Master marketers know the power of branding. Spreading the word about your expertise is not just smart; it’s an essential part of growing a loyal audience for your business. Brand awareness comes in many forms, from swag to business cards, websites, and direct mail. However your company gets in front of others, it should be branded.

As your business grows from your remarkable work, you may find increased demand for swag featuring your brand. When that happens, it’s time to launch your custom e-Shop.

What exactly is an e-Shop?

An e-Shop is a branded eCommerce site where you can display product options, track orders, and manage fulfillment information. Company stores allow you to easily offer branded swag and company collateral, as well as execute orders and payments all in a single place.

Here are some situations when an e-Shop makes sense:

• Event management: Events are a great way to engage customers and employees. Whether they are virtual or in-person, an online shopping experience can help your event stand out. An e-Shop can provide the right channel for event follow-up, additional swag, or even ordering one-pagers for distribution pre-or post-event.
• Employee apparel: If your employees love their job, give them the chance to show it off. A company store lets you provide business apparel without manual tracking. As a bonus, they’ll be walking billboards for your brand!
• Marketing collateral: Every business needs marketing collateral. Whether it’s simple business cards or fully branded brochures, you’ll need to restock when supplies run low. Employees can quickly replenish depleted materials with the click of a button. Simple and fast.
• Giveaways & promos: You put a ton of effort into selecting the right items for your audience. If they love your swag, they’ll come back for more. An e-Shop makes it easy to offer promotional products, track orders, and ship out the goods.

How can you make your e-Shop awesome? Follow these eCommerce best practices

 I think we can all agree—spreadsheets are a drag. Whether we are talking branded swag or dimensional direct mail, it can be a huge pain to track details via endless rows and columns. Who needs a different size? Whose address has changed? When did that last batch ship out? Take the responsibility off your shoulders and do the smart thing—launch an e-Shop.

But, where to start? Check out these eCommerce trends to see what makes an e-Shop stand out from the crowd.

Straightforward navigation is the way to a winning e-Shop

A good e-Shop is easy to navigate, making it simple for users to browse your offerings or go straight to what they know they need. Keep menus ever-present for quick and efficient zooming around. Place important info front and center so your visitors can easily find sizing, pricing, and product details without looking too hard. Put simply, don’t overcomplicate. (Did we complicate that too much?)

Professional imagery makes your products pop

Yes, your smartphone has a better camera than ever, and it does take some fantastic portraits. But don’t underestimate the power of professional product photography or well-crafted mock-ups. An impressive visual can be more potent than any catchy product description you could whip up. Don’t skimp on the photos.

Ecommerce to the rescue with an easy-to-use cart

Ever find yourself at the end of endless forms, only to wonder if you actually placed an order? If so, you’re not alone. One-click buying made Amazon the retail mega-giant they are today, so there’s no denying the power of a straightforward online buying experience. Getting from selection to purchase is not as simple as you think, and it can quickly derail the buying experience.

 Additionally, integrating multiple payment options allows your buyer to choose quickly and pay easily from whatever method works best for them. Consider adding payment services such as PayPal and Apple Pay for a simpler customer experience.

Wrap it up beautifully with an automated order summary

Give your customers and employees the ability to continue engaging with your brand with a company store. If you are successful enough to have fans, allow them to engage with your brand whenever and wherever they are. And as a bonus to having your brand out and about in the real world, your marketing swag will be busy grabbing the attention of potential customers.

An e-shop helps streamline ordering and fulfillment and provides a consistent (and awesome) customer and employee experience. There is definitely peace of mind that comes from simplifying the ordering process and knowing fulfillment details are easily accessible and stored in one convenient place.

Who, what, where? All your shipping details in one place

If you’ve ever felt like you’d rather stick your head into a ceiling fan before entering data into a spreadsheet, you’re in good company! Keeping up with address changes, duplicate entries, sizing amendments, and past shipments is not for the weak of heart. But with a sleek custom eCommerce site, that information will be at your fingertips in one centralized location.

But wait, there’s more! Ecommerce websites are great for businesses, too.

Analytics amp up your e-Shop

Want to know what’s a powerful motivator? Analytics. Okay, perhaps the term isn’t terribly sexy, but gaining insight into popular products, knowing which promo product your employees can’t live without, or simply understanding which of your marketing materials are being used the most can help you understand where to focus your efforts and how to plan for future campaigns.

Let a partner do the heavy lifting

There are times that you may want to employ some elbow grease and do a job yourself. Other times, it makes way more sense to call in the professionals. Why waste 15 hours learning a new platform, taking photos, entering information, and managing logistics when a partner can do it for you – saving you precious time to focus on marketing your brand?

When it comes to setting up an eCommerce site, you’re likely better off letting a partner help you. When it comes to processing payments, protecting customer data, shipping, and fulfilling orders, it can be a massive load off of your mind to simply stand back and watch your partner work their magic.

Want to learn more about setting up a super cool e-Shop for your brand? At Tactive, we specialize in creating unique, custom e-Shops. Just say, “Hey Tactive,” today to learn more!