The world of business and commerce has been continuously evolving. From how shops are built, up to the creation of new ways on how to transact with customers, constant changes are being applied. The development of new technologies has also played a huge factor in upgrading the classic way of business and trading. A modern-day version of transactions has been prominent ever since the invention of gadgets and the internet happened.
For the past years, consumers have started to embrace the world of e-commerce business. Specifically, during these times where going out is not as easy as they were before. With the pandemic still on the run, going out to visit malls and supermarkets is quite risky. So what do we do to buy the things we need? We go virtual shopping.
But, what is virtual shopping? How does it work? And why is it a good way to upgrade your online business? We’ve got awesome answers for that.
What is Virtual Shopping?
Virtual shopping can be defined as a form of shopping wherein consumers do their purchase of products online. It is an activity in a virtual world where shoppers communicate with salespersons in a digital replica of an actual physical store. In some cases, both the shopper and the salesperson assigned communicate through avatars while they are proceeding with the transaction. In the simplest term, virtual shopping connects the consumers and the business through an enhanced ecommerce virtual store experience.
Image taken from Nomad
In a virtual retail shop, a business owner or office can communicate with their consumers through the use of modern virtual transactions. This online shopping experience could either be through text messages, chat, or even through videos. Though it is virtual shopping, customers can still ask questions, lay their personal product concerns, get virtual shopping recommendations, and even virtually try on some of the business’ products. Virtual store owners could also set up a virtual shopping catalog or a virtual shop walk-through to let customers get to know their virtual store even more.
This development of virtual shopping made in the world of eCommerce made way for the security of any physical store’s future. The massive impact made by the unexpected pandemic made a lot of businesses shut down and think of a way on how to still continue what they’ve started. With virtual shopping, businesses are able to find a way on how to still communicate with their customers amidst the ongoing crisis.
Image taken from Dr.Chai
Reasons Why You Need Virtual Shopping for Your Business
Virtual shopping does know how to do the job right, specifically in getting more customers for your business. But, why exactly are virtual shops a must for business owners? What benefits can you get from making your own virtual shop?
To give you a better view of how advantageous virtual shopping is, here’s a list we’ve made just for you.
- Measurable Conversions
In the world of eCommerce where tough competition is inevitable, conversions are essential. For your business to survive, you must have that power to make an opportunity yours and convert customers as much as you can. Having a virtual shopping feature in your online business can help you a lot with that.
Companies that entered the world of virtual shopping have seen remarkable changes in their business. Many of them have seen up to thrice of online virtual shopping conversions made in just a few months of opening their virtual shop. With virtual shopping, you and your business team can have the power to track your consumers buying behavior. You can see how your online shopping customers browse through your products and how they move inside your virtual shop—just like how they do in an actual physical shop.
With virtual shops, you can easily see the areas needing improvements within your virtual shopping business, and formulate techniques on how you can change them for the better. You can even design your own audience section with us through our Custom Form feature. By having a virtual shop comments section, you can let yourself hear what your virtual shopping customers think about you and your business. Virtual shopping has even made a huge impact on giving foot traffic wherein an average of 1 in 3 virtual shopping customers visit in-store after they’ve interacted with an online sales associate.
- Boosts Business
In business, you have to be flexible in managing everything within your company. You have to be adaptive in any situation and give an immediate response to any unexpected occurrence that may happen. One good thing about opening a virtual shopping website is that it is flexible and surely adaptive. Having a virtual store can let you and your team manage your business even being at home and far from each other.
Ever since the lockdown began, strict implementations were made in order to prevent anyone from getting harmed. This resulted in various stores unable to operate and employees losing their job. With a virtual store, you now have the power to continue selling your products and offer your services to your valued customers even with the absence of physical transactions.
Image taken from Bahia Blanca
For the past months, many business retailers who chose to start operating virtually have seen incredible success in their business sales. Using virtual shopping platforms from home truly helped them in gaining back what they’ve lost from the past months of not being able to operate.
- Advanced Customer Shopping Experience
Customers make any business more alive. Without them, it will surely be a nightmare. One aspect you need to understand in the field of eCommerce is that no matter what type of business we create, we must always include customer satisfaction in our business goals.
Shoppers tend to seek a business that cannot only provide them with their needs but also make them feel like they are being prioritized. With virtual shopping, making this wish come true is easier to accomplish. When creating your virtual store, you have the power to add features that can enhance the online shopping experience for your customers. Take advantage of modern technology and use them as a weapon in adding more life to your virtual shopping website. Create chatbots to serve as a “virtual assistant” to your website viewers. Develop a platform in which everyone can smoothly purchase products from you no matter what mode of payment they have. Have a community where everyone can share their thoughts about your business and even get the chance to meet new friends of the same likes. You can even create a page dedicated to you and your customers where you can teach and inspire them how you do what you do.
With us, you can add videos to story-tell about what products you are selling, post blogs on your virtual shop or sell online courses where they can learn lessons from you. You can even create with us a membership plan for your loyal customers and offer a premium virtual shopping experience that any shopper would definitely enjoy.
Image taken from Mantra
How to Add Virtual Shop on Your Strikingly Website
Now that you’ve learned the awesome perks of designing a virtual shopping platform, let’s now take things to the next level.
Image taken from Beauty INU
We in Strikingly strive to give the best customer experience to our users. Who wouldn’t want them anyway? We’ve got a bunch of awesome offers to help you start and manage your own virtual shopping website. From free website templates and layouts to amazing features in driving more customers towards your virtual shopping website, we surely got your back.
And to show you how we help our users grow their business, here’s a simple guide we made on how you can start your own virtual shopping platform through our Add Simple Store feature.
Step 1: Go to your site editor and then click the “Add New Section” green button.
Image taken from Strikingly
Step 2: Select “Simple Store” section
Image taken from Strikingly
After doing these easy steps, you can now start setting up your virtual shop.
To add your products to your virtual store,
- Go to your site editor.
- Select “Store”.
- On the dropdown menu, select “Products”.
- Select the “Add New Product” button.
- Add your virtual shopping products
Image taken from Strikingly
For our Free users, you can list one product, 5 products for Limited Users, and up to 300 products for PRO users.
You can also start setting up a mode of payment for your virtual shoppers. To do this step,
- Go to your store settings.
- Click on the “Set Up Payments” green button.
- Start setting up payment method by entering your email address on either Paypal, Stripe, or Square.
Image taken from Strikingly
If you don't have a Stripe or Square account yet, sign up for an account first then enter your account email. You can even select your desired store currency on this option to make transactions with your customers done easily.
Creating a website where you can freely do what you want is a luxury. In times like this where being practical is essential, you must know how to decide wisely, especially for your business. You can’t always do what you used to do. Sometimes, you also need to go out of your comfort zone and start exploring new ideas that can help you grow—just like virtual shopping.
Want to learn more about the world of eCommerce?
Chat with us, and let’s start upgrading your online business.
