Does COVID-19 have you thinking about e-commerce? You’re not alone.
Our customers are asking for it. We’re seeing our competition doing it. And we’re reading the bewildering stats on e-commerce growth. I get asked daily about how to do it, and it comes down to 3 levels of commitment:
Entry Level
This is where most start, and some stay. You’ll have an online presence and generate a little revenue from your existing audiences, plus you’ll be able to run promotions and be able to say that you have e-commerce. It’s also cheap.
What it looks like: An online store (often Shopify as it’s quick and easy to set up), with gift cards and a few products on it. Orders are for customer pick up or local delivery only.
How to build it: Most do this in house, with a tech-savvy manager sitting down for a weekend and crunching it out. You’ll need to loop in a payment portal (Paypal is easy, but it often frustrates customers), and you’re done. Link to it on your home page. There’s no need for fancy landing pages, category pages or even a search function with so few items.
Managing & promoting it: You’ll want to talk it up in your email newsletter and social media channels. You may want to run a paid promo or two on Facebook, but few IGCs at this level engage in strategic paid ads. Always have gift cards there, but change the products up to keep it fresh, especially if you’re always talking to the same customer base.
ROI: It costs little to make, so the revenue bar it must meet is low. Don’t expect to make a lot of money. Once it’s rolling, you can decide if this is the first step of your e-comm journey, or if this is sufficient for you.
Integrated
If you’re a larger garden center, your customers will expect more than a few plants and gift cards. They’ll want something akin to the in-store experience, with a cross-section of products (and ample plants organized by category), along with curated displays of products related to those plants in the form of themed landing pages.
While the product lines, promotional tactics, and complexity will evolve, fulfillment typically stays the same. Customer pick-up and local delivery are the norm, with a more aggressive delivery approach reserved for those who want to break out of their local brand and establish a regional or national one.
What it looks like: This online store is more complex, with product categories and seasonal promotions. You may find Shopify limiting at this point and want to opt for a more customizable solution like WooCommerce (if you have a WordPress website). The latter is a more complex build, but worth it if you want to grow.
How to build it: You’ll need to either have (or hire) a talented person on staff or hire an outside agency to create it. If you outsource, avoid the flashy downtown agencies and find people who understand the e-commerce needs of small/medium businesses—and, ideally, the demands of the industry itself.
Managing & promoting it: You’ll want a combined approach here. Promote your website to your existing audiences using your email newsletter and social channels. You may want to set up a separate e-commerce email segment/audience to avoid inundating your existing base. You’ll also want a paid strategy both on social (Facebook and Instagram) and search ads.
Invest in search-optimized content for your website. There’s a science to creating content that gets your site found; the blogs the business owner writes at the kitchen table are valuable but often do not build organic search traffic. Content elevates every page of your website on Google, including your product pages.
ROI: Expect to invest some money into this before you start seeing pay off. Remember that you’re playing the long game here—expect not to see a big return for a year or more. Your customers will need time to get used to the platform, and you’ll need to build your audience from a combination of your existing customers and new ones.
Watch the ROI on your online ads closely. The advantage of online ads is the clarity of the metrics they provide. Know your break-even point for every product; that will be the number you base your decisions upon.
Expert Level
What is your 5-10 year goal? If it’s to rule the market (or anything leading up to that), the Expert Level approach will do it. I’ll spend the least amount of time on this one because very few IGCs have gone in this direction.
If your long term goal requires breaking out of your local market, then you’ll need to level up your e-commerce to match. It’s not quick, nor easy, and there’s much to be made or lost.
A word of caution: whether you think so or not, a lot of your current revenue comes from the fact that you are local. When it comes to plants, local means loyalty. National shipping schemes mean you give up all the power that your brand inspires, and you’ll start from scratch by getting into the mud pit with Lowes and Costco. It’s not for the faint of heart.
What it looks like: A full-inventory store, typically built on WooCommerce or a custom platform, where purchasing, shipping, retargeting, and more are wrapped with one big, intuitive bow.
The biggest jump from Integrated to here is the addition of shipping, typically via Fed Ex or UPS. This feature presupposes a strong degree of coordination, storage, and organizational know-how on your end. Managing shipping is where you’ll start moving away from being in the plant business and start entering the logistics business.
How to build it: You’ll need a robust in-house team, or you’ll need to work very closely with an external agency.
Managing & promoting it: Organic promotion is just the start, and most of your success will hinge on a detailed strategy for paid acquisition with ads and content at the helm. Managing this level of e-commerce is full-time and ongoing.
ROI: It could be massive, or it could sputter along endlessly and become a money pit. To succeed, you’ll have to stop thinking like an IGC owner and start thinking like a national brand manager. It’s a big jump.
