Over the past few years, the online business has become increasingly popular in Indonesia, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world over two years ago, accelerating the shift towards digitalization.
Even data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the number of eCommerce platforms in Indonesia has reached 26.2 million. Additionally, the increasing use of smartphones and social media has made selling and marketing products online easier.
However, looking at the data above does not mean that offline businesses will simply die out. That's not the case. After all, the offline shopping experience cannot be replaced indefinitely.
You certainly need to adapt to this phenomenon. In fact, you can make your offline store more integrated with your online store, which can optimize your business.
Below, we will discuss the steps you can take to integrate both.
Concepts of Offline Business and Online Business
Before discussing how to combine offline and online businesses to maximize sales and profits, it's best to first understand the concepts of offline and online businesses to make it easier for you to build your business later on.
Concept of offline business
In general, an offline business is a business that has a physical store where you conduct transactions directly.
In this type of business, most consumers want to see and visit the store to experience the product before making a transaction. Most consumers who want to see the products are located near the store.
Marketing strategies usually involve creating banners around the store or distributing brochures, and you can also promote your store on social media.
Concept of online business
Unlike offline businesses, the concept of an online business is all business activities conducted through websites, social media, or marketplaces. Simply put, an online business is the activity of buying and selling over the internet using online shopping features.
This type of business can grow rapidly because since COVID-19, consumers have increasingly chosen to shop online rather than go directly to stores. Thus, online business ventures can expand their customer base domestically and internationally.
Strategies for Combining Offline and Online Businesses
Considering the definitions of both types of business, it can be seen that there is a difference in the concepts and methods of the two types of business being run.
It cannot be denied that many people doubt that these two types of business can be carried out simultaneously or combined effectively.
At least, in the current era of business digitalization, business owners should not only display their products offline in store windows or outlets and wait for consumers to come and buy, but you can also display your products on social media.
Yes, entrepreneurs should have a digital marketing vision and mission that actively reaches their consumers.
So, is there a way to combine offline and online businesses to maximize profits? Of course, there is. Check out the following review of some tips you can do.
Finding a common ground for both
The first tip you can do to combine offline and online businesses is by finding a media source that can be used to bring together both types of businesses.
For example, if you promote a product on billboards, newspapers, or mass media, you can also market the same product by using ads on social media or marketplaces.
To create it, you can develop creative ideas to create a unique advertising concept that can attract the audience's attention.
Then, place ads on billboards at certain points in big cities that arouse the curiosity of many people. Don't forget to include the address of your online store's website.
Unique ads can certainly add to the appeal of consumers, eventually going viral, leading to consumers wanting to come to the store to see the products directly.
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Creating relevant content for both
The second tip is to create content that is relevant for both types of business. This also relates to marketing and promotion media in business as discussed above.
So, what you need to pay attention to when creating interesting, creative, and useful content for consumers is not to overly highlight promotions so that it naturally resonates with the community that needs that information.
If there are audiences interested, they will certainly search for the products you offer in the business. In this search process, consumers will not only search directly but also online, using search engines on the internet.
Therefore, you should immediately activate all digital channels starting from websites, applications, to all social media for the business. The goal is to let people know that the offline business that has been running can already start to be recognized by consumers.
This way, consumers can see information from ads, websites, and social media, making it easier for them to get information about your business.
Utilizing Affiliate Marketing
Perhaps some people do not know what affiliate marketing or affiliate marketing is. Affiliate marketing is a business marketing system that pays someone's services when that person successfully sells products through the Internet.
Simply put, affiliate marketing is a business marketing method where someone who acts as an affiliate will receive a commission after successfully promoting the merchant's product.
You can try running this affiliate marketing on the offline business you have started now. The way to do this is by encouraging or suggesting your offline business customers to always advertise your products to their friends or followers on social media.
For example, if many people are interested in the ads they post, you can give them a bonus or commission as a thank you for their performance.
This is certainly a kind of mutually beneficial symbiosis, isn't it? If there were no one to post those ads, people would not know about the ad.
Designing Cross Promotion Strategies
The next tip is to design a cross promotion strategy. For example, if you want to place a national TV ad, you should also use other offline media to support the main ad, such as billboards or banners. The goal is to create euphoria among the public. This way, it can certainly make people interested in seeing the promotion directly.
The next tip, you can use ad materials or visuals to encourage the audience to visit a certain page so you can capture information created by your business website.
Improving Service in Both Types of Business
The next way is to provide the best service in both types of businesses you own. Yes, you must provide the best possible service to consumers who shop directly at the store or outlet.
Do not let your business service disappoint them, and make sure they get the same service if they shop online. There is a popular saying that the buyer is king, so you should provide the best possible service.
If necessary, you can divide two business admins, one for the special offline admin and one for the special online admin who can help you build the best service so that consumers are satisfied. That way, consumers will come back to buy your products again.
Read also Note! Here Are 5 Effective Tricks to Increase Customer Loyalty
Using the Opaper Application
Opaper is a business application that can help make your culinary business operations more effective. With Opaper, your business can be marketed online. Not only that, Opaper also provides other useful features such as financial systems, POS, inventory management, QR barcode scanning to order menus, and much more.
Also check out 7 Tricks for Online Store Management to Make Your Goods Sell Well