Read this blog and learn the steps to take offline stores online in India. From setting goals and choosing digital platforms to logistics and marketing,  check out how VasyERP supports retailers at every stage of their digital journey. 

The shift from offline store to online platform is becoming essential as Indian consumers’ purchasing habits have been transformed by the pandemic. I Indian consumers’ shopping habits have revolutionized and offline shops need to reconsider their strategy. While consumers expect faster service, online payments, and doorstep delivery, physical store foot traffic in offline stores has decreased. Traditional approaches of buying things offline are no longer sufficient. Smart digital solutions are being adopted by many offline organizations to increase efficiency, retain consumers, and increase sales to stay competitive and satisfy modern demands.. The dilemma is:

How to boost Online shopping?  

Nowadays, the importance of digitize retail stores in India is growing. Even though it won’t replace more traditional channels like physical stores anytime, online shopping will continue to be an important channel for offline retailers.

As per Statista, Global e-commerce sales are predicted to exceed $6.3 trillion in 2023, underscoring the size of the online business. 

The transition from physical to virtual shopping has evolved from a fad to a requirement for expansion and survival. There are a lot of chances to boost your audience, improve client interaction, and increase sales in novel ways with this shift. To effectively handle the change, offline retail brands must implement strategic methods that take into account the subtleties of online consumer expectations and behavior.

In this blog, we outline 7 fundamental steps to take an offline store online platform seamlessly.

7 Steps to Take the Offline Store to Online Platform

Step 1: Set Clear Online Goals for Your Store

Before developing a website or creating social media promotions, it is important to define the goals for your store. Question yourself regarding,

• Do I wish to increase sales outside of my neighbourhood?
• Do I want to provide home delivery services to my current clients?
• Do I want to operate a full-fledged online store or just accept orders on Instagram or WhatsApp?

Example: A local clothing shop owner will start selling his product through Whatsapp and gradually will decide to develop a full-fledged website with payment integration and shipping across PAN India.

To generate ideas for your web business, you will need these essential services, which should ideally address their problems. Not everything will be appropriate for your online store. Hence, evaluate the viability of providing each service online. What are your target customers’ needs, and who are they? Spend some time learning about your possible online audience. What issues can you help them with in the virtual world? Adjust your offers to suit their requirements.

Setting clear goals will help you choose an appropriate platform, design your e-catalog in a better manner, and will save more time. The technical team at VasyERP helps offline retailers to decide their goals and clarify their digital requirement, align online and offline strategies to boost their sales.

Step 2: Choose the Right Online Sales Platform

Once you decide your goals, choose the platform where you will sell your products. There are multiple platforms to choose:

• Online marketplaces- Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, etc.

• E-Commerce Website– Website developed using Shopify or WooCommerce.

• Social media: Instagram, Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp Business, etc.

• ONDC (Open network digital commerce)– a government supported platform that bridges the gap between local sellers and digital buyers.

Every online platform has its own pros and cons. There are several businesses that choose hybrid models to integrate with their websites, marketplaces, and social media sales. VasyERP helps to integrate with Shopify, ONDC and other marketplaces to ease inventory management, sales, etc from a single platform only. 

Step 3: Digitize Inventory with SKUs and Product Photos 

Before knowing how to sell the online from offline store, it is important to maintain your inventory in a clean, organized and categorized manner. Hence, here is what the retailers can do:

• Assign SKUs (Stock keeping units) to every product and its variants like size and color.
• Define product category (eg. Women’s wear > Shirts > Casuals)
• Give proper description to every product (Size, color, material)
• Upload high-quality clear photos taken in proper angles.

Integrate the inventory with ERP to update the stock level and avoid overselling and enhance customer experience.

A clothing store retailer can group the products under men’s wear, women’s wear, accessory, kid’s wear, and assign SKUs to every product like “Men’s wear > Ethnic > Linen.”

VasyEPR’s POS Software can easily help you create SKU, upload product catalogs in bulk, auto-generate barcodes, and manage inventory in real-time across online and offline sales channels.

Step 4: Setup Payment Gateways & Pricing 

Customers expect secured payment gateways for all the online transactions. To accept online payments, integrate a secured payment gateway to the portal. In India, several payment options are:

• Razorpay
• Paytm
• Cashfree
• CCAvenue
• PhonePe

Ensure that the payment gateway supports UPI, debit/credit cards, wallets, net banking, and COD (Cash on delivery), especially for city customers. Also, you must consider additional costs including:

• Packaging and shipping costs
• Add GST if applicable
• Plan offers and discounts or online-exclusive deals

VasyERP offers payment gateway integration, automated GST-billing software, and reports to track payment modes. 

Step 5: Create a Logistics & Delivery Plan

Logistics is an important part of online retail. The delivery experience defines if customers will be retained or give negative reviews. You can plan delivery in an organized manner:

• Decide if you will manage in-house delivery or collaborate with courier partners like Delhivery, Shiprocket, Bluedart, India Post, or Xpresbees.
• Mention Shipping zone, delivery timelines, and return/exchange policies.
• Set clear delivery charges or offer free delivery over a minimum order value.
• Use order tracking, real-time status updates, and automated shipping labels.

Our cloud-based ERP software works with several logistic partners. Using our software, the owners can generate packing slips, invoices, and track orders within a unified platform.  

Step 6: Market Your Store Digitally

Proper marketing of your store is important in order to attract more customers. This is where digital marketing comes in.

• Create a Google business profile to get searched in local areas
• Run ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google.
• Use Whatsapp Business to broadcast new arrivals and offers.
• Build an email campaigns or SMS database for campaigns and offers
• Engage with customers using reviews, feedback, or loyalty programs.

Our cloud-based POS software comes with marketing automation, CRM, promotional tracking features to allow retailers to do campaigns, measure results, and boost customer retention ration. 

Step 7: Track KPIs & Improve

Once you have launched your brand on a digital platform, it is important to track overall progress and identify the success and failures. For this you can monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like:

• Online order volume and revenue
• Best-selling categories
• Repeat customers
• Website traffic and conversion rate
• Inventory turnover and wastage
• Return rates

You can use this data to optimize pricing, fix delivery delays, and add several other popular products or strategize marketing policies. VasyERP’s dashboard provides real-time analytics and customizable reports to track overall performance. 

Customers are satisfied and earnings are increased when online and physical retail are combined into a single shopping experience. For retailers, it can lead to several opportunities.

The next phase of eCommerce growth is online-to-offline commerce, as recognized by industry titans like Alibaba and Amazon. Then it will undoubtedly additionally bring some aspects of improvement for the growth of your company. Digital transformation is still a long way off, but perhaps this blog has given you the easy steps to take a shop online in India.

With VasyERP, you can get a trusted partner for:

• Inventory and billing automation
• eCommerce and ONDC integration
• Payment and logistic setup
• Marketing tools and performance dashboard

You can contact experts at VasyERP if you want to know more integration of cloud-based ERP software into your website.