How to Face the Change from Physical to Digital Sales

[subornaakter20]

It is difficult to think of a brand or business in 2017 that does not have a digital channel among its communication platforms. However, facing the change from physical to digital sales is a real challenge, especially for stores with a long offline history.

Unlike startups or organizations born in diabetes mailing list the digital era, the adaptation process for long-standing companies in physical establishments can be more complicated.

When you have been a business for more than 100 years, it means that you have been effective in your strategies and actions to stay in the market for so long.

However, when the world changes, the consumer changes. With the Internet, the rules of the game, consumer habits and ways of communicating have changed; that is when age is not as important as the ability to adapt to changes in order to remain relevant.



Group-427320753
Success Stories
An example of this is the case of Grupo Mosca in Uruguay, a retailer that took the big step of opening its online store after 127 years as a physical store.

“This is a customer who wants to live the same experience that he or she has in stores when he or she accesses the Mosca portal, when he or she sends his or her contact information in a form or when he or she communicates through a social network,” says Ana de León, Head of Marketing at the Mosca Group.

The team in charge of developing this digital project was made up of 12 people from different departments and areas of work in the company. The project took a year to create and they can already see the results.

The Mosca Group currently has more than 8,000 SKUs or units in stock on its website, which represent - although not 100% - a significant percentage of the company's total merchandise.

The digital ecosystem requires constant transformation and updating by organizations to keep up with the competitive pace of the world.

Mosca Group is not satisfied with the web version of its online store, but is also working on its mobile version, since 50% of its visits are made from these devices.





Another case that clearly shows how to approach the change from physical to digital sales is that of the shoe store Packer Shoes.

This store, founded in New York in 1907, found a way to stay relevant without losing its essence.

“I think what we do best and what we’re trying to achieve is a more modern approach to a heritage-based business,” family-owned business owner Michael Packer tells Shopify.

In this sense, he asserts that one of the platforms that has helped them the most to communicate with their audience and achieve sales has been the digital one.

“When you use social media and anything else that is not corporate, you achieve a lot (…) With a blog with updated content or updates on Instagram, the feedback is instantaneous,” he says.

A similar situation to Packer Shoes in terms of finding lights through the use of digital platforms is that of Truppi, an Argentine candy store founded in 1971.

Researching and being on social media (they started selling on Facebook) allowed them to discover and get to know their target audience. They saw that the competition was focused on children and that it would be difficult for them to reach that niche through the Internet, so they decided to focus on young adults.

These are just some examples of how digital adaptations do not end with a website, but also involve mobile applications, responsive designs, communication through social networks and strategies such as Content Marketing to provide more and more value to our users.

We can dare to say then that adapting our operations from physical sales to digital sales is not just a question of trend or fashion, but often a survival measure for businesses in the 21st century.