Bricks to clicks: five lessons from Digital Walker’s founders

Seasoned entrepreneurs Charlie and Howard Paw, founders of Digital Walker and Beyond The Box, had to quickly adapt to the changes and challenges the pandemic brought to brick and mortar businesses.

Before the lockdown, only 5% of Digital Walker’s and Beyond The Box’s sales came from online channels. Charlie and Howard tell us that now, their goal is to match their online sales with the offline transactions in their retail stores by 2021.

Below are some key lessons the brothers have learned the past months which, we hope, you’ll find useful for your own business when you plan to go online:

1. Train your Facebook team to make the sale

According to Charlie, Digital Walker’s incoming Facebook messages grew from 14 to more than 500 a day because of the lockdown.

Whether it’s you or you have a team managing your social media page, it’s time to up-skill. The role has evolved from answering inquiries on Facebook to being end-to-end salespeople, tasked with closing the deal, converting inquiries to sales, and handling deliveries. The online customer journey starts on your Facebook page, your new storefront.

Some tips from Charlie and Howard:

• Take advantage of Facebook’s Instant Reply feature to automatically and quickly engage your potential customer.
• Prepare templates and spiels for frequently asked questions that you can easily use. These include details about products, payments and deliveries.
• Use Google Forms as your online checkout process. This connects to a Google Sheet to help you track orders.

2. Sell on multiple online channels

You’ll find Digits, the company behind Digital Walker, and its products in different places online.

You can go to Digital Walker’s Facebook page or shop at Digital Walker, Beyond the Box, and Marshall on Lazada. The Paws also launched homeoffice.ph , which they’ll turn into a Digital Walker website later on, for gadgets people need as they work from home.

When we asked Charlie and Howard the wisdom behind selling on multiple online channels, they mentioned the following:

• Online marketplaces like Lazada have high “foot” traffic which helps in reaching potential customers.
• Having your own website gives you control over all aspects of your online business ­– from design to branding to your customer’s full buying experience. It’s even more cost-effective because marketplaces also charge some fees.
• Selling on Facebook and Instagram allows a more personal engagement with customers.

3. Find ways to keep customers talking about you online

In offline retail, having the right location is key to getting great sales. On digital, you need to be loud and have more frequent campaigns for customers to notice you.

The Paws’ strategy is finding something exciting to talk about, something new to offer. They recently ran a campaign for the newest OnePlus phone, the Nord.

4. Build relationships with online influencers and content creators

People have more screen time nowadays and influencer marketing is very important in building awareness and credibility for your brand. It’s good to have lasting relationships with online influencers and content creators rather than just being transactional with them. Influencers need unique content. You can provide them value by giving them exclusive access to your new products.

You can check out GetCraft’s website for a list of local online influencers.

5. Don’t just wait for things to get better. Go all-in on digital

Being decisive and acting fast in adapting to the new normal allowed the Paws, considered the country’s “tech curators”, to sustain and even grow their businesses. They believe commerce will continue to shift online even after the pandemic. It’s always wise to set goals leading to your business’ growth.

We’d love to feature more PayMongo merchants in our blog. Please share us your story by writing us at marketing@paymongo.com.