Executive Summary
Webster’s Jewellers is a jewelry company founded in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Its reputation and economic success allowed opening a store in the northern part of the city, in addition to the downtown location. At the same time, in order to promote the new Webster’s North, it would be effective to turn to e-commerce and create a company’s website. The problem that the company faces is how exactly this website should be used as an advertising tool.
The key recommendation for the company would be to use the website as a platform for both advertising and selling merchandise since the majority of Internet users who purchase online belong to the target audience. Corresponding to the atmosphere of Webster’s North, the website is recommended to be designed in a traditional style. Educational articles and tools for designing jewelry could be placed on the website in addition to advertisements and the catalog of merchandise. Due to the effectiveness of banner and e-mail advertising, it would be more appropriate to use these methods to promote the website. Finally, due to a significant number of conservative customers buying offline, the store’s hours of operation are recommended to remain unchanged.
Step-by-step implementation of the plan presented above will bring the most effective results. Firstly, a web designer and an IT specialist should be hired to create a modern website in a traditional style to reflect the company’s history. Secondly, the company should create versatile content to attract customers’ attention. In order to maintain the image of the store, it is possible to include educational articles about gemstones. Since the target audience of the company are males, including young people, they are expected to spend much time online and be active online shoppers, according to a recent survey. Therefore, the company may also need a detailed catalog of merchandise and a tool for designing jewelry. Then, placing banner ads on various websites, especially those targeting a male audience, would be the most effective way since such advertisements are usually noticeable and are commonly used. Finally, in order to communicate with customers and inform them about the website, the company can send e-mails directly to the audience because this marketing strategy tends to produce significant results.
In order to control the effectiveness of the campaign, it is necessary to measure customers’ involvement. Measurements can be conducted once a month to see if there is an increase in the number of customers visiting Webster’s website. The statistics of visits, as well as the number of online purchases, can demonstrate if the website is attractive to the audience and if customers find it useful. Moreover, it is important to measure the general performance of Webster’s in its northern store. Since the website aims at increasing its exposure and sales in the first place, insignificant or negative changes may show that spending finance on IT staff and website service is not reasonable. On the other hand, a positive tendency will prove the effectiveness of the whole plan.
Finally, if the website does not produce desired results, it would be better to cease the promotion of the website and turn to different, more effective marketing strategies. For example, the methods that were used earlier, such as infomercials, were rather successful. Moreover, the company may continue sending e-mails to the audience, focusing on advertising Webster’s North. In this case, Webster’s would be able to save money on running a website and use these financial resources for more effective ways of advertising.
Recommendation
The promotion of the new location of Webster’s Jewellery is needed to positively influence the company’s growth. Since the use of the Internet for shopping is common nowadays, running a website would be an appropriate solution for advertising the company and its northern location. Moreover, the website could be used for selling merchandise as well, since the recent statistics demonstrate the growing popularity of online shopping among Webster’s target audience.
- Step 1: hire IT specialists and design a website in a traditional style, which would reflect the company’s image as one of the oldest and most successful jewelry businesses in the city.
- Step 2: to develop the content of the website, which would attract and engage customers. The content may include the catalog of merchandise, educational articles related to gemology, a tool for designing jewelry, and advertising articles about the company and its history.
- Step 3: place banner advertisements on websites targeting the male audience and start e-mail advertising. These strategies are considered some of the most effective and are likely to produce the most significant results.
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the website, Webster’s may use statistical methods to count website visits. The percentage of online purchases can also demonstrate if Internet selling benefits the company. Finally, measuring the overall performance of Webster’s North would allow seeing if the website attracts the audience’s attention and increases sales.
In case the plan does not produce significant results, the company should stop financing the website. On the contrary, it may continue e-mail advertising and switch to more reliable and effective methods, such as infomercials.