Beach; have you been able to play much tennis? Or, you can immediately suggest a new product that you know matches their preferences and explain that you have selected the product specifically for them. For example, 'Our buyer knows you prefer tanzanite in a platinum setting so when he was in South Africa and saw these necklaces, he negotiated a wonderful deal that we are thrilled to pass on to you.'
Social Networking.
Your affluent clientele may not want to be part of an 'everyone welcome' social group but they may be delighted to participate in the '$10,000 club', a special social blog for those who have purchased at least $10,000 on the site and would like to share info about whatever. The rules and the point of the group are up to you to decide. The idea, however, is to create an exclusivity that makes people want to be able to belong.
You may not be able to share a glass of champagne with your customers as they shop but you can still make their experience enviable.
Make your website a luxurious experience for the senses.
Your website is your customers experience. Pamper your customer by creating a website with audio, video and visual design that is exciting and breathtaking. These are the customers who will enjoy a spectacular video introduction to your site. Just be sure that any video that you use is a high quality production and that your branding message is carried through in the colors and sounds. Your introduction should make your customer excited at the prospect of moving further into your site to see what you have to offer.
Be sure that your entire website captures the mood that you would have created if you were hosting a bricks and mortar store. If it is posh luxury, be sure that your colors are lush and deep. If it is up to the minute and edgy, be sure that your website has splashes and surprises.
Do not just use photos of your products. Allow your customer to click on a video that shows your product in action. If it is jewelry, add a video that shows a model dishing for the paparazzi wearing your gems. If it is outrageously expensive accessories for small dogs, be sure you have video of pooches dressed to impress, being as cute as possible.
Make it personal and customized.
In your bricks and mortar store, you would be sure that your sales staff knows every customers name, their spouse and children, where they like to lunch and how they take their coffee. Do the same on your site. Offer a personal profile that your customer can fill in with important informational about their life such as birthdays and anniversaries, favorite colognes and movies and books and colors, measurements and more.
From that profile you can begin to fashion the personalization. For example, when your customer comes onto your site, you can greet him or her with a personal message such as, 'Did you enjoy your anniversary last week?' or 'The weathers been wonderful in Palm Beach; have you been able to play much tennis? Or, you can immediately suggest a new product that you know matches their preferences and explain that you have selected the product specifically for them. For example, 'Our buyer knows you prefer tanzanite in a platinum setting so when he was in South Africa and saw these necklaces, he negotiated a wonderful deal that we are thrilled to pass on to you.'
Social Networking.
Your affluent clientele may not want to be part of an 'everyone welcome' social group but they may be delighted to participate in the '$10,000 club', a special social blog for those who have purchased at least $10,000 on the site and would like to share info about whatever. The rules and the point of the group are up to you to decide. The idea, however, is to create an exclusivity that makes people want to be able to belong.
You may not be able to share a glass of champagne with your customers as they shop but you can still make their experience enviable.