E-commerce has been a lifeline for some independent brand owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Troop Beverage, a ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktail brand launched in October 2020, is one of the companies that has found early success with the channel.
“I think today’s brands have to meet consumers where they are. The fact is, now more than ever–but really for the last decade plus–consumers are shopping online,” says Troop Beverage co-founder Reed DesRosiers. “So having an omni-channel strategy is not a nice-to-have thing, it’s a must have.”
Small businesses are often up against the most powerful brands in the world that have bottomless budgets for marketing, but DesRosiers believes the advantage his company has with e-commerce is a depth of knowledge for a very specific subset of consumers. This allows them to build a community of loyal followers.
DesRosiers has a few key suggestions to any brand that is interested in giving their customers an online experience:
- Make the customer experience as seamless as possible. Ensure the different pages on the website flow so that the customers are not drawn away by the formatting.
- Take on multi-level marketing projects that bring more consumers onto the website. The more eyes on the product, the more purchases.
- Develop loyal online customers by offering incentives. For example, Troop Beverage builds shipping into their costs so that they can offer free shipping and maintain the customer through payment rather than abandoning the purchase due to high shipping costs.
Hear more from Reed DesRosiers at www.parkstreetuniversity.com