Building your online presence
Almost all purchases now have a digital element. And we are not talking about processes behind the scenes. We are talking solely about the purchasing process. Even in a pure physical shopping journey, there is a small online element. How many times have you gone shopping in a store, and checked for reviews online? Or cheekily visited their online shop to see if you get a better price? This is why having a strong online presence has become not only key to succeed, but a prerequisite if you want to even exist as a retailer.
We’re experts in e-Commerce development services and we’re here to help you choose the right solution for your business.
Without visibility, customers walk past (or much better… scroll past), unaware of what you offer. This is why we wrote an article that will show why building and strengthening your digital presence is critical and how it directly influences brand awareness, customer trust, and sales growth.
Defining Your Brand Identity
In this crowded retail landscape, a strong brand identity is what sets businesses apart. With so many choices offered when looking for a product, standing out is key if you want to make the sale.
This is why a unique brand voice and visual identity do more than just look good – they create customer trust, and an emotional connection that turns one-time visitors into loyal buyers.
Make sure you are consistent because when shoppers encounter the same tone, colors, and messaging across your website, social media, and packaging, they build familiarity with your brand, making them more likely to choose you over competitors.
To achieve this consistency, focus on crafting a memorable logo that reflects your brand’s essence, selecting a color scheme that evokes the right emotions, and developing a clear, engaging message that resonates with your audience.
In Romanian eCommerce, a good example of best practices is Fashion Days. The company has built a notable brand through a consistent visual identity.
For example, one of the most distinctive aspects of their branding is their adaptable logo strategy, where they use the same logo but with different colors to differentiate product categories—pink for women, blue for men, and green for kids. This clever yet subtle approach reinforces brand recognition.
A High-Performance eCommerce platform – a hub, not only a website
An online shop acts as the main interface between the brand and its customers, so it needs to be of high quality. Now, there are many options serving eCommerce businesses, but, in our opinion, the top 3 are Adobe Commerce and Magento, suiting middle to big retailers, Shopware – for the mid market section – and Shopify, serving small retailers. They all offer fast loading speeds (if developed and configured with best practices in mind), mobile-friendliness, intuitive navigation, and a secure checkout process. The differences between them consist in the number of products that they can handle optimally, AI functions, native features and plugins or extensions that can be added to suit each business.
An exemplary case is Cupio.ro, a top Romanian cosmetics retailer and one of our esteemed clients. Based on Magento open-source, their website not only works as an efficient online store but also serves as a central hub where all other online and offline channels converge. By integrating their social media platforms and blog content into the website, Cupio ensures a cohesive brand experience. This shows the pivotal role a well-designed website plays in a retailer’s comprehensive online strategy.
The online store is also well optimized for search engines, a prerequisite for online visibility. The content, product pages and site structure are all optimized, this way attracting organic traffic without relying solely on paid ads.
For local brick-and-mortar retailers with online stores, it’s also worth optimizing their Google Business Profile, using location-based keywords, and encouraging customer reviews. This will help them drive both online and in-store traffic, bridging the gap between digital and physical retail.
The Power of Customer Reviews
According to studies, almost 90% of shoppers look for online customer reviews before committing to a product, to ensure they’re making informed choices.
More than that, products with positive reviews convert up to 270% more than those without, highlighting just how crucial social proof is in the buying process. Whether it’s a five-star rating, a detailed testimonial, or a buyer’s photo, each piece of feedback reassures potential buyers that they are buying the right product.
This is what makes customer reviews some of the most powerful tools in eCommerce. Even more, if the business is purely digital and shoppers can’t physically see or touch products, they rely on the experiences of others to validate quality, reliability, and service.
If you want to know more about how to optimally include reviews on your pages, we wrote a comprehensive article here…
The mighty Social Media
Social Media is so important for eCommerce, that it almost became synonymous with ‘online presence’. If you are a small retailer with just a few products, you can even skip the whole website requirement and sell directly on social media. Many social platforms like Facebook, Insta or TikTok have become veritable systems where small retailers can easily sell their products directly to consumers.
However, for serious retailers, Social Media acts more like a crucial environment for effectively reaching their target audience and showcasing products. What they need to have in mind is that each platform attracts distinct user demographics and supports various content types. For instance, Instagram is ideal for visually appealing products like fashion or home decor, catering to a younger audience through high-quality images and short videos. Facebook offers a broader demographic reach, suitable for sharing detailed product information, customer reviews, and engaging in community building. TikTok appeals to a younger, trend-focused audience, making it perfect for creative, short-form videos that can showcase products in an entertaining manner. LinkedIn is tailored for B2B interactions, ideal for professional services or products, where sharing industry insights can be beneficial.
Just keep in mind that maintaining a balance between promotional and engaging content is vital to keep your audience interested. For example, sharing customer testimonials or showcasing how your product fits into everyday life can create a more engaging connection than promotional messages.
In fact, this is social media’s role – to foster connections with your followers. When you interact with them through comments, messages, and shared content, it humanizes your brand, making it more trustworthy. Also, a good fact to remember is that Social media platforms often use engagement metrics to determine content visibility, so the higher the engagement, the higher will be your reach and exposure online.
One of the most asked questions is how often a company should post on Social media? The answer is daily, making sure that you cover all relevant platforms with good content. Don’t post for the sake of it. For Facebook, aim to post 1-2 times per day, for Instagram at least once a day and for TikTok, given its emphasis on trending content, aim for 3-5 posts per week.
Again, Cupio gets our first place when it comes to Social Media engagement. The company keeps its Facebook and Instagram audience close through a combination of visually appealing content, videos of their products being used, tutorials, etc. They encourage customer interaction, responding promptly to comments and messages, and featuring user-generated content. Cupio effectively keeps their followers informed and interested in their brand.
Another best practice is that they are partnering with influencers who align with the brand creating interesting video content and live shopping sessions. Influencer marketing has become one of the most favourite strategies for brands, having many benefits like getting your products known, professional reviews that increase customers’ trust, a higher number of followers, all of them contributing in the end to having increased sales.
If you want to go down this route, just make sure you choose the right influencer based on their specific audience, who can effectively showcase your products and grab the attention of your potential clients.
Final thoughts
As you can see, in today’s retail landscape, if you’re not online, you don’t exist as a business. Customers today search, compare, and decide long before they ever make a purchase. Therefore, retailers who invest in a strong, cohesive online presence are not just making sure that they ‘exist’ —they’re setting themselves apart and building lasting relationships with their audience. Whether it’s through a well-designed online store, engaging social media, or the power of customer reviews, a strong digital presence keeps your business growing.
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