Ideas & Tips to help you kick start a Locomade shop
Starting a Locomade vendor shop is exciting and easy though it requires regular work and attention on the part of the seller to create listings that are searchable and appealing, as well as to provide good customer service.
This guide will enable you to understand the shop features and how to start your Locomade shop quickly. Register Here
Create a brand that customers will remember and love
Branding is about every part of your shop that customers will see and interact with, including your Brand Logo, Brand cover image, color, packaging, product design, customer service, and even the tone of your social media post.
Think of what the overall feeling you want your customer to feel when they connect and buy from you. Whether it’s luxury, carefree or eco-friendliness, think how you can convey that feeling in all the aspects in your shop.
Write high converting product descriptions
A good product description can convince shoppers why they need your product and to eliminate doubts they have in their minds.
It’s important to show the benefits in addition to the features of your product. For example, a coffee machine not only can make you a cup of coffee, but to kickstart your morning and make you productive.
In other words, show how your product can and will make your customer’s life better.
Also, address common concern that a shopper may have. They could be whether it’s easy to use, what happens if it breaks, is it possible to return if they don’t like it.
In a fast, digital world, it’s also recommended to keep your sentences and paragraphs short. So that shoppers can understand your words easily.
Reply to customers responsively like a close friend
Friendly and responsive customer service goes a long way. It’s one of the main factors that make small businesses stand out from big corporations.
When you get messages from customers, be helpful when they have questions and be empathetic when they have concerns.
Turning on your email notification and phone contact on your Locomade Shop account is a great way to make sure your replies are quick. Many customers mention in reviews that they appreciate a responsive seller. Try to aim for answering within a few hours.
Post at least 20 products to start and add more consistently.
When starting your Locomade shop, it’s good to have at least 20 products. If you have a smaller product line, think about variations in color, size, etc to increase your product listings.
Make sure all your products make sense together in a shop. One of the strengths of a small handmade seller is that you are the expert in your craft. If you sell clothes and sculptures in the same shop, shoppers may not trust that you are the go-to for either of those products.Have a specific niche of unique products that you are selling and it will attract customers to visit your shop consistently.
Aim to create new product and listings consistently. The more new products you add, the more keywords you can cover, and easier will you shop be discovered.
Run locomade ads profitably to boost your shop ranking.
Locomade ads can be one of the quickest way to gain traffic and grow your shop, especially for new shops. They bring you direct clicks and sales if you are willing to spend a little money.
We have two types of ads on Locomade:-
1. Locomade ads/Promoted listing
This is the ads you see on featured products on the first page of the homepage search page. You can pay either daily, weekly or monthly subscription.
2. Offsite Ads
Locomade also promotes relevant listings on sites like Google, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.
Take professional and high quality looking photos the easy way.
Photography can make or break your Locomade shop. It is likely to be the first impression shopper has on your brand. It’s also the thing that will make them click or skip your shop.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need an expensive camera to take good product photos. Most modern smartphones can do a good job.
Keep it simple by using a clean background. A white or off-white background works well in making your product stands out. Avoid pattern background or a colourful one because this will take the attention off your products.
Five images product photo capture on different view of the product will be of an added advantage when a customer is viewing the products.
Natural lighting is the easiest to work with and give you a good looking photo. Usually early morning or late afternoon are the best for photos as the sunlight is not as harsh. You don’t want direct, harsh sunlight because it creates hard shadows which can be distracting.
Have social media presence
Everyone is on the phone all the time, scrolling through Instagram and Facebook.
As a small business, you can leverage that by having a presence on social media and sharing those social media links on your shop page.
But be careful to not fall in the trap of just promoting yourself on Instagram. People don’t follow accounts that do that.
Instead, think of posts that are useful and interesting to your potential customers. It can be some behind-the-scene look of your handmade process; it can be an informative instruction that helps customers with their purchase, and so on.
User-generated-content (UGC) is another type of post that can work on social media. It is photos that are taken by your customers. All you have to do is to ask for the permission to repost them.
To save yourself some time, you can use sites like Canva which have social media post templates that you can use for free. You can replace the photo, words, colors and more to make it fit your brand.
Offer a competitive shipping for better customer retention
Shipping fee is a consideration in many shoppers’ minds. Too high of a shipping fee will come as a shock when they want to make or are interested in buying your products, and make them abandon their purchase.
You can offer free shipping if you are based in an area that is closer to the customer. I understand your product may be expensive to ship. In that case, it can be a good idea to shift some of that shipping fee to your product price. A shipping fee around Ksh 200-500 is acceptable to most shoppers.
Establish a pricing strategy
When you set your pricing, it’s good to consider all costs, including material, labour, work space, etc. Adding up all the costs, double or triple that sum to get your initial product price.
It’s also important to compare the price you come up with to the other competitors in the market.
This is likely that Locomade shoppers will appreciate the value of handmade products.
Write shop description section to showcase your unique handmade quality
The “Shop Description” section on Locomade is a great opportunity to showcase the handcraft-ness of your shop.
Write the journey of how you started your shop, how you got inspiration when making your product.
Shoppers on Locomade appreciate the process of how you craft your products. The ‘Shop Description’ section may just be the extra factor that makes them click the contact button to connect with you.
