Online shopping is a pretty simple mundane task, a simple transaction process - nothing more, and nothing less. The transaction process is repeated online approximately 200,000 times per day for UK garment decorators. The worry for businesses is customers can afford to pick and choose who they deal with. The key for garment decorators is to set your online experience apart from your competitors, make your business stand out and offer your customers more.

Here at eTrader, we have come up with something to address the problem!

Your business will rarely meet the majority of your customers, so the key to success is offering customers more online – a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to make your business stand out from your competitors and the rest of the crowd. Offer your customer the personal touch, the ‘experience’ and build up a connection through your website.

This is seen as essential online practice when dealing with larger customers. Whether your customer is a school, sports clubs, groups/organisations, regular contracts or repeat customers, you’ll want to do everything you can to make it as simple as possible for them to place orders and give them something your competitors can’t compete with!

Just Simply Remember - It may be your website but it’s their experience!

eTrader addresses the need of tailored online experiences by offering fully customisable shops that can be easily set up to meet each of your customer’s needs. For other businesses implementing this, the cost of using web developers to develop their existing or a new site is highly expensive and time consuming process. But with eTrader it could not be simpler, with easy to follow instructions letting you fully customise shops to meet each customer’s personal preference.

Creating shops streamlines business between you and your customers a much simpler process - cutting out the lengthy negotiations back and forth, the administration, processing etc. Setting up an online personal shop is the most effective way of personalising your larger customers shopping experience.

Customising your business is not difficult or time consuming but it is a key tool in ensuring you retain key customers and perform financially.

eTrader Tip: 

• Customise content within personalised shops to meet your major customer’s specific needs; retention is vital for garment decorators in the current economy!
• Provide your customer an online experience mirroring your in-store experience and service, this will ensure your customers will keep coming back!

The garment decorating industry is a complex one (as you’re all probably more than aware of!) there are many challenges ahead for garment decorators alike, however big or small your business is. The industry has seasonal peaks and troughs which most garment decorators simply accept - calling it the nature of the industry.

BUT the quiet period isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are ways to make the most of the downturn and prepare your garment business for what your customers and the industry throw at you next. The key to doing this successfully involves developing skills and smart practices that will allow your business to remain profitable during off-seasons and periodic slowdowns.

Here are some of our key hints & tips to help you and your business during these times:

Gain an understanding of the cycles in the garment decorating industry: The industry has a natural yearly cycle which is pretty universal meaning seasonality is inevitable. The challenge for decorators alike is to understand each season, what it means for you, your business, your online performance and how to best utilise each season to maximise profit.

Work on your planning/management skills: A key tool in making the most of the downturn is foresight. As an owner of a garment decorating business, the focus is on profit not planning. However, much research shows planning is key in making this profit. Plan rigorously, leaving no stone unturned – consider all situations and scenarios for your embroidery or printing business and how to best prepare for these. Manage your resources and people as effectively as possible to fit into this plan and your overall strategy.

Generate new ideas and fill the service gap: The printing & embroidery industry is a highly adaptable sector; you can transform simple garments into anything you like; with flexible e-commerce systems (such as our eTrader websites) offering opportunities to branch into other areas/markets. You don’t have to build up expensive new businesses branching off your core business. Simply, test your products in new markets, tailor your new printed/embroidered products for certain industries and play about with ideas (In a cost effective manner of course).

Stay in touch with your customers: Become pragmatic, find your customers. Don’t wait for them to come back to you. A proactive approach to business in the quiet periods is much more likely to yield results than that of sitting around accepting the situation. The key is constant communication with your customers, simply send out soft email campaigns, engaging in social media campaigns or simply just make a courtesy call. Your prerogative will always be sales, but just simply let them know you and your business are still there to meet their needs.

In conclusion, these simple hints & tips show your printing and embroidery business does not have to come to an abrupt halt. There are many areas within your garment decoration business that can be used to increase sales and defeat the downturn.

The logic is simple: Build up your solid foundations for your core garment decorating business - but when the going gets tough, be smart,innovative and pragmatic in your approach to managing your business effectively.

Don’t just settle for following the normal industry cycles, set your own!          

It’s that time of year where garment decorators alike start to pull their hair out, the volume of sales has decreased - the school uniforms have been fulfilled, sports teams simply don’t order once their seasons underway and businesses are simply being constrained by tight budgets. The key for garment decorators is to somehow not just survive but thrive.

The answers simple! – Develop your online presence; reaching new levels with your business. Here are a few simple pieces of advice to help you improve your business online and enhance your customer’s online experience & increase sales:

Homepage

1. Arouse interest and create demand: Exciting and emotional images and texts with call to action can whet your customer’s appetite.

2. Sales appeal: Position your top selling products in highly visible areas along with featured products. Make products highly desirable and eye catching using the tools at your disposal.

3. Consistency: Be clear and consistent throughout your homepage, using clear concise eye- catching content sticking to your brand guidelines and aimed at your target audience and key customers.

Product Pages

1. Present your product appealingly: Make it eye catching, something to remember! Display big images and offer the possibility to zoom in.

2. Information about product features: Clearly show the most important product details. Many don’t do this on sites but by showing the customer your attention to detail, you’ll reap the rewards.

Purchasing

1. Stick to the basic ordering/invoicing: Remove all website elements which are not necessary to display to keep the focus on the actual products.

2. Create safety and trust: Keep on displaying important trust elements such as customer reviews.

3. Communicate effectively: Offer the customer the latest updates regarding their order as soon as possible (Generating that previously mentioned trust).

4. Quick and customer-friendly process: Stick to the user friendly experience, offer customers what they want, customers often require a speedy easy to order process (like the eTrader way). Stick to this and you can’t go wrong!

 Final thought, it’s important to see things from the customers’ perspective. From main page to check out, always be self-critical and ask yourself what you can do to improve your customer’s experience.