56 percent of shoppers visit brand websites as one of the top 5 places for pre-purchase research, gathering information about products they consider buying. However, many brands only showcase their products on their websites, setting up a conversion dead-end. The Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) eCommerce approach isn’t suitable for all brands, as many rely heavily on retailer partners. Multichannel brands now require alternative methods to capture consumer behaviors and preferences.
Enter Where-to-Buy solutions, like MikMak Commerce for Brand Websites, that enhance shopping experiences by seamlessly guiding shoppers directly to checkout options, both online and in-store. This solution also enables you to monitor the preferences of your brand website audience, empowering you to optimize marketing strategies for both existing and prospective customers. Let’s dive into how a Where-to-Buy solution on your brand website can enhance marketing effectiveness and boost sales.
But first, what is a Where-to-Buy solution?
A Where-to-Buy solution is a technology that brands can integrate into their websites to facilitate purchases from the brand’s retailer partners. This technology enables on-site eCommerce, even for brands without a DTC shopping site. A Where-to-Buy solution can take the form of a ‘Buy Now’ button, or it can be embedded directly into a webpage, allowing shoppers to seamlessly choose their preferred retailer and proceed to checkout.
Why should brands use Where-to-Buy on their website?
Where-to-Buy solutions enable multichannel brands to make their products discoverable and assist shoppers in finding and purchasing them more quickly, both online and in-store. Check out our blog to discover why using a Where-to-Buy solution on your brand’s website is crucial. Here are five ways these solutions give your brand a competitive edge.
- Generate incremental sales with seamless shopping experiences: 66 percent of online shoppers prioritize convenience when choosing a retailer. With Where-to-Buy solutions, you can streamline purchases, saving shoppers from extra Google searches and minimizing exposure to competitor ads.
- Give your shoppers more options: By offering multiple checkout choices, brands empower consumers with the freedom to purchase where they prefer.
- Keep selling when stock runs out: Statista reports that brands lose an estimated $71.4 billion yearly as shoppers seek out-of-stock products elsewhere. Where-to-Buy solutions act as a backup: when stock runs dry, shoppers can still buy your products through other retailers.
- Strengthen retailer partnerships: By demonstrating sales-driving data, you can strengthen your brand's value proposition to retailers.
- Gain actionable insights about your audience with first-party data: Using Where-to-Buy solutions collects valuable behavioral data, identifying preferred products and retailers for targeted messages tailored to preferences.
How to choose the right Where-to-Buy solution provider?
Selecting the right Where-to-Buy solution provider requires careful consideration of objectives, feature requirements, and evaluation criteria. Recognizing the significance of informed decision-making in this process, we offer a comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP) guide to assist you in crafting the perfect RFP for your business needs. Here are some tips on how brands can ensure successful implementation and maximize ROI:
- List problems you’re looking to solve: State a business problem followed by a list of supporting questions that will help identify the vendor best suited to help you achieve your objective.
- Define feature requirements: List feature requirements in a quadrant of must have, should have, could have, and should not have which can help identify which vendor most meets your needs.
- Specify evaluation criteria: Insight into how your company will be grading vendors provides transparency into the process and lets vendors know what are the company's priorities.
Creative best practices with MikMak Commerce
MikMak Commerce offers a range of customizable templates and features to seamlessly integrate Where-to-Buy functionality into brand websites. Here are a few of our best practice tips to help you get started:
- Simplify checkout: Use a clear CTA like ‘Buy Now’, and make it visible on all your product pages as well as pages with high traffic.
- Increase convenience: Let your shoppers complete their purchase at any of their preferred retailers, in addition to your DTC store.
- Reduce clicks: Display both online and in-store checkout options within one user interface/design.
- Personalize selection: Use product filters and carousels to make specific categories, variants, and related products easily discoverable and available to interested shoppers.
Why do the world’s biggest brands choose MikMak Commerce for brand websites?
Some additional highlights that set MikMak apart in creating seamless Commerce experiences, both for shoppers and brands:
- Create omnichannel Where-to-Buy experiences with Simplified Integrations.
- Refine searches and measure digital marketing impact with the Global Store Locator & Digitally Influenced Offline Sales Report.
- Allow shoppers to add products to their retailer cart with a single click and better understand shopper behavior and preferences with Direct Add to Cart.
- Enable quick purchases with Shoppable Recipes, offering a seamless path to purchase directly from your recipe content.
- Prevent out-of-stock pages and gain full control over the look and feel of your shoppable media and Where-to-Buy experiences using MikMak Headless Commerce API & Superior Inventory Management.
Where-to-Buy solutions represent a paradigm shift in eCommerce, enabling brands to accelerate sales, improve customer experiences, and gain actionable insights. With the right technology and strategic approach, brands can stay ahead of the competition and thrive in the digital marketplace. To gain a competitive edge into the world of Where-to-Buy solutions, download our comprehensive How to Accelerate Sales with Where-to-Buy Solutions on Brand Websites guide today and propel your brand towards success in the ever-evolving eCommerce landscape.