taking back retail: bringing business online

TAKING BACK RETAILSimon Goodrich & Andrew Apostola

Founders, Portable

!is presentation is a summary of Portables recently released bookAvailable for purchase: portable.tv/book

- Creating an Online Retail Experience- Social Media- Making and Growing an Online Store

WHAT WE WILL BE COVERING TODAY

Image: Lucas Dawson - L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2013 - Josh Goot 

CREDENTIALS- Portable is an Australian technology company that combines intelligent thinking and

inspiring design to create groundbreaking products. - Established in 2005 with o"ces in Melbourne, Sydney and New York- Portable built and operated a fashion e-commerce platform used by

Akira, !erese Rawsthorne, Josh Goot, Gail Sorronda and Arnsdorf- National President of AIMIA for three years, the digital peak body- Australian Ambassador for the New York based Webby Awards, the Oscars for online

CREATING AN ONLINE RETAIL EXPERIENCE

Image: Lucas Dawson - L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2013 - Tony Maticevski 

DEFINING A DIGITAL STRATEGYA digital strategy describes how you will use technology and the internet to reach your customers and drive sales.

Creating an Online Retail Experience

Image: Lucas Dawson - L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2013 - Mary Katrantzou 

- content- e-commerce- social media- online marketing

Creating an Online Retail Experience

A DIGITAL STRATEGY INCLUDES…

QUESTIONS TO HELP DEFINE YOUR DIGITAL STRATEGY- What do you want to achieve?- What are the metrics for measuring success?- What technologies are you going to use?- What are the milestones and review points?- How will you drive visitors to your products?- What tools will you use to convert visitors to customers?

Creating an Online Retail Experience

TACKLING TECHNOLOGY!e technology used to launch your brand should dovetail into your overall digital strategy, and ideally be simple and scalable.

Creating an Online Retail Experience

TIPS FOR TACKLING TECHNOLOGY - Don’t try to be innovative- Don’t #ash or splash- Don’t use animation- Use simple navigation- If starting-out use a pre-designed template- Use a CMS such as Wordpress, Blogger or Portable Shops – It’s cheaper.- Set up a newsletter/subscriber list- Focus on promoting and marketing

Creating an Online Retail Experience

CREATING A CONTENT STRATEGYDe$ning your audience and the types of content they $nd addictive will help you create a distinct voice.Ask yourself: - What online publications would your customer read?- What 10 individuals embody your brand?- What would your customer do on the weekend?- What are your customers 5 favourite $lms?

Creating a Content Strategy

CONTENT STRATEGY TIPS- De$ne audience- Continually create and post content- Publish important news via blog and newsletter- Ensure you “tag”- Post events and news as it happens

Creating a Content Strategy

SOCIAL MEDIA

Film: Emma Mulholland 12/13, Alex Goddard 2012

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR SUCCESS- Create a Facebook fan page & store - Follow, they’ll follow back- Update content regularly- Follow those following your competitors- Automate responses- Collect email addresses

Social Media & the Fashion Video

- Have conversations- Be engaging- Include re-tweet/tumblr/like buttons on

products and content- Measure your growth

SPECIFYING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGYDe$ne the strategic goal you want to achieve through your social media strategy.

Social Media & the Fashion Video

Image: Lucas Dawson - L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2013  

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY TIPS- Pick one platform and own the conversation- Be active and be timely- Amplify your content- Create relationships with in#uencers- Run competitions- Analyse, analyse, analyse

Social Media & the Fashion Video

MANAGING & GROWING AN ONLINE STORE

In today's competitive retail market it is imperative that the development of an e-commerce pro$le is part of your short to middle-term strategy.

Managing and Growing an Online Store

- Choose a platform- Use simple design principles- Make check-out the goal- Optimise your content- Work out the logistics- Be a good communicator- Work on it every single day

Managing and Growing an Online Store

TIPS FOR EMBRACING E-COMMERCE

Growing the sales of your online business

Managing and Growing an Online Store

MARKETING A BRAND ONLINE

- Measure ROI- Invest in growing your sales- Grow your newsletter database- Use coupons, vouchers and discounts to motivate shoppers- Invest in SEO and Google Adwords- Use Traditional Marketing- Engage with the blogisphere

Managing and Growing an Online Store

MARKETING TIPS

Managing and Growing an Online Store

Setting up and maintaining an e-commerce site means commitment to implementing your strategy and having the resources to see it through.

STAFF RESOURCING

Image: Lucas Dawson - L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2013

Managing and Growing an Online Store

- De$ning a consistent voice across all channels- Setting up and managing your online pro$les- Developing and implementing your content schedule- Responding to questions, comments and requests via social media

TASKS FOR YOUR DIGITAL CO-ORDINATOR

Managing and Growing an Online Store

- !e longer you are out online the more people will $nd you.- Use social media to amplify your message, don’t be afraid to communicate often.- Develop your own voice.- !ere are many elements to a digital strategy, you don’t need to do all of them, just do what you do consistently and with passion

SOME KEY TAKE AWAYS

Available for purchase: portable.tv/bookRRP: $9.95 e-book / $24.95 hardcopy.