It’s no surprise that nowadays the need for online shopping and delivery apps has increased rapidly. The expansion to the digital world doesn’t seem easy for any business owner, let alone food retailers, such as grocers, bakers, and restaurant owners. This is because of specific field-based needs that general eCommerce hardly covers.
When it comes to building a self-branded butcher shop online, we face the exact problem of not having a proper platform and support. This is a largely untapped market in the industry; even though eCommerce solutions seem to advance day by day, butchers are still somehow overlooked.
We know the struggle; that’s why we’ve created a step-by-step guide that will help you get a bigger picture on how to establish your online butcher shop.
Find a Food Retail Platform That Fits You Best
Many butchers mistakenly assume that they need a whole new IT team of 20 people to go online, build a webpage, manage the inventory, and do the marketing. This is true, for some cases, but we cannot deny that it would be too expensive and time-consuming. Instead, we suggest looking at existing food retail solutions that cover your needs as a butcher and help you get started quickly.
An excellent solution for butchers specifically would be Local Express with ready-made, customizable templates that you can edit, saving a lot of time and resources. They already have product libraries and integrations you need to manage ongoing sales. We also have an onboarding program and dedicated account managers to guide and help you along the way. So, if you’re not good at marketing, online sales, or other digital tips and tricks, fear not because we’ve got your back.
Set Up Your Online Shop
Once you’ve found a reliable platform, start designing your online butcher shop. Make sure you have a white-labeling opportunity so that the colors, logo, and social links highlight your brand identity. Besides the colors, consider user experience, and make it easy for shoppers to navigate your online store. It’s essential to keep item hierarchy and classify products in such units as categories and departments.
The next step is setting up your inventory management, and we’ve made this easy with fully integrated apps, such as IT Retail. A flexible delivery system is also a critical point. Because we partner with many delivery services, we developed the best delivery logistics platform where users automatically get the most optimal delivery option upon their order.
Boost Up Marketing and Sales
Now that your store is up and running, you should focus on customer acquisition and retention. This means putting out resources to win new customers and maintain the existing ones. These two are naturally interconnected, yet we often use different tactics and strategies for better results in both.
When it comes to attracting potential clients and raising brand awareness, outreach practices, such as social media or Google, are proven to perform well. Besides, you can consider running marketing campaigns such as Free Delivery for the first order or 10% off the First Purchase.
On the other hand, you must meet the needs of nowadays customers and deliver quality service daily. Here, you can add Membership programs and coupons to support customer loyalty and motivate them to come back again and again.
Summing Up
Though it seems hard at first, creating and running a successful butcher shop online doesn’t require a bunch of time and money. All you need is a reliable eCommerce platform that supports full branding, integrations, and tools to build quality relationships with your customers. Start your online journey today for free!