When you are a local business, you have a regionally marked territory and seldom get customers beyond a certain point. Every store has one-time customers and then there are regulars – who order weekly or monthly. It’s a great business model and a very certain business strategy. But, with all that, there are still limitations on how you can retain customers as well as gain new ones. Local stores are rarely a monopoly – there is always competition in the vicinity. So, how do you ensure that your customers get the ‘delight’, the ‘ease’, and the ‘convenience’ that a local store can or must offer?
Well, Lokaly has the answer to this plea. Lokaly is an E-Commerce application for local departmental stores and businesses. Stores can easily create their account, and avail all the features – just like a mobile app would.
Each sale is now on a digital platform. The seller can then introduce a khata system where loyal customers receive store credit. You can also check analytics to understand how your business is going. The app also has integrated features for payment reminders and ready for pickup notifications.
Once the decision is made – to move from bricks to clicks, it’s just about choosing the right platform for setting up your online or mobile store!
Lokaly’s multi-store feature enables local businesses to operate multiple stores within a single panel. Sellers can personalize many aspects of each of the stores and control the access for each of the websites separately. This feature allows you to publish multiple eCommerce stores from a single product database. Store owners can target niche markets, carve out special offerings from their products, and publish special products on each store.
Here are some of the ways in which Lokaly can offer multi-store configuration:
If your business is ready – Lokaly offers a ready to go live solution to go mobile quickly!
Times are still uncertain and physical distancing is still a norm. Ever since the lockdown in early 2020, the local businesses and brick and mortar stores took the hit. Customers weren’t able to physically visit stores and buy things, and stores could not sell anything. Every local store and every local business looked for an online or mobile means of reaching out to customers. Till today, customers are hesitant to go out to buy things. Placing their orders online feels safer, more convenient, and more appealing to customers.
Well, if you are a local store and wish to increase sales – even in difficult times, here are a few ways in which Lokaly can help:
Well, if you are a local store and wish to increase sales – even in difficult times, here are a few ways in which Lokaly can help:
If you are a local store and wish to grow your business online, or move your business to an online model, it’s time that you select a platform that will enable you to do so. Lokaly is one such platform where users can simply sign up, create an account for their stores and upload their products, and even manage payments and credits for customers.
Web and Mobile – both offer businesses with opportunities to expand and increase their customer base. Local businesses with a limited budget find it overwhelming to create mobile apps and E-commerce websites from scratch. Platforms like Lokaly offer futuristic opportunities and solutions to these businesses!
The year 2020 saw unprecedented circumstances and businesses were forced to innovate or close down. Those who chose to innovate and keep up with the demands of the time – survived. Technology has always been an enabler for forward thinking businesses and in tough times technology enabled businesses to stay afloat. Well, Lokaly has been one such technology solution that enabled local businesses to keep going in times of crisis. It enabled them to keep in touch with their customers, engage with them and more importantly allow users to make purchases and place orders online. In a world where distancing has become a good thing, Lokaly managed to not only help businesses survive but some of them even thrived.
Lokaly keeps adding new and innovative features to help businesses further their goals. Here are some of the latest updates to the mobile app that stood by you when the world was locked down.
We are happy to announce some of the new features:
With new features rolling in, businesses can upgrade their app and install the new updates and leverage from their benefits!
Local businesses are the ones that took the initial hit of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Restaurant businesses especially thrive on the number of customers that walk into the door. The situation demanded that businesses make themselves more accessible to customers and serve their needs. This is only possible by offering easy ordering services, safe distancing and online payments and such features that keep customers in touch with your business.
Setting up a restaurant online and reaching out to customers is the key to keep business afloat during times of crisis. Lokaly is one of the online spaces where local businesses such as restaurants can quickly setup shop and begin serving their customers.
With Lokaly, restaurants can:
When it comes to hyper local businesses such as restaurants, trust plays a very important role and restaurants can benefit by taking charge of the situation and keeping customers well informed about their opening hours as well as their newly added online food delivery services. Customers to understand and trust a familiar name and it will help you not only keep your existing customers, but also create an entirely new avenue for customers to come flooding in – the mobile way!
Get your restaurant online instantly with Lokaly!
Lokaly is a solution for sellers and buyers. Sellers can register their stores and manage their accounts with various buyers online through the seller app. With the buyer’s app, users can order from their favourite store within their vicinity via the app. Lokaly acts as a gateway between you and the local stores.
How can users contact local stores?
Lokaly acts as a technology bridge between the sellers and buyers. Many local stores depend on the number of feet walking up to their storefront every day. Many times they lack in the extra efforts to reach out to a larger customer base. Lokaly offers local businesses with the opportunity to expand beyond their regular customers and look at a larger customer base. The buyers can conveniently place their orders from their favourite stores within their vicinity and within a few taps and swipes the job is done. Well, the stores can also offer regular customers with a ‘khata’ system of payment wherein the customer is offer a type of store credit which can be paid when the amount is due.
The good news is that buyers do not have to pay anything to use the Lokaly app. It is completely free and can be downloaded for free from Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
The app is pretty simple to use too. After logging in, users can see the local stores on a dashboard. Users can also see whether the seller has approved their khata. Everything is displayed on the dashboard so that users get direct access to the information they require. All payments for the orders placed are managed via a khata system and can be done directly via the app. This means that there is no need of separate apps for making payments too. All transactions are effectively managed within Lokaly.
With Lokaly, businesses get a wider reach and no longer have to be dependent on those customers who walk up to their stores!
One of the defining events of 2020 was the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant global lockdown. This will probably have implications that will last well into the decade. The situation is rapidly changing and today, people are able to move out and office workers are definitely facing challenges working remotely. People are slowly coming to terms with the realities of our interconnected world and we are living in unprecedented times might be an understatement. This isolation and uncertainty has influenced how people shop and make buying decisions. From bulk buying to online shopping people are changing what they are buying, when and how. Brands are having to adapt and be flexible to meet changing needs.
Panic buying and coronavirus
As a response to the lockdown people began stocking up. Stores both brick and mortar and online were struggling to keep up with the demand. The lockdown reduced the access to the stores and people began to look for online means of ordering essentials.
Preparedness
For local stores and departmental stores, the lockdown was something that many weren’t prepared for. People buying off the shelves were now expecting an online place to order groceries, school supplies and other essential items. Well, stores eventually caught up and were looking for quick solutions to get online and serve their customers – while following all the mandates of the locked down world.
Lokaly
Mobile apps like Lokaly ensured that stores and local businesses got a platform to quickly put them out there – online. They could simply register and begin selling. Building an online presence was never so easy. Customers too got easy access to their favourite stores and could place their orders and get items delivered to their doorstep.
Unprecedented times brought about unprecedented solutions and even those businesses who never dreamed of being online were now ‘completely’ or partially online. Well, it probably worked out for the best. What the near future holds no one knows, but technology and mobile solutions are definitely the key to a successful future..
When it comes down to being quick and effective, there’s nothing that beats mobile. So, even for departmental stores and local stores, going online and moving from a physically present to a virtually available store is one of the easiest way to get quick sales.
Lokaly works in multiple ways. It offers an opportunity to create an online marketplace and manage transactions conveniently. How you manage your business on Lokaly is up to you. For customers, it’s an easy entry into your store and pick the products of their choice and checkout instantly. It’s all in all a great recipe to drive sales in three days!
Here are 7 fast and easy and effective ways to get your first sales using Lokaly in 3 days:
Lokaly is a gateway between you and your customers. It’s the one missing piece that puts together all the essentials that you need to grow your store and improve sales in a short period of time. It reduces both time and efforts to get customers through your door and to offer them the shopping experiences they will remember.
It seems overwhelming – to take an entire store online. But, that’s just it. It’s not as overwhelming as it seems. The cost is one of the major factors that make mobile and web stores seem out of reach for small businesses and local departmental stores. This is exactly where Lokaly can help. Lokaly empowers sellers to derive maximum benefits from the Digital movement. Local departmental stores can easily go online within a few clicks and set up their mobile presence. This takes their products right into the hands of customers.
The good part is, the pricing is seller friendly. If you wish to take your store online with Lokaly, there are a number of ways to make this possible. Firstly, choose what kind of store you would like to set up. Here’s what Lokaly has to offer to make your transition online less daunting in terms of the price you pay for the technology and software.
Lokaly is a ready to use mobile store where departmental stores can easily create their stores and serve their local customers. Here are the pricing models For B2C:
Lokaly is a complete package for those who wish to start quick and sell fast. It is based on a subscription model and allows users to pay as they use. It has customizable features and can be made to look unique for every store that is created.
In times of crisis – when the whole world is ‘at home’ and there is a tinge of fear to venture out into the streets, departmental stores took the initial hit. Lokaly is one way to take your products to your customers – especially since they cannot come to you!
Just about anyone can put together an online store – but, how do you entice your customers and urge them to buy NOW and place repeat purchases? Here are a few pointers:
Flash sales: Flash sales are short, time bound sales often combined with a limited product stock which creates urgency in the minds of customers to buy now rather than later.
Free samples or low-priced products: You can ship your products directly to customers. Once they get used to the quality you offer, they will definitely be enticed to buy more.
Automated re-sales for replenishment: Selling products that are definitely require replenishment is an opportunity to automate and schedule remarketing campaigns to re-engage customers and encourage them to refill.
Multi-purchase deals: In this method, you can offer customers a deal if they purchase multiple products.
Exclusive or complementary cross-sells: Strategically position a product alongside the product a customer has in their shopping cart to improve or partner with it.
Bundle best-sellers with high margin products: You can take a small cluster of products, bundle them and offer them at a collective price which is cheaper than if a customer was to purchase each of them individually.
Limited time coupons or discounts: Urgency is a powerful psychological marketing tactic. Limited time coupons or discounts are very effective in creating this urgency.
Cross-platform selling: Along with your website, you can sell your products on social media, eBay, Amazon etc.
Live chat engagement: Live chat gives customers a feeling of immediate action. It definitely helps boost sales.
Get personal with recommendations: Personalized recommendations add to customer experiences and hence boost sales.
Run an influencer campaign: Consumers want to hear from people they idolize. It builds trust in the brand and products – hence boosts sales.
The sheer size of the opportunity is unlimited – you can imagine and execute innovative deals and discounts to keep your customers engaged and coming back for repeat purchases!
Lokaly offers a variety of discounts, deals, and coupons to attract your customers. Check-out how Lokaly can be useful for your business at https://www.lokaly.in/
