Your website is the online representation of your showroom. No matter what you call it, you need to pay big attention to it this year. In the first episode of the new MicroD podcast, Our SKU’D View, Emily Stalvey and Chris Lamb discussed some business tips from our leadership team at MicroD. One theme we noticed was that retailers like you don’t have the time to absorb all content and solutions and great ideas. You’re running showrooms, warehouses, accounting departments, and customer service all simultaneously. So we made a commitment to you, the readers, to provide a toolkit for website success. Inside this toolkit, you’ll find a smattering of resources to get you on your way to building successful ecommerce website. Each month, we’re bringing you more toolkits for different areas in your business. Let’s take a look at your website success guide.
HOW TO CONDUCT A WEBSITE AUDIT
Ken Widger told you that a self-assessment in your website and marketing efforts was vital in 2019. Many of you asked, “how do I conduct a website audit?” And we have the blog to teach you! This blog highlights some of the benefits of a website audit. If you’re still not convinced, listen to the podcast episode about your website audit. One critical element to learn in this blog is the actual website analysis process. We outline a 12-point audit system for you. It’s easy to follow and will give you a starting point to make updates to building successful ecommerce website. 
You’ve heard us say it before, make data-driven decisions. When you’re going through the updates on your website, ask yourself one question. “What is the data telling me?” If you can answer that question, the answer is your next website update. If you don’t have enough data, don’t make a big change. We strongly urge that you don’t apply the Marie Kondo experience to your website audit. We say with love that… it really doesn’t matter if the website design spark joy for you. It matters if your website brings joy to your customers. So if you’re ready to make some data-driven decisions on your website, start the 12-point audit in the website audit blog.
THE BEST REASON TO CREATE AN ECOMMERCE WEBSITE
We’ve seen a lot of interest in this next topic. Later we’ll go into how to build an ecommerce website. But before you can build an ecommerce website, you need to understand why you need it. This part of our website success toolkit is about a blog we published on e-commerce in the home furnishings industry. Everyone from Furniture Today to MicroD is talking about the big shift.
If you haven’t noticed, the retailers who see unprecedented revenue lifts in the last few years are using ecommerce. Most retail stores aren’t seeing a major decline but there has been a steady loss of revenue lift in brick and mortar. It’s because the consumers are shopping differently. That’s why we dive into the Amazon Effect in a later section. Ecommerce retail is growing at a rapid pace. It might seem like a point too far ahead on your roadmap. But we strongly urge you to read this blog and reconsider. It’s a highlight of the reasons you need to start ecommerce. If you’re trying to convince someone in your organization that it’s time, you’ll find this blog helpful. Now breaking from building successful ecommerce website to a quick video tip.
HOW TO BUILD AN ECOMMERCE WEBSITE
If you’re reading this toolkit for website success and think, “I already have a great strategy for my website. And I’ve already made the decision to start e-commerce.” Then we applaud you. You’ve made it to the part of the roadmap we really enjoy. Building an eCommerce website isn’t just about adding a cart to the website. In fact, if you’ve just turned on the cart on your website and left it there, you need to come back to this blog and start again. Ecommerce isn’t easy. It requires a lot of time and resources. If you’re at this stage, we highlight some of the big hurdles you need to jump. First, make sure your website is on a mobile-first website platform. Your shoppers are going to be shopping from every device. A poor checkout on mobile is a lost customer for life.
Next, you’ll need to decide what products you actually sell online. This is the most critical component to your eCommerce strategy. The number one question we hear at High Point Market is about pricing your products online. If your manufacturers don’t offer to price for your product feeds, you’ll have to do it manually. We walk you through the best way to tackle this project without losing momentum.
Now that you’re set up with pricing, how will you deliver your products? How will you accept payments? The logistics of furniture e-commerce website building is challenging. That’s why you should read this article to get an easy-to-use guide.
DRIVING COMMERCE WITH PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS
That’s right. Product descriptions on your website can actually improve your sales. This article explores what makes a great product description to start building successful ecommerce website. We examine the item information page on a great website–with and without ecommerce. At the minimum, you need the important product description details. 
- Product type
- Style
- Material
- Construction
- Brand Name
- Collection Name
- Dimensions
But this isn’t all you need on the page. The more information you give your shoppers on this page, the more likely they are to buy it. When it comes to pricing, this article reviews the best practices for retail stores with and without ecommerce. There’s something for you building successful ecommerce website no matter where you are in the process of building a great website.
We know how important embellishment language is to your product page. We also know how important images are to your online product sales. MicroD uses this article to talk about customer engagement with your product descriptions. We were the first to pioneer product visualization in the home furnishings industry. And it all starts on the item information product page. You’ll enjoy this article to get tips from product data experts in the industry.
MAKING FURNITURE SHOPPERS HAPPY ONLINE
It’s not as simple as it sounds. Home furnishings shoppers are looking for our industry to make changes. If you haven’t started ecommerce, building better product descriptions, even update your website, it will be difficult to keep shoppers happy online. Each of the steps in this toolkit are equally important. But no matter your status online, this article is a necessity.
When we talk about how to achieve customer satisfaction online, there are 4 big categories. Showing value, personalization, feedback, and education. Interestingly the personalization is the most critical. Millennials are driving the industry to create a customized shopping experience for every visitor. This article explores some interesting facts about website personalization. For example, shoppers who have purchased from you before are 50% more willing to take a chance on new products that you bring in. Upselling current customers is easier than acquiring new customers. But how do you offer something unique to someone that already purchased from your store? And how to you repeat that over and over again. That’s what website personalization helps. Find out more in this article. 
EBOOK ABOUT THE AMAZON EFFECT ON RETAIL
Have you read this book yet? It’s a deep dive into the Amazon Effect. If you’ve got time, we recommend reading it in its entirety. But if you don’t have time, here’s the essence. The “Amazon Effect” refers to the decline in the traditional retail model and moves the sales process from in-store to online. This paradox is occurring because of the explosion of online retail sales driven by Amazon and other online retailers. As a result, traditional retailers are being forced to learn about concepts like the endless aisle, seamless shopping, and digital touch points.
Furniture and home furnishing retailers are learning that the “brick and mortar retail store challenge” and the “omnichannel retail challenge” are very real concerns as they develop their strategy in building successful ecommerce website. First, it was the big box retailers challenging smaller independent operators and now with the explosion of huge ecommerce outlets like Amazon and Wayfair, home furnishing and furniture retailers are forced to compete in a new world they do not fully understand.
This ebook reviews the 3 strategies to stay relevant in the retail store, how to create a seamless shopping experience, how the shopping landscape is changing and the future of your brick and mortar store.
EBOOK BUYER’S JOURNEY OF THE MILLENNIAL FURNITURE SHOPPER
In a recent RetailerNOW article, we talked more about the Millennial furniture shopper. Home Furnishings retailers are looking for new ways to attract and acquire the Millennial shopper. Most Millennials are educated consumers because they use the technology in their hands (the internet and social media) to learn more about products and services before making any purchases. It’s critical to building successful ecommerce website strategy.
They have increasingly adopted online shopping for fast and convenient purchases. They are also less influenced by traditional advertising. Technology platforms influence almost all their purchase decisions and their digital devices are their most preferred retail stores.
This eBook is a walk through how to acquire Millennial furniture shoppers from the research stage to the customer stage. 
- Who is the Millennial shopper?
- How to attract Millennial shoppers
- 3 Strategies to engage them
- How to convert Millennial customers
- How to nurture Millennial customers
If you are targeting millennial furniture shoppers and looking to create an ecommerce furniture strategy, this eBook is for you. We will follow a typical millennial buyer’s journey and suggest ways to engage online shoppers and convert millennial visitors into loyal customers. The book is written specifically for furniture retailers who want to attract, engage, convert and nurture millennial furniture shoppers, an emerging market of adults who, while representing a huge potential market, bring a set of expectations that will offer significant challenges. Yes, they are a large segment and yes, they have buying power, they can be extremely hard to profile and reach – especially via historically successful marketing channels.
EBOOK HOW INBOUND SALES FUNNELS CAN TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS
What does your website do for your business? It’s a simple question, but one that often has vague or complicated answers. If forced to say why their website exists in the first place, many business owners would point to the potential to generate sales opportunities online. That’s a good answer, and it’s true that most websites exist to sell in one way or another. But how many of them are actually attracting prospects and turning them into leads. 
As you may have guessed or already known, sales funnels get their name because they mirror real-life funnels, like the one a mechanic uses to put oil into your car. It’s designed to take traffic at the wide top, and drip out sales opportunities near the bottom. Not every lead will progress all the way through your funnel, but that’s a good thing (more on this later).
WEBSITE TIPS ON VIDEO
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Everyone doesn’t have time to read ebooks and blogs about website best practices. You’re busy building successful ecommerce website, right? That’s one of the reasons why MicroD started a podcast. But for those of you who just want an easy way to keep up with the highlights, we have videos for you.
We hope you find some of these toolkit items helpful. There’s one special building successful ecommerce website tip that we keep in the back pocket. A website consultation. Our website experts are ready to give you a customized website analysis.
