Blog Post
5 features on FirstCommerce for Retailers during COVID-19
Jean Tan • Apr 10, 2020
COVID-19 or not more than 200 small business owners choose FirstSite to beat the competition online
On 7th April 2020 non-essential business owners in Singapore have to cease operations for a month. By offering free training, we've managed to save more than 20 retail businesses in the last week alone. If you are still staying at home wondering how your retail business can make it through the current crisis, in this post, we’ll look specifically at how retail owners can build and launch an online store to offer online ordering that protects their revenue, grows brand awareness, and opens new doors for connecting with customers during one of the most significant challenges we’re likely to face in our lifetime.
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Here's 5 ways Retailers can protect their customers and business during the current closures.
1) Offer Delivery
Over the last several years, we’ve seen more food delivery startups like GrabFood and Deliveroo popping up. Even before we were under siege from a pandemic, customers have been turning to the convenience of ordering online. In recent years, online food ordering alone has increased about 300% faster than dine-in traffic. As a result, restaurants have been actively putting online stores to work for their businesses in greater numbers than ever before. This has exponentially increased during this current COVID-19 closures.
Cafe Moxo, for example, uses their online store to help customers order food online for delivery. This speeds up efficiency for customers needing to-go orders, as the cafe can prepare these delivery requests ahead of time. Their complete menu is available and clickable, and customized orders can be submitted and paid for right within the online store (or upon delivery.)
The takeaway is this: Adding an online store empowers your customers to place orders online for delivery or curbside pickup, making it easier to connect with your your business at a time when getting to a store isn’t always the easiest (or most enticing) prospect. The easier it is for customers to get to your offerings, the more likely they’ll be to order with you now and in the future.
2) Sell Gift Cards
Gift cards are a beautiful thing. Each year, customers spend more than $100 billion on gift cards. And what’s more, an average of 72% of shoppers will actually spend more than the value on those cards. Plus, gift cards are up-front revenue — when gift cards sell but don’t get used, your restaurant makes money with no strings attached.
Online stores allow you to sell gift cards to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week to customers around the world. For example: Maybe an out-of-state aunt wants to send her niece a gift card to her favorite lunch spot. She buys a gift card online, emails it to her, and is able to say, “Hey, go get lunch on me today!” with just a few clicks.
Learn more about selling gift cards for your restaurant with FirstCommerce.
3) Order Pickup
Especially now with new movement limitations regulations, allowing customers to pick up orders in store is an essential feature for stores, restaurants, bars......
Here’s how this looks using the FirstSite pickup feature, which allows you to set multiple store locations and pickup date and time:
4) Order Scheduling
Customers want to plan their schedules — even if it’s just when they’re eating next. By adding scheduled pickup or delivery, customers can schedule to get food/products right when they want to it.
With scheduled delivery or curbside pickup, you can avoid having queues and crowding. Customers standing in or around your restaurant/store spread germs while they wait to pick up their order. Social distancing for the win. One more awesome reason to order with you over someone else.
Learn more about FirstSite's scheduled pickup feature to help you organize large and small orders just in time for your customers to pick them up from your physical location.
5) Sell everywhere (online) All the time
Your store keeps regular business hours, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could make money even when the lights are off? With an online store that’s open 24/7/365, you create an opportunity to make sales to customers around the globe whenever and from wherever they are. When you sell products online with FirstCommerce, you have the chance to collect email addresses, run promotions, add your products directly to your Instagram feed, Facebook, and advertise with flexible targeting options on Google/Facebook.
FirstCommerce allows you to be everywhere all the time.
Get started today!
So here’s a quick recap of how your retail shop could use FirstCommerce
to protect your business and your customers during COVID-19.
- Offer Delivery
- Gift cards
- Order Pickup
- Order scheduling
- Sell everywhere all the time.
We've been given free credits by Amazon Web Services recently to help us during the COVID-19 downturn. We've decided to give it all to you. FirstSite with FirstCommerce is just SGD$250 first year if you sign up before End April 2020. We will also provide free training to you. With our Award Winning drag and drop interface, you will have your professional looking store site in less than half a day.
And these are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much you can do with just a few clicks. If you’re interested in making the move online, you can get started with FirstCommerce. Get Started for Free!
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