retail

Prepare against discounters with an online strategy

Big discounters have arrived in the New Zealand pharmacy market. It’s been a long time coming, but now that they’re setting up shop next door, how prepared are you to compete?

We speak with Managing Director of First Retail Group Ltd, Chris Wilkinson, about the importance of an online strategy to help prepare against discounters.

Chris, we’ve seen discounters come into the market in other verticals. What affect can they have on established businesses?

Discounters are disruptors in that they shift consumer expectations, making it more challenging for established businesses to compete. Retailers must look to other ways of demonstrating their overall value proposition and widen their audience through new channels such as e-commerce.

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What content does your website need to bring customers to your store?

Once you’ve decided to establish an online presence, it’s time to start thinking about what kind of content you’re going to have on your website. You can approach this in lots of different ways, but there are three main approaches

  • A bare bones approach – just your pharmacy’s name, address, opening hours and contact details.
  • A more detailed approach, with content about common pharmacy issues.
  • A full-blown online store, where people can find answers to their questions, and buy products from you, directly from your website.

To decide which approach to take, you need to think about what your customers need, how they engage with you, and which approach will best-help you to help them solve their problems. Here’s how:

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How to Compete with Big Discounters Online and Win

Meeting the needs of modern consumers can be a challenge for pharmacists. Big pharmacy discounters with powerful brand identities and huge advertising budgets can offer pharmacy goods at prices brick-and-mortar pharmacists struggle to even match – much less beat!  This challenge becomes even greater when you add the online discounters in the mix. Consumers can get low-priced healthcare and pharmacy goods delivered to their homes in a matter of days.  

Sometimes, it feels a bit bleak. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, you can hold your own competing online against the big players. You can get an edge by focusing on two things: your trusted and personalised expertise and the convenience you offer. Read on:

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Image showing Orewa Beach with kitesurfers and coastal lifestyle

Shop Local Initiatives, Destination Marketing and Events at Orewa Beach

In our Shop Local article series, we talk to retailers, town centre managers and passionate people about what makes their local area unique and how they’re spreading the word within and beyond their community.

We spoke to Hellen Wilkins, Manager at Destination Orewa Beach, about the unique coastal lifestyle of Orewa and the shop local initiatives in the area, as well as how they are responding to their evolving environment and audience. (more…)

GoRetail: The positive impact of a collaborative shop local initiative [Video]

GoRetail is a collaborative programme of strategies to keep the Gore CBD strong and ensure Gore remains a great place to do business.

The initiative certainly has the town talking. Watch the video to see the positive impact GoRetail is having towards making Gore the most commercially resilient provincial town in New Zealand. (more…)

Howick Village

Ways to successfully promote and get more visitors to a town – what’s working for Howick Village

Storbie is passionate about people finding and buying local products and services. In our Shop Local article series, we talk to retailers, town centre managers and passionate people about what makes their local area unique and how they’re spreading the word within and beyond their community.

Shop Local Promotions Working For Howick Village

With nearly a third of Kiwis now using a smartphone to find local information, Howick Village in Auckland knows it is important to provide local businesses, residents and visitors with a tool that facilitates local engagement on mobile devices. We spoke to Jenny Foster, Howick Village Business Association Manager, about how exciting town events combined with digital channels work together to promote Howick’s unique combination of heritage town and boutique shopping destination. Read on to see the types of town promotions that are working for Howick. (more…)

7 Ways Retailers Can Support A Physical Store With An Online Presence [Slideshare]

Retailers whose business and products are more visible online attract more customers into their store. It’s not just about online sales.

88% of consumers who search for a type of local business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours.

How can retailers be visible online in ways that support physical retail? (more…)

Hamilton City retail

Why Hamilton Wants To Get More Local Products In Front Of More Digitally Connected Consumers

Storbie is passionate about people finding and buying local products and services. In our Shop Local article series, we talk to retailers, town centre managers and passionate people about what makes their local area unique and how they’re spreading the word within and beyond their community.

Taking Advantage of Purchasing Behaviour Trends To Encourage Shopping Locally

Consumers want to purchase locally-made goods and support local businesses, and they are doing more and more product research online and on-the-go before stepping in store to purchase. These are two trends that business associations can take advantage of in their marketing, says Sandy Turner, General Manager of the Hamilton Central Business Association (HCBA). Turner says digital channels are a vital way to get these products in front of consumers and influence buyer behaviour. She explains how HCBA’s marketing efforts combine digital and traditional methods and why the new Hamilton Central online marketplace website is a key part of the Hamilton digital strategy.

A common perception is that online is just a sales channel that detracts from brick-and-mortar sales, however research shows that digital interactions in fact have a huge influence on in store sales (called web-influenced sales) and buying behaviour. (more…)

Reversing The Trend: How online retail is taking cues from brick and mortar and how retailers can respond

Why do competing businesses the world over cluster together in the same place? Go to New York’s Fifth Avenue and you’ll find Saks, Abercrombie & Fitch and Gucci all vying for your attention. Head down to the waterfront in Auckland and you’ll find a line-up of restaurants complete with an eager maître d’ trying to entice you in.

Less glamorous but equally relevant, if you are looking to tile your bathroom in Wellington, you’ll head down to the ‘tile mile’ at the bottom of Ngaio Gorge where you’ll find a whole swag of tiling businesses parked right next to each other.

The reason for this is that when competing or complementary businesses band together in a cluster, whether that be Fifth Avenue, the Auckland Waterfront or even the tongue-in-cheek ‘tile mile’, everyone benefits from increased sales. The best of these clusters become brands in their own right. (more…)

The Future of Retail and How To Prepare: Business Collectives Are Trending

Business collectives (i.e. when competing or complementary businesses band together) are trending. A recent notable example is New Zealand craft breweries with Wellington brewers Yeastie Boys and Tuatara Breweries, Renaissance Brewing from Blenheim, 8 Wired Brewing Co from Warkworth and Three Boys Brewery from Christchurch recently forming the New Zealand Craft Beer Collective to help market their brands to Asia.

So what can retailers do to ensure they are ready to take advantage of this trend? (more…)