Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format. With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Merchants are missing big omnichannel opportunities

Digital channels influence most offline purchase choices

According to the study, one of every three dollars of monthly discretionary income is now spent online, but the relationship between online and offline channels is far more nuanced. Thirty-nine percent of consumer respondents visited a brand's website before making a purchase in a physical retail store, and 33% will attempt to price match the product online.

"The retail industry has been throwing around the term 'omnichannel' for years and while we've seen a handful of strong use cases, merchants are still struggling to create a true cross-channel experience that addresses the evolving behavior of their consumers," said Jimmy Duvall, chief product officer at BigCommerce.

The results of the study emphasize that brands can no longer afford a single-channel retail experience and increasingly must make products available across multiple digital and offline channels where consumers are shopping. Key global findings from the report include:

• The "Amazon Effect" is increasing in ecommerce. Four out of five consumers made a purchase on Amazon in the last six months, compared to only 65% that bought something in a physical store. Even more telling of Amazon's impact in the retail ecosystem is the influence Amazon Prime's fast and free shipping promise has had on ecommerce behavior. Eighteen percent of global respondents cite shipping costs as their least favorite aspect of online shopping, with another 15% of respondents citing waiting for the product to arrive.
• The ability to convey value overcomes pricing hurdles. Respondents no longer see price as the primary reason to shop on Amazon, with 28% of consumers preferring the site's convenience to its low prices. In addition, brands are doing a better job of using product imagery, descriptions, and customer reviews to convey a product's value, which is encouraging customers to make more purchases on the brand's website even if the product is available for less somewhere else.
• Data privacy remains a major concern - but not at the expense of convenience. Today's consumers expect data collection to be part of their online shopping experience. Seventy percent of consumers would opt out of having their data collected if given the option, but Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z consumers indicated a willingness to share data with retailers if provided free shipping or product discounts in exchange.
• Returns may help bridge gap between online and in-store. Businesses that have a physical store as well as an online one should look to product returns as a sales opportunity. More than half of shoppers expect to return approximately 25% of online purchases. While 50% of returns are sent via mail, 67% of consumers that choose to return in store also browse or shop in the store afterwards, illustrating the value of bricks-and-mortar retail stores in an omnichannel world.
• Available payment options matter. Thirty-six percent of global respondents admitted to buying a more expensive option when offered financing at checkout, and another 33% confirmed that, without financing, they would not have made the purchase.

To view the full report on global omnichannel shopping habits: http://grow.bigcommerce.com/omnichannel-cdl-report

Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format.

With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

You'll learn to sell yourself, sell your products, and sell your brand on the internet, writing high-conversion landing pages, social media posts, and more. You'll start attracting customers you didn’t even know existed, and learn the top trade secrets for customer retention.

You'll become a lean, mean selling machine. See how the experts do it and learn to adapt what they've done for your own profit. You'll learn to write strong, powerful, effective sales copy, whether it's for a sales script, sales letter, flyer, insert, advert or just about anything else.

You'll learn how to sell whether you're selling by telephone, by mail, or even meeting prospects face-to-face. You'll find out how to size them up, present yourself, nail down their true needs, close the sale, and learn to tackle the tricky ones.

You'll discover the biggest secrets of successful direct mail sellers, sales letter writers, and how to segment and choose the right prospects for each campaign.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)