Taking your bricks and mortar store online

With Kip & Co

If you’ve been tackling the seemingly impossible task of getting your business online for a while now but aren’t sure what the logical first step is, we’re here to tell you - there’s never been a better time to take the plunge! Tried, tested and true; here are some hot tips from online store experts and magicians, Kip & Co, to help you get started on the right path.

Starting out, what would you say are the first steps a business should take to transition from a physical to a digital presence? Is there a particular platform you’d recommend? Shopify is really user friendly and a great starting point for businesses, big and small. It is allegedly so easy that even someone without IT experience can set up their own site - but if you’re like us and are lacking confidence in that area, then enlisting the help of an expert can be a big bonus, and will leave you with more time to focus on the things you are good at.

What can you do to translate the visual look and feel of a bricks and mortar store? Keep the site as simple and easy to navigate as possible; the fewer steps between landing on the website and checkout the better. Make sure you’ve got awesome images that really sell your product - generally that means having a product shot that clearly shows the construction and fabric of your goods, but it’s also great to include a beautiful lifestyle shot that creates an emotional connection to the product. Eye-catching and vibrant web banners are also a really effective way to communicate information and keep things looking fresh. Having things like “live chat” or an awesome customer service team that can respond to emails quickly and personably is important to replacing the real-life communication that a customer normally has with a shop assistant in store.

What do you think business owners should spend time (or money) on? What is worth outsourcing? Spend your time on the things you are good at. For us, that’s design (and a few other bits and bobs that draw on our backgrounds in finance, legal and communications). Outsource the things someone else can do better than you - for us, that’s definitely warehousing and web design (for example). Website vs. socials - is one more important than the other? Where should retailers seek to start? It’s really a symbiotic relationship - they complement one another. I don’t think you can be an online brand these days and not have a social presence, because while you can have some engagement through your website, socials still rule in terms of the ability to build and engage with your community.

How have you learned to communicate your brand’s point of difference online? Our point of difference is in our product design. Our formula is really simple - we just create beautiful products that we love ourselves and hero them in all of our communications.

Is it OK to be reworking and adding things once your site is live? DEFINITELY! It’s impossible not to. We are constantly trialling new things and learning from them, like literally every week. Whether that be a change to website, social competitions, new products, new designs, changing how and when we post, trialling different social media platforms. Frequently changing things up on the site in terms of merchandising only serves to keep people looking to new collections, sales, and inspiration. If you’re not moving forward, you might end up going backwards!

Shout out a brand who is nailing their online presence…There are so many! Lucy Folk, Obus and Gorman all do an amazing job. PE Nation do an awesome job as well; they’re taking the next step forward - particularly on socials; experimenting with frequent Instagram Live videos and getting ahead of the game by jumping on the Tik Tok bandwagon!

“It’s really a symbiotic relationship - they complement one another. I don’t think you can be an online brand these days and not have a social presence...”

Kip & Co.