The world continues to find itself in a pandemic era with a second spike looking inevitable. While governments across the world battle to address these unique challenges can the same be said for businesses?

The way business is conducted has unexpectedly and perhaps permanently changed, the consumer is caught in a perpetual loop of uncertainty and instability. Markets are still highly volatile at this stage and many industries have faced irreparable damage while others may never recover, at least to their previous volume. Global pandemics have historically changed the way humans behave and while some industries have flourished, others have dramatically failed.

An interesting article, by Antonis Antoniou, I recently read about the current economic situation of Cyprus and the most prominent changes as a result of the pandemic can be found here.

The digital sector has highly benefited from the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers are now much more inclined to use online services and to perform many tasks online. Many businesses were also forced to switch part of their presence online or to fully switch to an online sales model at least temporarily. Online shopping has proven to be key in maintaining basic cash flow for retail businesses while their physical stores remained “locked-down”.

Since the gradual reopening of physical stores, retail businesses have resumed their operations and consumers can now visit a physical store as they used to do in the past, albeit with the mandatory use of a mask in most cases.

The question therefore is, are online shops equally as useful as when they were the only option for products and services purchases? Early research shows that up 68% of the European citizens who started to shop online during the pandemic, are willing to keep purchasing online for products and services.

So, how is it possible that only a minority of companies have successfully deployed an effective marketing strategy and are able to create a sustainable online presence?

The issue needs to be explored under a number of views and my aim in this article is to list many of the common problems many eshops face in Cyprus, based on my professional experience. The following questions below will help reinforce that creating an online website with the capacity to make sales, is simply not enough. Have a look at the points below and try to locate where your strategy might fall short.

• Have you considered the size of the local market and the volume of sales required for the project to be viable?
• Is your online presence complementary to your physical store presence or a whole new different channel?
• Have you selected a powerful stock management software?
• Have you developed and utilized a User-Friendly U.I which inspires trust and also helps the user make a purchase?
• How’s your online product stock availability?
• How many delivery options do you offer?
• How many payment options do you offer?
• Have you ensured that the product you’re selling online has the same appeal in the online world as the real world? Do your items come in different shapes, sizes, or fit? How have you compensated for this experience limitation?
• Have you provided the online customer with enough incentives to purchase online rather than a store visit?
• Have you selected the right CRM software and use it?
• Have you created a marketing strategy with enough branding budget, to make sure that people get to know your business?
• Have you considered the branding marketing costs as well as the most productive marketing channels to utilize?
• How do you know that the marketing tactics you utilize currently provide you with the best possible ROI?
• What type of synergies can / have you utilized in the digital world?
• How do you differentiate from your online competitors?
• How do you turn one time customers to loyal brand followers?
• What type of threats have you identified and how have you decided to overcome them? Have you missed any growth opportunities?

Having a digital presence that does not provide any additional value to a potential customer is a guaranteed recipe for failure. If you need more FREE tips, get in touch with me and I will make sure to provide you with even more touchpoints to investigate so you can rest assured that you’re sailing towards achieving your goals!