How to transform your flowershop into an online ecommerce store

It was in 1995 when Amazon introduced its eCommerce website. A first online order (through an eCommerce site was placed (it was a book). It has been over 20 years since then and the eCommerce market has become trillion dollars strong and operates across the world. Ecommerce has disrupted the retail market to meet the changing buying behavior of the customers. Shopping has to be an experience for customers and every new and old business is trying to provide the exact same thing through integrating modern approaches into the traditional business format.

However, if you are not sure whether the eCommerce solution is right for your flower shop, go on reading, and understand more. Let us understand e-commerce in brief and see how you can use it to transform your flower shop into an online eCommerce store:

Ecommerce trends:

Online Sales Growth is Unstoppable:

The future is online. Worldwide access to your online store is what you would get and with the right approach, the growth in sales would be unstoppable.

Mobile Shopping is the trend:

The increasing use of mobile devices is partly responsible for the growth in online shopping. People use their mobile devices to surf the internet and make their mind about the purchase or product/services. People are getting comfortable with mobile devices, especially millennials.

Growing Voice Commerce:

Voice shopping is where you give a voice-based command to select the product of choice. If you know what you want to buy just say it and the browser will do the needful.

AI to boost your customer service:

Artificial Intelligence is going to play a big role in the upcoming future.  As more focus will be given to the customer service, having AI will help to understand customer behavior, responses, patterns, etc. This can be used to improve the retail experience.

Personalization will rule the future:

In the fast-paced world, your customer will be satisfied if he or she is receiving a personalized shopping experience. People love it when they get treated exclusively and each of their needs is considered before selling them any product or service.  Online shopping has to be made an experience for the customers.

Apart from the trends mentioned above, augmented reality and Visual Commerce are also going to impact customers buying behavior.

Here are a few benefits of starting an eCommerce store:

Beyond geographical limits.

Search engine visibility that attracts new customers.

24/7 buying opportunity for the customers.

You can shop from the comfort of your home, and more.

There are a few myths about online shopping stores especially those that are selling flowers.

You cannot sell flowers on the internet.

Just build a website for your flower shop and the work is done.

Online stores are not for a florist.

A few examples of successful flower shops available online:

Upscale and Posh

A Better Florist

Flower Delivery UAE

Happy Flowers, etc.

Just like the above mentioned successful online flower shopping stores, you can start your own online store too.

You have the knowledge of the flower industry

Before you start any business you have to have knowledge of that industry. Having prior experience of working in the same industry would be an extra advantage for you. Hence, if you wish to start an online flower business, you better study the flower j dietary, both offline and online.

Decode the name of your business and find the right domain for you.

Now if you are ready to venture into online marketing for your flower shop, start from the basics. Decide the name for your business and find the domain of the same name. There are multiple hosting and Domain services providing sites. Buy the right domain and a hosting plan to start developing the site of your dream. If you wish to serve the UAE only, you can go with a domain with .ae country code.

Develop a website

Now that you are ready with a domain and a perfect hosting plan for your side, start focusing on the design and development of your website.  Hire a reliable eCommerce development company talent to take care of this need. As your website is going to be your face in the digital world, make sure you develop it in compliance with your business, your, and your expectations from the site. Develop an SEO friendly site with responsive design and interactive features. Your side will be your Prime way of connecting to the customer and hence you need to make it as user-friendly as possible.

Include all the products you wish to sell, mention their specifications, their prices, estimated delivery time, extra services like gift packing, etc. Make sure the customer finds everything he would need while buying flowers. Make it an experience for them.

Market and brand your online shop

Once the website is developed and gone live, you can consult the Digital marketing solutions providing company in the UAE that can help in online marketing and search engine ranking of your website. The more it reaches to the public, the more will be the response. There are multiple social media platforms where you can market the site to attract customers’ attention.

Sharing social media posts, writing informative articles, running campaigns to attract customer engagement, offering discounts, etc has to be done to engage and attract customers.

The marketing or branding of your product is a crucial step. Dedicate attention to this.

Entertain orders asap

While the marketing team will be working on making your site reachable and popular, you will have to take care of the back-office operations like managing supply, handling demands, answering to the customer queries and delivering at the right location in the right time. Flowers are perishable, they cannot stay fresh for a long time and hence one has to be extremely cautious while taking orders.

Make sure your staff is friendly, polite, and treat every concern of the customers with care. Apart from the above-mentioned factors, you have to take care of packaging too.

As an online flower shop company, you must make sure that you are in touch with the customer as and when they want your help. The customers don’t mind sharing positive reviews about you or recommend it to others if the service provided by you is competent.

Transforming your traditional flower business into an online store would certainly open new doors of opportunities to you.