(TDB) - As part of our in-depth look at online retailing, db spoke to a number of industry figures to gauge the top tips for successful retailing online. This was their advice.

Know your market and cater for it

Knowing your market and being able to cater for it is one the most important things, according to The Wilson Drinks Report’s Tim Wilson. An independent retailers such as Corks Out was a good example of a retailer knowing its customer and tailoring its offer to match that customer, he pointed out. Similarly the now defunct Tesco Community – although not a strict e-commerce site – was clever to engage a predominantly female audience and had a simple and effective programme linked to its Tesco Wine Fairs, he said.

Marketing is key, another importer agreed. “That is where Direct Wines have succeeded. Their products are comparable to others available elsewhere, but they are very well marketing in such a way that they sell well.”

Effective Interaction

Once you know your market, engage with them. While it may be more difficult to interact at the point of sale online than it is with bricks and mortar, Wilson admits, online retailers have their online customers’ details, and should be engaging regularly using emails, tweets, links and offers that are relevant and timely. “It require enthusiasm and investment,” Wilson concludes. “And you need to follow up and keep it fresh.”

“Have to start with a relationship. Independents can compete very well with the big boys as more agile and can office advice but use the online medium as a method to communicate with the niche target audience,” Andrew Bewes of Hallgarten Druitt said.

Tim North of Joie de Vins warns not to expect people to come to you. “Go out there and tell them yourself – they are lots of things online and you need to do things to make people notice you.”

Be different, mix it up and shout about your USP

Standing out from the crowd by having a range that people can’t get everywhere will help avoid the “clutter” online, Tim North argues. “Communicate the background to your range, what it is different and where it comes from.”

This is were online wins over more traditional styles of retailing – there is the opportunity and space to write about wines themselves and in effect hand-sell the range on its quality. “Independents can attract customers by carving their own niche – is where it is all about ‘Let me tell you about this wine’ – it is not to do with price because it makes it all about quality. It is part of the process,” Richard Evans of Dedicated Wines said.

“Like everyone in the market, each one [has to] find their niche in the market – if they compete at the entry level and are adding on the cost of delivery, it will go the way of all things. It truly is a matter of adding the value the consumer is looking for, and for which they are prepared to pay,” Andrew Bewes of Hallgarten Druitt said.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy…

But it’s not just about telling potential customer what you’ve got, according to Andrew Bewes of Hallgarten – you’ve got to tell them why it works for them.

“People are crying out for guidance and help even if they don’t want to admit it. Online give the opportunity to do that, but it needs the engagement. Simply putting your range online and adding to it and getting up the Google hits is not enough. It needs to be engaging the consumers in a tailored message to them,” he said.

It’s not the size of your range, but what you do with it

Large amounts of stock aren’t necessary a plus when it comes to online retailing – smaller retailers can negotiate creative logistics with their suppliers which negates the necessity for large amounts of stock sitting idly by, or complicated warehousing.  And according to Muriel Chatel, the shorter the supply chain, the better. “Where you have so many people in between the wine leaving the warehouse and getting to the consumer, there are so many opportunities for it to go wrong,” she said.

Efficient and reasonable delivery

Finding an efficient and cost effective ways of getting stock to the consumer is a “huge part of the proposition”, one supplier said. In fact, it was delivery and fulfilment that engendered the most comments across the board.

The size and scale of the multiple retailers give them some advantages of scale over smaller operators and their bricks and mortar estates boost the possibility of click and collect, neatly side-stepping one of the more difficult aspects of online retailing. “It is a clever model that consolidates the cost of delivery into the consumers’ hands,” Greg Wilkins of Brand Phoenix comments.

But even without access to the vast infrastructure open to larger retailers, independents benefit from bricks and mortar through leveraging their strength in the local area. Like Majestic, which uses each of its local stores as a mini-warehouse, independents can use their stores to service the local area using the online platform.

“Most independents are essentially bricks and mortar business and have local online delivery businesses,” Greg Wilkins of brand Phoenix said. “An independent can service the local area.

Online retailing needn’t compete against bricks & mortar…

According to Majestic boss Rowan Gormley, the new buzz-word is “channel agnostic”. Speaking to db a few months ago, he commented, “As far as Majestic is concerned in the UK, our focus is less about online as opposed to offline, and more about the customer experience wherever they happen to be.”

“The more we build loyalty, which in turn will build sustainable sales growth, the better. So it’s not about trying to get people to buy on a PC or laptop rather than in store, we want to suit the customer.”

Waitrose Cellar’s wine buyer Xenia Irwin MW also advocates the philosophy that online and bricks and mortar can complement each other. The upmarket retailer already uses ipads in store to help guide customers, but Irwin told db at Waitrose autumn tasting “these will be a game-changer when they become transactional. We want to see it soon, and it will have a huge effect on sales.”