Referral Marketing 101: 7 Tactics to Launch Your Own Referral Campaign

by Richard Lazazzera

Study after study has proven that referral marketing is one of the best forms of marketing when it comes to sales and conversions. Simply put, referral marketing, sometimes also called word-of-mouth marketing, is just people purchasing products based on someone else's opinion or influence. It's a powerful marketing channel because people trust the opinions of other people in their lives and people they respect, whether that be family, friends, social media influencers or big stars.

It makes sense, we regularly get advice from our friends on which TV shows to watch, movies to rent, or restaurant to go to. And, as end consumers ourselves, we wan’t to share our stories, the products we buy and the brands we choose. This becomes magnified when the buying experience and products are exceptional.

In this post, we will show you the three fundamental reasons referral marketing is so powerful, some examples of extremely successful referral campaigns, and provide you with seven tactical steps to build a powerful referral marketing engine for your business.

Let's jump into it.

 

Why Is Referral Marketing So Powerful?

We know that word-of-mouth and referral marketing is powerful and is continually rated as one of the most powerful forms of marketing, but why?

Let’s take a look at three core reasons for this:

 

1. Precision Targeting

Have you every tried using Google Adwords or Facebook Ads just to watch your money disappear, literally before your eyes? Many times this isn’t the fault of the platform, rather your targeting. A great marketing campaign involves two key components, a great message and laser targeting.
 

Referral and word-of-mouth marketing tend to be much more targeted because people tend to know their friends and social audiences pretty well. This allows your brand message to spread more effectively than with most other marketing channels.

 

2. Trust Factor

Trust goes a long way when it comes to convincing someone to buy something. If we don't trust someone, we aren't going to listen to them. Consider the last time a salesperson you know is on commission tried to sell you something. You likely had doubts about his authenticity due to a lack of trust. With referral marketing though, the sales pitch is usually coming from someone that you either know well, like friends and family, or it's coming from someone you have trust in, like a favorite blogger.

Time and time again, studies have shown that people almost always trust these people's opinions over generic advertisements and sales pitches carefully crafted by the brand themselves.

Need proof? A recent Neilson Trust Study showed that referrals are the most trusted form of advertising by a large margin:

 

But wait… there’s more. If you looked at the graphic above and only looked at the first row (Recommendations from people I know), you may of missed something. Position three (Consumer opinions posted online) and position four (Editorial content such as newspaper articles) are all also forms of referral marketing.

Remember, referrals aren't just limited to friends and family. They can come from a variety of sources, provided the receiver of the message trusts them. So what are the major types of referral channels?

1. Friends/Family
2. News Publications
3. Customer Reviews and Opinions Posted Online
4. Influencer Opinions (Bloggers, Social Media Influencers)
5. Testimonials

 

3. Reach and Acceleration

Not long ago, reach of the average reach of a typical consumer was limited. For the most part it was contained to the number of people they saw in person each day or talked to on the phone. In this day and age though, the average consumers' reach is much larger and for many people with strong social followings, it can be enormous. Some consumers now have the power to make or break a business by what they say about it online.

Hilary Duff holding up a Wildflower iPhone case

With a simple Facebook post, Twitter tweet or Instagram selfie, the average consumer can now reach hundreds, if not thousands or friends (who again trust their opinions) in a matter of seconds. That kind of social reach is a critical reasons to why referral marketing has only gotten bigger over the last ten years.

 

Referral Marketing Examples

So now we know referral is huge and understand the reasons why it's so important, let's look at a few examples of companies that used referral marketing to catapult their businesses.

 

Example 1: Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is a great example of an ecommerce company that used referral marketing in the form of a marketing video to launch their business. Dollar Shave Club created a honest and cheeky video that now currently sits at 16 million views.

Take a look at the video below:

 

According to Entrepreneur.com, in the first 48 hours after the video debuted on YouTube, over 12,000 people signed up for the service, by the end of the week, that number over doubled to over 25,000.

 

Although many people would call this a viral marketing campaign, the truth is every single one of those 25,000 customers was referred by someone that had an enjoyable experience with Dollar Shave Club by consuming their video content.

Example 2: Harry's

Harry’s, a new grooming product company in the ultra competitive market of shaving suppliers for men grew extremely quickly, thanks to referral marketing.

In a detailed post on the 4-Hour Work Week blog, Jeff Raider, co-founder of Harry’s describes the referral based launch campaign they used to acquire over 100,000 sign-ups before ever even launching.

By setting up a referral marketing campaign on their pre-launch landing page that rewarded people with free shaving products in exchange for sharing their brand, they were able to launch to a massive audience and have continued to grow to over 40 employees.

 

So maybe these are two very extreme cases of referral marketing done right. However, the underlying message you need to understand is that all this was possible because of the power of referral marketing.

How Do You Use And Implement Referral Marketing?

Implementing your own referral strategy to increase referrals and sales isn't difficult. Here’s seven tactics you can implement today for your own online store:

 

1. Provide Exceptional Customer Service and Buying Experience

Are the core of every and all referrals is great products, exceptional customer service and a great overall buying experience. This is fundamental to any referral campaign.

To start, evaluate the buying experience of your own store, looking at it from a customer perspective and ask yourself what's worth sharing with your friends?

 

2. Pay Attention To Your Analytics

You’re probably already getting referrals and don’t even know it. Google Analytics has a whole section on referrals that can help you pinpoint other sites that are linking and referring people to you. This report can be can be broken down to not just visitors but customers as well, giving you a deep understanding of which of the referring websites are the most qualified.

 

With this knowledge, you can reach out to those sites and work out a plan to acquire even more traffic.

For example, you may work out:

• Additional mentions in upcoming posts
• Guest blog post
• Referral program to share profit with them

3. Make Your Products and Product Experience Sharable

There are many ways to create a wow factor for your customers. Consider your packaging and unboxing experience. In a previous post on shipping and fulfillment we introduced you to the exceptional effort Trunk Club makes to create a great, share-worthy experience for customers.

You can see from their packaging below that their customer unboxing experience is very central to their overall brand experience and makes for a great photo to share on Instagram and other social networks.

Trunk Club does an such exceptional job at wow'ing customers with the packaging experience, that customers make unboxing videos on YouTube which furthers amplifies Trunk Club's reach through referral marketing.

Everlane is another great example of a brand that uses their packaging as a marketing channel. Items from Everlane arrive wrapped in craft paper with an Everlane sticker and a thank you note that encourages people to share a photo of their purchase on social media.

 

Consider how you can provide a wow factor to customer that makes them compelled to share your products and refer your brand to their network.

4. Make It Easy For Visitors And Customers To Refer Your Brand

You always want to make sure you’re making it as easy as possible to share your products and refer your brand. There are many ways you can do this. Consider how MeUndies Underwear has done this on their site by adding it right to their main navigation. There is no doubt that referring friends is an important call-to-action for them.

After you click it, they also make it easy by pre-populating the Twitter and Facebook message so you don’t have to think of one.

 

How can you make it as easy as possible for people to share your products? You may also want to consider smaller, but effective tactics like adding social sharing badges to every product page.

5. Implement a Referral Program

Sometimes people need a nudge. Providing rewards for referrals can be just the thing to get your visitors and customers sharing your brand with their friends and family.

In the example at the beginning of this post, we showed you how Harry’s offered several tiers of rewards in the form of products to get people to share their pre-signup landing page. You can do similar by offering rewards through a referral or loyalty program.

 

There are lots of really solid apps in the Shopify App Store that can help you quickly implement a great referral/loyalty program.

Some of them include:

• ReferralCandy
• Friendbuy
• LoyaltyLion
• S Loyalty: Refer-a-Friend
• Ambassador
• Forewards
• Referrify

6. Capitalize on Influencers

Influencers within your niche can be a goldmine of referral traffic and sales. The key is to find influencers who's following is close as possible to your target market.

So maybe you're not at the point you can afford to pay Hilary Duff to refer your product, however there are plenty of other influencers out there with small, although still huge audiences you can work with. We touched on influencer marketing in this post and this post, but influencer marketing can be as easy as reaching out to a popular blogger, YouTuber, or Instagramer and asking if they do sponsored postings or if they would like your product for a review.

7. Reviews Are Referrals Too

People trust what other customers say about your company more than what you say so make sure you encourage customers to leave reviews after their purchase.

As an example, looking at the product page for BeardBrand Tree Ranger Beard Oil, we can see they have over 400 reviews and an average rating of 4.7 out of 5. The reviews might not drive new traffic to your site but they will help people still on the fence convert.

 

Conclusion 

Referral marketing is a powerful and important component for every business. Implementing some basic tactics can help encourage and facilitate the referral process which can be a major source of new sales.

For more information and tips and tricks when creating a referral program for your brand, check out the bonus section below.

The view the original article please visit: Shopify

Want more articles like this one. Check out these:

The Future of Retail Marketing

4 Ways to Drive Traffic with Cross Promotion

Are You Providing a Hyper-Relevant Experience for Shoppers?

6 Scientific Principles of Persuasion All Smart Ecommerce Founders Know

   

by Tommy Walker on Feb 25, 2015

The following is a guest post by Omri Yacubovich of Commerce Sciences.

Each day, we make hundreds - sometimes thousands - of decisions, without even realizing it. People are surrounded by persuasive messages all day long, from verbal suggestions by co-workers, to signs and flyers in the street, to more blatant advertisements on TV, radio, the Internet and in other media.

Most of these messages are fairly low-stakes; we see and hear them as we go about our business. We’re able to ignore them, or may be biased in a small way, but probably won’t be inspired to take action that very minute.

When a person visits your ecommerce store, however, they’ve already demonstrated a very important characteristic just by being there: they have some kind of commercial intent.

Are your offers and messages taking advantage of that and persuading visitors to become buyers?

Let’s have a look at the science behind persuasion and its impact on your ecommerce conversion rates.

Six Ways Shoppers are Influenced & Persuaded

Dr. Robert B. Cialdini described six ways in which consumers are persuaded to make purchasing decisions, in his popular 1984 book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.  

According to Dr. Cialdini, these six subtle psychological pressures can influence customers in the moments that matter, inspiring them to say yes to whatever it is that’s being asked of them:

• Reciprocation
• Consistency
• Social validation
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

Yes, we've talked about these before, but they're so important that it's worth examining them again to see how they can apply to your ecommerce environment.

1. Using Reciprocity to Drive More Small Conversions

This principle requires that you give something back in exchange for whatever it is you’ve received. One example of this is a free gift with a purchase, though it also applies to concessions people make to one another.

If you visit a small town ice cream shop, you’ll probably be offered a small sample of the different flavors of ice cream you’re considering. Accepting this small token makes a persuasive argument for you to go ahead and buy, because you feel like you should return the favor! You’re highly unlikely after accepting the sample to leave without buying an ice cream.

Ecommerce stores obviously can’t reach out and let you try their products in the moment of consideration.

What’s an online retailer to do?

Consider the size of your ask and what you can offer in return, or what concession you can make, to that customer for making such a big commitment to your brand. Often, consumers are more likely to accept a series of small requests than one large one.

Take retail Goliath Amazon, for example. They have some seriously big ticket items available for purchase online. Yet if you’ve ever bought new furniture for your house, you probably wanted to try it out first - to sit on the couch you’re considering, or feel the grain of the wooden bed frame.
How do you overcome that desire (which becomes an objection to buying online) and persuade the customer to convert? By offering something of value to the customer before you ask them to buy.

In Amazon’s case, this often means making a concession like offering free shipping, as in this example:

 

Reciprocity and Microconversions

Amazon Prime is another great example of reciprocity in ecommerce. In addition to Free two day shipping, they offer customers a number of “gifts” like early access to sales, free photo storage, and tons of movies and television shows on demand, simply for joining Prime for $99. All things considered, the price tag is a relatively small ask.

Once a customer enrolls in the program, Amazon can continue marketing to them and step it up with personalized offers based on that customer’s preferences.

 

The reciprocity is ongoing with the free two day shipping.

As Amazon continues to ask for more - convert and join Prime, convert and make a small purchase, convert and make a larger purchase - they continue to offer something of value. Since the customer has already said yes to the smaller offers, they feel invested and are more comfortable saying yes to the bigger ones.

Reciprocity isn’t only a sales tool; it can help you build your social audience, as well.

Offer a small discount or a free gift on checkout, then ask on the Thank You page that the customer follow your brand on Facebook. You’ve just given them something and they’re more likely to complete that action. You could also take this opportunity to ask for a review or social shares, which takes us right into the next principle that can help you persuade and convert.

2. Social Proof Made More Powerful with Personalization

Social proof is the psychological phenomenon whereby your online store visitors are influenced by the actions of others and are more likely to take the same action. It can be massively influential in an ecommerce environment and you have plenty of tools at your disposal!

One popular way to demonstrate social proof is to integrate your store with Facebook. Showing visitors which products other people bought most often or Like the most can be incredibly persuasive.

Check out all of the social proof in this Booking.com hotel listing:

 

 

The little heart icon tells visitors that 4857 people have added this property to their Wish List. almost 4,500 people have left review. Forty-seven people are looking at the property right now and someone just booked 2 minutes ago! All of this social proof is highly persuasive to the buyer, who wants reassurance that they’re making a good choice.

Personalizing social proof kicks it up even further. Try letting visitors log in on your website using their Facebook credentials, so they can see reviews and products purchased by their friends. Check out Facebook integration apps in the Shopify’s Resources App Store.

3. Ensuring Commitment and Consistency

People are more likely to take action on things they’ve already thought over or discussed with others.

This is thanks, in part, to our desire to be consistent and stay committed to our ideas.

In an ecommerce environment, we want customers to stay committed to the idea of purchasing this product in front of them. We don’t want them to question or overthink it too much, or they’ll start objecting.

One great way to combat this is to use rhetorical questions as a way of driving commitment. In a 2006 Journal of Language and Social Psychology article, social scientists point out that “rhetorical questions can increase persuasion and message processing, creating a relatively strong, resistant attitude.”

Rhetorical questions don’t require an answer; the answer is either obvious, or doesn’t exist. They’re used to make a point, not elicit a response. Some ecommerce examples could include:

• “If you could save 15 minutes a day, would you?”
• “What if you never had to sharpen a kitchen knife again?”
• “How would your family enjoy a week at the beach?”

You can even A/B test these different persuasive questions and see which are most effective ones by targeting first time visitors with a slide-out message or with an overlay.

4.  Being Likable  

We’re more likely to be influenced by people we like, but what is likability in ecommerce?

Being communicative, responding promptly and politely to inquiries and focusing on great user experience can all help. I’m more apt to like your brand if you make my shopping experience simple, intuitive or even fun.

Humanizing Your ecommerce Brand

Another way your business can be likable is to take care to humanize your brand in your communications and marketing material.

Generic business material is boring. Spice it up and give customers someone to actually like by sending messages out from your personnel, instead, like this:

 

Our internal data at Commerce Sciences shows that quality assurance and satisfaction messages are great applications of this personalized messaging tactic. However, it’s less effective with company policy messaging. People tend to see policies and restrictions (eg.: a 30-day return policy) as arbitrary rules; it’s easier to relate to a policy that was defined by an organization than a specific person.

Other promises are more effective coming from an individual. Testimonials on your ecommerce site are a great example of this - they’re far more compelling, with the name and picture of the author, than brand messaging saying the same. In fact, customer testimonials are the most effective form of content marketing (AdWeek SocialTimes).

5. Building Your Ecommerce Brand’s Authority

There are two distinct but equally important types of authority online: your authority with your audience and customers, and the authority your ecommerce site demonstrates to search engines.

Industry & Topic Authority

As an authority in your industry, your brand is a go-to source for accurate information, expert advice and in-depth insight. Within your brand, you may also have one or several public-facing people building their professional authority, which furthers your brand image and authority as a whole.

 

Image source: Twitter

Airbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall is a great example of the power of building authorities within your brand. Formerly the VP of Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence at Coca-Cola, Mildenhall is a keynote speaker on the international stage and has graced the cover of AdAge. He helped Coca-Cola win 20 Cannes Lions in a single year (2013) and has amassed an impressive audience on Twitter and Tumblr.

Encouraging and empowering employees to speak at industry events, write for relevant publications, and use social networking ensures a steady flow of positive brand content that reflects well on the entire company. It shows the world your brand is passionate and involved in your industry.

Web Authority

Your ecommerce site’s authority is a different animal, though many of the same tactics are effective for brand authority building. Google and other search engines consider hundreds of factors in their ranking algorithms, including the perceived authority of the site.


How can you demonstrate authority?

While we don’t know exactly what it is search engines are considering (it would make it too easy to game the system), we can safely assume there are several authority signals in play. The best known and most talked (and speculated) about authority signal, of course, is the volume and quality of backlinks to your site.

Links tell search engines that other sites found your website and content reputable, relevant and informative enough to send traffic from their site to yours. Be cautious of SEO strategists who promise to build links for you; search engines crack down hard on links that appear reciprocal or otherwise spammy. Links should be earned through the publication of great content that compels people to naturally recommend your site to their audience.

Blogging is a fantastic way to build both topic and web authority, yet it’s a strategy underused by ecommerce brands, as demonstrated in Tommy Walker’s recent post The Curious Case of the Underwhelming Ecommerce Blog. Blogging brings huge traffic opportunities, keeps user on site longer and helps nurture and convert leads; if you commit to blogging and do it right, the payoff can be huge.

You’ll find some great blogging and linking tips in this Shopify SEO Strategy post.

6. Creating Scarcity  

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a powerful motivator. Customers can be compelled to take action immediately when offered free shipping for a limited time only, time-sensitive discounts, the last of a remaining product, etc.

Stock Scarcity

Smart ecommerce marketers use a variety of tactics to create scarcity, such as showing a limited number of items left as in the example from Francesca’s, above. You can also show scarcity by size, by showing the unavailable sizes crossed out or in a different colored font. Or, use a tactic employed by many travel booking sites and display the number of current page viewers as buyers competing against one another.

Urgency and Timing

In the example above, Bath & Body Works really taps into the FOMO with limited time offers. You can also use coupons with a time limit, even going so far as a to include a countdown to expiry. Flash sales are another popular tactic for creating scarcity via urgency. If you don’t buy now, you’re going to pay more/miss out/not be happy. It’s super effective for converting buyers who are on the fence.

Conclusion

Persuasion isn’t the result of a single optimized message, or even an offer that matches your visitor’s intent. For ecommerce retailers, it means appealing on an emotional level to your customer using each of the tools and technologies at your disposal.

It means persuading each customer to take the next small step… and the next… and the next, until they ultimately convert and complete your desired action. And if you get your customer all the way to the cart but don’t seal the deal? Check out these 13 amazing abandoned cart emails for persuasive recovery messaging.

To view the original article please visit: http://www.shopify.com/blog/17455184-6-scientific-principles-of-persuasion-all-smart-ecommerce-founders-know

3 Ecommerce Trends You Need to Know for a Profitable 2015

Yesterday we published our annual Year in Review. It’s a look back at the state of the commerce industry and the growth of the Shopify ecosystem and platform.

Because Shopify now powers 140,000+ businesses, this data provides good insight into where ecommerce trends as a whole appear to be headed, and can help you prepare for 2015 and beyond.

1. One third of ecommerce sales are now happening on mobile devices

One of the major revelations was that in 2014, ⅓ of ecommerce orders were coming from a mobile device rather than a computer. (Click to tweet)

This is up from 23% the year prior, and just 12% when we started tracking this back in 2012.

That means that in only 2 years, mobile’s contribution to total sales has skyrocketed by 175%.

This by itself is impressive, but coupled with findings from earlier this year that found mobile ecommerce traffic overtaking computers for the first time in history (and increasing since then), and you can see that focusing on the mobile experience is becoming difficult to ignore.

Further reading and additional resources: 

• Mobile Now Accounts for 50.3% of All Ecommerc Traffic
• 13 Stunning Mobile Responsive Shopify Themes
• How To Make Mobile Convert: The Most Common Mobile Store Mistakes

 

2. Social “discovery commerce” is on the rise

The increase in mobile phone traffic to online stores is partly being fuelled by another trend: the rise of social-fuelled product discovery and effective social ad targeting.

For example, we recently found that while Facebook accounted for less than 5% of traffic to ecommerce sites on desktop, that number jumps to 7% when looking at mobile phones. In comparison, search based traffic from Google represented 18% of traffic from computers, but just 12% on mobile phones.

This data seems to show that computers are being used to search for more commodity-type goods, while social media and mobile are used for more spontaneous, discovery-based purchases. And those purchases are on the rise.

In 2014 ecommerce orders coming from social media grew a staggering 202%. (Click to tweet)

While much of the Facebook traffic may also be coming from paid ads, it also demonstrates how Facebook is maturing as an advertising platform and how our ad savvy store owners have been able to capitalize on the new advertising products Facebook has developed.

But Facebook is not the only platform driving results for merchants. In fact, earlier this year we reported that certain industries were actually generating a significant amount of orders from secondary platforms.

 

We expect social commerce to continue to be an important trend in 2015 for both online and offline retail.

Further reading and additional resources:

• Which Social Media Platforms Drive the Most Sales? [Infographic]
• 10 Ways Ecommerce Brands Can Increase Traffic And Sales With Facebook
• 7 Ways to Drive Sales and Traffic with Pinterest
• Pinterest Rich Pins Now Automatically Enabled for Shopify Merchants
• How To Build A Massive Following On Instagram
• Facebook Store by Shopify

3. “Always-on shopping” is now a reality

People are now shopping wherever and whenever is convenient for them. This could be on a desktop at work, on a phone while commuting, or in bed while on Facebook. This highlights how it important it is for merchants to provide a flexible buying experience that adapts to their customers buying habits.
Here's an hourly breakdown of sales in a typical day to show how and when people shop. The most popular time to buy online is weekdays between 12-2pm and on Sunday evenings. (Click to tweet)

If you’re a PPC advertiser, this data can act as a starting model for day-parting and segmenting your ad campaigns based on device and channel.
While you should always use your own data as the basis for decision making, you might find it useful to see how your analytics stack up against these peak times.
Further reading and additional resources:

• Shopify Mobile
• Shopify POS

To see the original article please visit: http://www.shopify.com/blog/16794380-3-ecommerce-trends-you-need-to-know-for-a-profitable-2015

13 Retail Blogs You Should Follow

Snap Retail

Description: “At SnapRetail, we want to make life easy for local retailers…We want them to have more - more time, more traffic and more sales. That's why we've developed a system that helps them easily engage and sell to customers using email and social media.”

Follow them at: @SnapRetail

Article we recommend: Marketing to Millennials

 

 

BrandSpank

Description: “We are a user experience agency for brick & mortar retailers.”

Follow them at: @BRANDSPANKshop

Article we recommend: Customer Service is Branding

 

 

Flex Receipts

Description: “Unlock the power of a digital receipt that builds your brand,
engages your customers and transforms your business with
valuable analytic insights.”

Follow them at: @flexReceipts

Article we recommend: The Art of Storytelling in a Digital Receipt

 

 

Retail Pro

Description: Our professionally certified business partners provide local training, service, support, and regulatory compliance so you can grow your business no matter where it takes you.

Follow them at: @RetailProNews

Article we recommend: The Key to Increasing Sales? Mobile

 

 

NCR CounterPoint

Description: “NCR Counterpoint includes robust point-of-sale, inventory management software, built-in customer loyalty, automated purchasing, and configurable reporting capabilities.”

Follow them at: @NCRCorporation

Article we recommend: eCommerce: No Longer a Singular Experience

 

 

 

 

Retail TouchPoints

Description: “Retail TouchPoints (RTP) is an online publishing network for retail executives, offering content focused on optimizing the customer experience across all channels.”

Follow them at: @rtouchpoints

Article we recommend: BCBGMaxAzria Maximizes Email Performance With Personalization And Automation

 

 

 

 

Retail Minded

Description: “Retail Minded is a trusted resource for independent retailers and other small business owners.”

Follow them at: @retailminded

Article we recommend: 3 Easy Marketing Tips You Can Start Doing Today

 

 

Smart Retailer

Description: “Smart Retailer covers all of today’s popular styles, including country, traditional, vintage, coastal and more, and it provides new-product previews, trend reports, display ideas, and valuable business advice to help retailers build smart businesses.”

Follow them at: @Smart_Retailer

Article we recommend: Optimize Your Retail Store Design and Increase Sales

 

 

Shopify

Description: “…merchants use our platform to manage every aspect of their business — from products to orders to customers, selling online, in retail stores, and on the go.”

Follow them at: @shopify

Article we recommend: The Real Reasons People Aren’t Buying From You

 

 

Retail Mavens

Description: “I work with retailers just like you who are good at what they do; however, they have never been taught exactly how to run their stores more profitably or more effectively.”

Follow them at: @retailmavens

Article we recommend: 5 Skills EVERY Team Member Must Know Now

 

 

Whizbang Training

Description: “Their complementary skill sets and diverse backgrounds give their company and retail trainers at WhizBang! Training a one-two punch of street-smart independent retail store owner and highly trained retail pro.”

Follow them at: @BobNegen

Article we recommend: 7 Marketing Mistakes

 

 

 

Retail Digest Brought to you by Vend

Description: “Welcome to The Retail Digest – the world’s best site for retail news and information, curated by the top 100 industry thinkers and doers, and upvoted by people like you.”

Follow them at: @theretaildigest

Article we recommend: Selling on Online Marketplaces: A Basic Guide to Setting Up Shop on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy

 

 

National Retail Federation (NRF)

Description: “Our mission is to advance the interests of the retail industry through advocacy, communications and education.”

Follow them at: @NRFnews

Article we recommend: The New Rules of Retail Merchandising

 

8 Reasons to Do A Pop-Up Shop

by Humayun Khan Humayun Khan

Posted in Physical Retail

June 13, 2014

Pop-up shops are the Snapchat of retail; Most of their magic comes from their temporary and "get-it-while-it-lasts" nature.

In fact, according to Specialty Retail, pop-ups are expected to be a $8 billion a year industry, and has everyone from Warby Parker to popular boy band One Direction trying to get in on the action.
Not only can the location of a pop-up vary but brands use them for a wide array of purposes, from creating an unforgettable and branded experience for consumers that generate buzz and brand awareness, to quickly testing and experimenting in what used to be costly retail waters. In essence, pop-ups are transforming the way we shop.

Over the last few months, we've been busy creating resources to help merchants who might have only sold exclusively online to consider thinking about pop-ups shops as another sales channel. From picking and negotiating the perfect location, designing the store interior and displays, to marketing and evaluating your success, we hope to provide everything you'll need to get started.

Regardless of whether you're considering your first pop-up or have a few under your belt, here are eight reasons why every ecommerce merchant should give pop-up shops a chance.

To view the original article visit: http://www.shopify.com/blog/14478233-8-reasons-why-you-need-to-do-a-pop-up-shop-infographic?utm_content=bufferd472b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer