Adapt your ppc tactics for ‘clicks and mortar’ because that’s the direction of travel for many retailers. Brands of all sizes are embracing this eCommerce-meets-instore approach, and adjusting their marketing to embrace omnichannel marketing, including ppc.
You have a greater chance of accessing a wider market if you sell your products across various channels because you’re creating more opportunities for your target audience to discover (and therefore buy) from your business. If Google ads can direct customers to your website, they can also send them to your store.
As a ppc specialist, we’re working with our retail clients to understand how their online and in-store channels can work together so we can create effective campaigns. This is our thinking:
Operate a dual sales drive: instore and online
You don’t need me to quote the stats to convince you of the increasing success of, and preference for, online shopping. The effect of the Covid virus has simply hastened the trend. If you are a sole eCommerce trader, that’s great, particularly if your competitors are in-store. If you operate both, then how do you juggle them, and with which marketing tools, are top priorities for you? Google Shopping has to be a contender.
For some retailers, the problem is acute because their eCommerce activity is cannibalising their in-store sales. The rent is expensive enough on their physical stores without their online operation taking even more of a cut. So, it’s a massive concern. But, many retail brands – of all sizes – are demonstrating that the two are not only able to work side-by-side, they can also benefit each other.
Nothing in this world is guaranteed but, writing as a ppc specialist, I see plenty of opportunities for Google ad campaigns to drive sales in-store as well as online. Our retail clients are varied in terms of size and product type. Branded, own brand, niche, big-ticket, fast-moving consumable – they all have different objectives and, therefore, strategies into which ppc tactics can fit.
How are your in-store and online working together?
In order to do our job as ppc specialists, we have to understand your bigger retail picture: what’s your plan, what are you selling and to whom? Then, how are your online and in-store buying facilities working together? How do they interact and provide opportunities for each other? If you need to address the issue of online cannibalising offline, product allocation and pricing are key considerations, especially with cheaper products.
Using your deep understanding of your target audience’s behaviour, is vital. Don’t just follow general stats though. Yes, we know that millennials prefer to shop online but they also like an in-store experience.
So how can you tempt your ‘on-liners’ into your store? And once you’ve captured them, what are you going to do with them?
Encouraging visitors to your store to:
- Physically see and touch your products
- Collect and return products
- Carry out online transactions while doing both of the above
- Inspire trust and confidence in your brand
Online presence to help create instore success
Both online and instore have their own specific benefits:
- Online shopping provides more personalisation and can spoil customers for choice when it comes to product availability.
- The instore benefit is being able to try, test and take items home immediately – that’s very appealing
Some brands are learning from their online success to help them create their in-store experience for customers. For example, product search and availability (live inventory), access to product reviews, and personalised recommendations. Then there’s virtual assistants and appointment booking tools for services like personal shopping and styling. You’re aiming for an in-store experience enhanced by technology to give your customer the best of both worlds whether they’re buying or collecting or both.
Both online and in-store need to offer a great experience every time, and make the customer recognise and appreciate the brand. Now your ppc campaigns have something to work with…
Use ppc to tempt your on-liners instore
Strategic product breakdown
Depending on how you are allocating your products online and instore, these are your Google Shopping tools to help your customers find their way to your brand experience:
We can drill down and create specific promotions for each of your products, whether niche or own label: engaging but clear copy, great images, accurate pricing and / or discount codes. Assign categories (‘levels’) to your products to help your prospects find what they want and enable you to monitor performance.
Robust product feed
A feed is a file that contains a list of products that you want to advertise. When you add your products, you’ll assign attributes to each one. Your product feed will use these attributes to group your products together. Once you’ve created a feed, it can be used multiple times.
Check the quality of your feed because Google will compare it against your competitors. Just like your organic search listing, you need to convince Google that your products are more relevant than the competition. We recommend paying attention to brand identity, product title, links, images and price at the very minimum. Also, add in as many additional fields as possible – product type, google product category, description, etc. Finally make sure you are submitting clear, relevant and up to date information. There are also now additional tools designed to support your store including displaying information about specific items available to view or purchase in-store at a location near you.
Ad extensions
Basically, extensions provide additional information to draw people in. In many cases, you can specify the dates, days of the week or times of day that your ad extensions appear. The location extension for your stores is an obvious choice. So too are Callout (eg collect in-store details) and Structured snippet extension (specific information around brands or models available). Finally, Price and Image extensions are also strong influencers.
Make both clicks and mortar benefit from ppc
As customers, we expect nothing less than an amazing shopping experience, both digitally and physically. So, retail brands are taking their rich digital experiences and replicating them in-store. It’s called being interconnected and ppc can help you promote it.
Managing customer expectations is a priority: consistency of information online and in-store, good delivery and stock reliability. Excellent customer service and corresponding customer reviews. Then, together with your ppc specialist, you’re giving your retail business your very best shot.
Image by bs_k1d on Freepik
