Digital is the new black, or old black depending on where you’re standing. It’s now the bread and butter for a large portion of businesses. It’s, after all, where most of the prospective customers spend their time – bye shopping malls, buy online. The opportunities the online world presents are countless, with brands sprouting overnight to become success stories the morning after.

No doubt online business is great for everyone. However, it runs the risk of alienating the one part it should value the most – the customer. This is because, regardless of how you look at it, the consumer still exists offline, but digitised companies often forget that.

This makes it important for brands to deliver the same value they deliver online offline, but how? Here is a list of ways.

1.       Convenient delivery

One of the biggest stumbling blocks of online retail, especially in the South African environment, has been delivery. Often people have to wait for days before they get their goods. To make matters worse, it can take even longer to return an unwanted purchase (which we’ll cover shortly). What’s more, you often have to pay for your order to be delivered at your door too.

Understandably, companies have costs and there are limitations to establishing efficient delivery networks. However, failure to do so often makes the customer decide to make an instore purchase, or look for brands that can deliver. This makes it essential for brands to improve on delivery times, charge little to no money for it and, most importantly, get it to the consumer on time.

2.       The product returns dilemma

Have you ever purchased a piece of apparel online only to realise it doesn’t fit when it’s delivered? If you have, you know the hassle involved of returning it. Not only do you have to wait for it to be picked up, but sometimes you have to pay for the costs.

Those two factors can put off any customer, sending them to another competitor. The alternative is easy. Rather than charging the customer to pick up an unwanted product, make it simpler for them to return it by charging them less and picking the item up on time. You can also explore digital fitting rooms, which allow customers to test a product before making a purchase.

3.       Online-to-offline strategy  

If you operate your business digitally and in store, you definitely need to have an effective online-to-offline strategy. This strategy ensure that your customers have a seamless experience wherever they choose to shop.

Imagine researching a pair of shoes online and then visiting a store to purchase them only to find there is no stock. It happens more often than you think and can send customers elsewhere. So you need to ensure there are ways of customers knowing stores where the product is available. In addition, there has to be ways for customers to make purchase online and collect in store.