When did you last remodel your store? 1970? 1980? Does your store look old? Perhaps the showcases are doing their job but what about the wood paneling on the walls that's a dead giveaway of a 30 year old store?
Continuing with this line of thought, is the old store design turning away customers? Another question you could ask yourself is how often do you get first time customers in the store and then never see them again?
According to Lydia Ramsey of MannersThatSell.com, first impressions account for 93% of all opinions, and the basis for doing business "is judged based on non-verbal data - your appearance and your body language." It's okay if your retail store looks old if it's your intended style, but does it look old, tired and in need of refreshing? There is a difference.
When it comes to non-in-person first impressions, Lydia Ramsey states that 70% is judged by the way you convey your message, and only 30% is judged by the words you use.
The concept to remodel your store is an analogy to illustrate a point regarding your website. The technology that drives the internet changes every time a new computer model comes off the Dell assembly line; every time Microsoft downloads a new Windows Update; every time Apple pushes a new iOS upgrade to the iPhone; every time Google comes out with a new free online service. Every single time you see a new ad on TV for the next cell phone you need to say to yourself, "yep, more new internet technology."
The point is that the internet changes every day. It is very difficult to keep up with new technology, and the best you can do is build a website to conform to the current day standards and hope it will appeal to--and function correctly--to the majority of your customer base for at least 18 months.
Previous statistics mentioned in a Daily Gold Nugget stated that fewer than 25% of retail jewelry store owners kept themselves up to date on new technology in comparison to 56% of your customers.
Let's throw some more statistics at you... According to Google's Ad Planner service, 62% of your online visitors are female; 30% of them are 25 to 34 years old and 27% are 35 to 44 years old. Those are also the age ranges of the majority of customers at BestBuy. In other words, your customers are keeping up to date with technology.
One final statistic to mention today is what we've measured in our own office: On average, every small retail jewelry website attracts 45 new visitors every day. How many visitors turn into customers?
The question you should be asking yourself is whether or not you need to upgrade your website to improve first impressions. Is your website turning away potential customers or is it drawing them in?
We wanted to give you this food for thought on this (USA) Labor Day holiday, and we assume you are reading this email on your iPhone or Blackberry.
Don't panic and rush out to upgrade your website just yet. Over the next few days we'll give you some tools to help you determine for yourself if your website needs a refreshing.
