Business that supports on-line trading by clicks and off-line collection of goods from a local store is practising, what we call as clicks and bricks business model. Clicks refer to on-line and bricks refer to stores. A combination of clicks and bricks, that is, physical presence by way of operating a shop and internet presence by way of hosting a web has, so far worked well. Let us look at this business model in the current form and see how it can be tweaked to perform better:
How clicks and bricks makes customer happy?
Today, technological advancements have made shopping a domestic affair. After surveying all goods displayed a buyer can select the one that suits him and make an order via internet at the speed of a button. That is convenience plus as there is no need to travel far and wide searching for something that is available for sale via internet. Secondly, he can find about whether the good he needed is available or not; this results in cutting down time and cost of visiting shops in vain. Wider selection of products is facilitated affording a buyer the chance of shopping through before making his choice. For all that on-line shopping itself is a pleasure.
How the Seller benefits?
Money saved in operating clicks and bricks business model is tremendous. Instead of having several stores in multiple locations a seller has to set-up few in strategic and convenient locations so that products ordered on-line could be collected by the customer in a manner lot easier. Optimizing stores means curtailing cost in terms of rent, insurance, maintenance and human resource who are assigned to look after these. It does not mean the seller can do without stores at all. Stores are still necessary but the extant depends on the type of products a seller purveys. In the case of digital products a seller needs only a limited store, but in the case of furniture he requires much bigger space.
What kind of Seller can operate clicks and bricks?
As a business model, clicks and bricks works well with a company that has two things to sell; one is a product the other one is the name or brand that has been built over a period of time. An established business with an unstinted reputation can sell a range of existing products under known brand names to existing client pool. Once this is accomplished, advertisements and sales promotion bring in more prospective customers. That behoves a business to take right marketing initiatives and exhibits a high degree of versatility in product sale. Execution of on-line orders demands extensive logistics and effective supply chain mechanism. Hence, a seller who is bent on clicks and bricks must be able to cough out money in investing logistics and supply chain. Businesses such as jewellery, lifestyle products, retailing, chain stores, super markets, hyper markets are well suited to operate this business model.
How to tweak clicks and bricks for better performance?
Pure clicks and bricks business model cannot continue amidst changes taking place in technology and buying patterns. Let me give few tweaks to make clicks and bricks perform better:
1. Order on-line and collect from nearby store could be amended to include delivery by the seller directly to the address supplied by the customer which may relates to him or another person
2. Leveraging on the fact that customer gets convenience and pleasure in making orders on-line and that as a result there is cost savings for the seller, he can pass on part of such cost savings to the customer by way of gifts or gift vouchers
3. Targeting younger customers in tween and twenties is a sure fire way to augment sales as this age group is more active in internet trading with more buying power
4. Bargain prices are to be offered for products that are fast moving in order to forestall customers making a bee-line to discount stores
5. Build strong on-line presence matched with stronger customer order follow-up system. For this purpose a central order processing system must be established in convenient location
6. Ensuring supply chain management is a critical measure. Ordered product must be despatched immediately if these are available in-store. In circumstances where a product need to be sourced from elsewhere, buyer must be noticed how the ordered product would be delivered and the time duration. Stand-by supplier network is a key to success where a business faces excess demand for a particular product
7. Where technical specifications play a big part, it is better to make on-line display for information purposes only and invite the prospective customer to visit the nearby store for the purchase. In lighter vein, the sale of lingerie for ladies with uncommon size or height measurements be better handled in a store rather than finalized over internet
8. Now that seller has invited customer to visit the store, he has to make it a fitting place. A store with a face-lift in a good and convenient location embellished with creative and aesthetic décor in ergonomic ambience is definitely an invitation to treat.
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