How to

Having an online shop can help you grow your business. Cate Coles from Bluepark shares her top tips for setting up an online shop and reaching more clients.

With a lack of face-to-face retail opportunities, many salons have moved online to survive. However, a web-only shop isn’t just a temporary solution – it’s good for your business in the long run.

Selling products online can help you reach more potential clients, not just in the UK but also around the world, says Bluepark’s assistant director Cate Coles. ‘Th ese people wouldn’t know about you otherwise, because they’re not local. It also allows bricks-and-mortar clients to buy products from you any time of the day or week.’

Figures from the Offi ce for National Statistics show that online shopping continues to boom in Great Britain. In January 2021, it accounted for around 35% of total sales, up from almost 20% in January 2020. Cate says this is only set to increase as ‘people are becoming more and more used to shopping online’.

1HAVE EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE Having a separate website and shop on diff erent domains can get complicated, and people may struggle to fi nd you online. It’s best to

BUILD AN ONLINE STORE

WORDS KELLIE SMITH

have everything in one place. Th is will also help your Google rankings (the position at which your website is listed on Google when a user searches a phrase or keyword).

2SET YOURSELF APART FROM THE CROWD Set yourself apart from big online retailers by off ering a more personal service. Make sure clients know you’re there to help them. Add a photo of yourself to your site to help people connect with you. Consider having a live chat option to show people you’re available and happy to answer questions. A lot of retailers are scared about live chats, but you don’t need to sit there all day waiting for people to come online. When you’re not there, you can change the settings so people can send you an email instead.

3MANAGE THE LOGISTICS Depending on how much you’re selling, I’d recommend handling packing and dispatching yourself – it can be expensive to outsource. A lot of e-commerce platforms integrate with Royal Mail Click & Drop so you can print out labels and drop packages at selected points. 4 KEEP THE DESIGN SIMPLE Make sure your site is clean and uncluttered, so people can fi nd what they’re looking for. Keep the branding the same as your salon so people make that connection. Also, update your homepage regularly to make it more engaging.

5GET THE WORD OUT TO PEOPLE I would recommend having a presence on social media, as well as running ads on Instagram and Facebook to push your products in front of people. You can set a budget (from as little as £1 per day) so you control how much you spend. It’s essential to have your website address on everything, especially within your salon. You could also reach more people in your local area by distributing fl yers with your website address on it.

6OFFER INCENTIVES To encourage people to buy from your shop, off er incentives like loyalty points and discounts. You could also increase sales by creating bundles that show people the best products to buy together. It’s worth off ering subscriptions for shampoos and conditioners, so people can place repeat orders. Th ey won’t have to worry about running out and it gives you regular income.

PHYSICAL VERSUS VIRTUAL PRODUCTS

Cate says: ‘With Christmas coming up, I would focus on selling physical products like gift sets. When you hit that point where you can’t guarantee they will arrive on time, start promoting gift vouchers for anyone who misses the dispatch deadline.’

OUR EXPERT CATE COLES

Cate is the assistant director of Bluepark, a UK-based e-commerce software platform that helps businesses build, maintain and grow their own online shops. The platform has a range of built-in tools to help you design and market your shop. Check out bluepark.co.uk for more information.

TOP FOUR TIPS REBECCA WORLSEY, CEO OF RAINY CITY AGENCY

Think about your user experience. Make sure your navigation is linked up to allow an easy-to-use shopping experience. Use a third party app to allow customers to leave reviews and build the credibility of your brand and products. Add a pop-up to capture email addresses so you can start marketing to clients. Use high-quality product images so people can zoom in on them. Make sure they are all the same size, so your site looks professional.