Why you need an Online Presence: A Study of 3 Trades

Suggested read: Top 10 Ecommerce Trends for 2021 that demand your attention.

What does it mean to have an online presence?

Think about long queues at the hawker centre. Stalls with long queues find that their queues grow longer, while stalls with no queue usually fail to convince potential customers that they are not any worse than the stall next door.

This observation reveals the mechanics of the herd mentality, or “monkey see monkey do” in Singapore’s context.

The internet has revolutionised information sharing, making information more accessible than ever before. It has united people of common interests into communities.

It has created space for businesses to expand their presence all over the web, and provide consumers with a wider range of purchasing options.

What does this mean for your business today?

Having an online presence is extremely important.

And it goes beyond merely creating a free website or social media accounts – these are the equivalents of setting up a stall in the hawker centre, but do not get you the “queue” that you want.

You need consumers to be talking about your business and singing the same tune of good reviews. The more good reviews you get, the clearer the indication of your business’ good reputation.

You would be leveraging on your customers to build rapport with your target market, and this all begins with providing your potential customers with good user experience on a website.

So how to build a strong online presence? 

Let’s learn from three businesses in Singapore:

Deliveroo

Singapore blogger Daniel Ang writes about Deliveroo’s consistent service:

“From an end-user’s point of view, there are some common shortcomings in food deliveries – hard to call through, unreliable delivery timings, lack of food options. […] I actually tried out Deliveroo 5 times to test their platform and services, and therefore feel safe enough to recommend to my colleagues and friends.“

Behind Deliveroo’s consistent performance is a well designed and thoughtfully developed website.

On first landing, potential customers are prompted to login, select their country, or enter their postcode. Their site is designed specifically for food delivery from the customer’s vicinity.

Once you enter your postcode, you are presented with a grid of F&B outlets, supported by graphics. You can also customise the day and time of your food delivery.

The moment you click on your choice of outlet, you are systematically brought to the food menu.

Basic information of the outlet is  neatly presented. Your order summary auto-generates at the side while you select your food choices.

At the click of a checkout button, sales goes through!

What we can learn from Deliveroo: Dedicate the portion above the fold for your most important, sales-driving information and processes.

This makes the purchasing process extremely smooth for your customers. They are bound to return, even for convenience’ sake!

On a side note, would you buy ikan bilis for $7.06?

Zalora 

Zalora Singapore has garnered more than 6.6 million likes on Facebook since its opening in 2012. Jose Ojeda, a representative of Zalora, indicates that:

“In the past, Zalora has been focusing on reaching out to more consumers through Facebook and search engines (using search engine marketing, or SEM). However, the company claims that over 45 percent of its sales come from mobile devices through the app and the mobile site, so for this year Zalora will focus a lot more on mobile, starting by improving its iOS and Android apps.” Read more here.

From this statement, you can see that Zalora invests time and expertise into tracking their sales bearings, coming up with action plans to stay relevant in their market. This means that they apply analytics and have a team of web/app developers to support their improvisation plans.

Before even entering their website, you are presented with a promotional offer as an underlying invitation to “join the party”. Zalora knows their target market and speaks their language.

On Zalora’s front page, there are options for potential customers to browse catalogues or Like the page on social media platforms. Assuring service tags are neatly presented at the top left.

Once you click on a catalogue, you enter a page divided into parts. The first is “What’s New”.

Scroll down and you find graphic buttons to promotional items.

Scroll further and you are offered an option to “Shop By Category”.

See a piece of clothing that you like?

You can hover your mouse over the image to get a better glimpse of the clothing’s details. #technology

Even with a commendable website, Zalora continue to follow the latest IT trends and develop their own Zalora App, both on Android and iOS. They have received more than 5 million downloads thus far.

Zalora’s commitment to staying relevant in the market is commendable!

What we can learn from Zalora: Never grow complacent with achievements-to-date. Invest in upgrades, keeping your business up-to-date and up-there.

Bandwagon

Any idea how the indie scene in Singapore has been growing exponentially?

It’s because of websites like Bandwagon, which creates space for information to be shared. Its online presence proliferates public conversation about the local music scene.

Started in 2011, Bandwagon is an online publication and live music finder.

On its Facebook page, Bandwagon writes that it is a “web app, created as the solution to finding live music in Singapore” and prides itself as having “the largest local gig database” for users to “stay up to date with the latest news and reviews.”

Let’s take a look at its website:

Once you enter the site, you are welcomed by a niche headline. Who is SVBKVLT? What is the subculture of substance?

You will realise immediately that you are entering a niche website. Besides articles, you are also given the options to view gig lineups, watch music videos and listen to sound tracks.

Gig lineups. 3 bands are presented at any one time. The row slides left to present a new set of bands every few seconds. You can buy tickets on the spot.

Editorials are systematically labelled according to their genre/type.

This site is packed with content. If you want to learn all about today’s music scene in Singapore, Bandwagon is your one-stop website to visit. Yet, even with loads of content, the site is uncluttered and easily navigable.

What we can learn from Bandwagon: With thoughtful web designing, you can transform a jumble of content into a tantalising buffet of information.

Conclusion

Online presence is powerful, and the role that website design plays in achieving it cannot be emphasised enough. 

Indeed, you can have the best product or service in the world, but you can only maximise your business potential by creating a felt online presence.

This comes with the right designs, systems and softwares that cater uniquely to the needs and preferences of your potential customers.

Web Imp has a team of professionals who can enhance your business’ online presence.

Sign up for a free consultation today!