For Music Stores: How To Create Your Omnichannel Retail Strategy

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Does your music store sell online?

If you own a brick-and-mortar music store, expanding to e-commerce may seem too unfamiliar or too difficult. But with the right strategies, your online store can become a natural extension of your in-person store, expanding your business and creating an additional revenue stream.

To successfully launch your e-commerce site, you need the right tools. A point of sale (POS) system helps you run your in-person and online stores, keeping data synced across the entire business. In this blog, we’ll explain how to create your omnichannel retail strategy, including how a POS system makes this process easier.

Let’s get started.

How To Set Up Your E-Commerce Channel

As you begin your venture into e-commerce and omnichannel selling, there are a few essential tasks to complete. While some of these can be done independently, some require you to collaborate with others, like website designers and musical instrument suppliers. Here are five key steps you can take to successfully launch your omnichannel retail strategy.

1. Design a User-Friendly Website

To effectively sell musical instruments and accessories online, you need to design a website that represents your brand, showcases your products, and is easy to navigate. If you have the expertise, you can design your website yourself. If not, you need to hire a designer or work with a platform that offers web design. Some POS systems are equipped with programs to help you build your website.

Consider these design tips for your music store website:

Use inviting colors that align with your brand’s style.
Choose large, clean fonts for easy reading.
Create clear buttons and links for quick navigation.
Minimize the number of clicks needed to make a purchase.

Implementing these features makes customers more likely to buy from your site. As you design your online store, consider how it looks on mobile devices. In 2023, 72% of e-commerce sales were made on mobile — a number that continues to grow. This is why it’s essential to ensure your website is easy to use and shop from on smartphones and tablets.

2. Optimize Your Music Product Listings

How you present products on your website plays a major role in how they sell. You might offer top-notch instruments, but if the images and descriptions of these products fall short, customers may not recognize their full value.

To present musical instruments and other products in the best light possible, use clear, high-resolution photos with clean, simple backgrounds. Make sure each photo displays the entire item. If two products look similar from a distance, use images that clearly set each item apart. For example, you can include close-up images of violins so customers can see the details and craftsmanship that make each model unique.

Write product descriptions to communicate important information to customers about what you’re selling. List everything included with the product, its materials, intended use, who the product is for, and any other details that help customers decide which guitar or drum set is right for them. The more a customer knows about a product, the more informed their decision is.

As you write copy for your website — including product descriptions — consider relevant search engine optimization (SEO) terms. Using words and phrases that people often look for makes it more likely for your website to appear in search results. This attracts more website visitors and potential customers. By optimizing your website for SEO, you can increase sales.

3. Establish Your Order Fulfillment Strategy

As you launch e-commerce, you have a few options. First, you can purchase inventory, receive it at your music store, and then ship it to customers yourself — this is called self-fulfillment. Or you can use drop shipping, where you pay a supplier to ship the product directly to the customer, so you never have to handle the inventory.

Each of these order fulfillment strategies has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, if you purchase inventory in bulk, you may be able to negotiate a discount. On the other hand, if you use the drop-shipping method, you and your employees don’t need to spend time preparing items for shipping. Some music stores choose a hybrid model of both methods.

Whichever strategy you go with, an inventory management system helps you track how many of each instrument you have at any given time and how quickly they’re turning over. By paying attention to the information tracked by a digital inventory management system, you can gain insights that inform your future purchasing strategy.

4. Offer Great Customer Service

Despite your best efforts, customer service issues related to e-commerce and omnichannel selling come up from time to time. Depending on the scale of your operation, you may have many customer service inquiries come in. To make sure your customers have a good experience and remain loyal, you need to devote time and energy towards resolving their concerns.

You can offer customer service over the phone, live chat, or email. Display customer service contact information and hours on your website so customers can easily get in touch with you.

Some issues may be out of your control. For example, you can’t control exactly when a shipped item arrives or whether the shipping company experiences delays. But, in instances where you can, do your best to resolve a customer’s issues. When you go above and beyond for a customer, you build their loyalty, which likely results in additional purchases. Providing a great experience for your customers helps you keep your music store’s doors open.

5. Market Your Online Music Store

To successfully launch your online music store, you need to engage in marketing efforts. Start by marketing to the customers you already have. You can send out targeted email and text messages to this audience to let them know you’ve launched your website and what kinds of products they can find there.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software allows you to make personalized recommendations based on customer purchase history. If a customer purchases a saxophone from your store, you can send them emails recommending a carrying case, cleaning supplies, and other related accessories.

You can also advertise your website on social media to both existing customers and those who have never heard of your business. Post images of the musical instruments and accessories you offer, and include links to these items so customers can purchase them directly from their phones.

Try a variety of marketing strategies to determine which ones resonate best with your target audience.

Create Your Omnichannel Retail Strategy With Music Shop 360

Creating your omnichannel retail strategy may seem like a daunting task, but you can start by adding the right tools, stocking the right inventory, and providing great customer service. It takes time, effort, and perhaps a few challenges, but once you get your online music store up and running, you’re better equipped to compete in the music industry and grow your sales.

A POS system helps you launch your online store and keep it running smoothly — especially if it’s designed specifically for music stores. Music Shop 360 is an all-in-one POS solution built with the needs of music store owners in mind. Our system’s extensive features help you run both your online and in-person stores, and include a website builder, access to music suppliers, and CRM software to help you build customer loyalty.

Looking for a music-specific POS system to help you run your business? Our music store POS Buyers’ Guide walks you through the entire process. Access it by clicking the link below!