Latest Innovation from NitroSell - "Multiple Webstores Powered by One RMS Database"

Posted 24th Mar, 2008

NitroSell New Feature “Multiple Webstores from a Single RMS Database” Causes Flood of New Orders for Art Store  

Cork Art Supplies sells by “bricks and clicks” –  through both a physical store and a WebStore. The company makes extensive use of NitroSell's free tight integration to leading Web analytics engines. Thanks to this, they made an exciting discovery that led to the creation of a second WebStore: www.cardznscrapz.com. Since its successful launch last year, Cardz ‘n’ Scrapz has opened up a whole new set of market opportunities for the retailer. With its extended market reach, Cardz ‘n’ Scrapz now provides an exciting new source of orders and profits for the business.

Situation

Cork Art Supplies is a family-run business that was founded in 1986 by Barry and Lia Walsh. No one envisioned that online selling would become such a global sensation, but the Walshes were quick to recognize the business potential they saw on the Web. By 2002, the Walshes launched their first WebStore, which was the first online arts-and-crafts WebStore to be introduced in Ireland.

Today, the Walshes have one in-store business and two online WebStores – Cork Art Supplies and Cardz ‘n’ Scrapz – all running from a single RMS database. They carry a broad range of materials and are chockablock with all of the items that any budding artist could wish for. Hot-selling brands include Aztek, Conté Carrés, Edding, Anita’s, Crayola, Berol, Folia, Le Franc & Bourgeois, Craft Planet, and Caran D'Ache.

Well-Crafted Expansion

NitroSell’s integration with leading analytics engines enables retailers to maximize their online sales, for example, by optimizing WebStore usability, maximizing promotions and ad campaign ROI, analyzing what increases conversion rates, and in general enhancing the Web customer experience. 

The Walshes’ decision to launch a second WebStore was initiated by a review of this data. By analyzing bounce and conversion rates (a measure of the number of visitors to the WebStore that go on to buy), they discovered that people who arrived on their site having searched for craft materials had a difficult time finding what they wanted, largely because of the sheer number of products that the “art supplies” WebStore carried. 

This highlighted the problem that, despite the popularity of craft-related searches, shoppers couldn’t find what they were looking for. Barry explains, “Making the shopper’s life easier is what we decided to focus on. By launching a second WebStore dedicated to craft items, we were able to fulfill our promise – to give customers what they want. Now, just two months later, our Web revenues have doubled – up 100% – incredible!”

NitroSell eCommerce Professional Edition enables retailers to create multiple WebStores from a single Microsoft RMS database. Using separate WebStore profiles, retailers can simply and effectively market their products to different target customers through uniquely branded WebStores. 

Making the Move     

“When we launched, we diverted a number of AdWords that had specifically focused on crafts across to the Cardz ‘n’ Scrapz webstore. This worked wonderfully once we went live. High-traffic figures were immediately captured, which meant that there was no disruption or fall off in order numbers on our first WebStore.

“Furthermore, NitroSell made it easy to reuse a lot of the design effort from our first WebStore, but to achieve a very distinct branding. We were able to easily connect the two WebStores with a tab link on each site that links to the other site. Our customers already trusted the reliability of our WebStore, so Cardz ‘n’ Scrapz was an instant hit.”

        

Benefits 

NitroSell eCommerce Professional Edition enables retailers to push any combination of products to multiple WebStores, all from the same RMS database. Each WebStore can have its own pricing, images, shopping cart, and so on, with distinct confirmation e-mails, merchant accounts, and out-of-stock rules.

Barry explains, “Now that we have two specifically focused WebStores, our customers benefit from convenience and greater selection. Thanks to NitroSell, we have effectively optimized the accessibility of our products to our customers, and our increased sales prove that. Each store can be more tailor-made to its target audience, with its own distinctive look and feel. Furthermore, our customers are already familiar with the usability of our Cork Arts Supplies Web site, so they instantly identified with the layout and navigation of Cardz 'n' Scrapz. In terms of functionality, our customers already trusted in our WebStores’ ability to deliver a fast and responsive service.”

NitroSell President Tom Keane added, "Cork Art Supplies got the benefit of an increase in revenues easily and dramatically with minimal capital cost – a superb business benefit in its own right. The double whammy they got was being able to manage three channels seamlessly with one system – their traditional store and now two new online channels." 

Turning Loose the Experience 

“Monitoring your Web analytics and reports is the key to maximizing your WebStore’s performance,” suggests Walsh. “Regular revisions of your Adwords or AdCenter search advertising campaigns will enable you to target more customers. It’s all relative to your WebStore – build your campaigns up slowly, track your ads, and never stop testing different ad variations. What makes your product or service better, or different from the competition? Spell it out in your ad. For example, consider a tagline like ‘Earth’s Greatest Art Store’. Now that’s worth clicking on!”

What are people searching for, and what are their conversion rates? If a popular search term has a low purchase or conversion rate, perhaps the products it relates to are too hard to find, are regularly out of stock, or have poor images or description. Making your customers life easier is the key. A well-designed WebStore should enable 100% of the people who want to buy to do so.

A good site will include information. A poor one is just a static online catalog. Information (articles, advice, reviews and so on) helps users early in their buying process. However, the real bonus comes from the products you are changing and adding every day to your traditional store – NitroSell syncs these up to your WebStore in seconds, and that “freshness” really draws the search engine’s interest.

For more information about NitroSell eCommerce, go to:
http://www.nitrosell.com/products/

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