The eCom Roadmap for Brick and Mortar Retail
If you’ve ever felt like your website and your retail store are operating like two separate worlds, this session is definitely for you.
Join Dane Cohen from M1 and Josh Orr from Capital Commerce for the ultimate eCommerce masterclass and learn a proven system to increase traffic and turn it into raving fans who buy again and again. When your online store matches the same experience customers get in-store, you create a seamless path from discovery to purchase to repeat buying. Keeping the two in sync is critical because shoppers move between channels constantly, and any disconnect in inventory, messaging, or experience creates friction that costs you sales and loyalty.
In this session, you will learn:
The “secret sauce” behind successful brick-and-mortar retailers with online stores outpacing their storefront sales
The essentials of a retail website experience that converts
How to build a predictable system for traffic, conversion, and repeat purchases
A doable growth plan for your brand to gain traction online in 2026
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Ecom Roadmap for Brick-and-Mortar Retail - Webinar Transcript
Management One: All right, open up our waiting room and let all of our folks come in. Awesome. Hello, everyone! Thank you for joining us again today. I'm really excited about today's topic. Ecom Roadmap for brick-and-mortar Retail. Like, if you've ever felt like your website and your store are operating like two totally separate worlds, this session is for you. Before I introduce our esteemed guests, let me just handle a couple of quick show notes here. All of our sessions at M1 are designed as live Q&As, so we welcome your feedback, we welcome your questions. Right down below there in the Zoom is a Q&A button. At any time, feel free and pop in some questions. We are going to save some time at the end as well, to fire off some questions at our panelists, but we definitely welcome your feedback here. One of the questions that we get most often is, are you recording this? And a thousand percent, yes. We understand retailers are very lead very busy lives, you guys are important, and we want to make sure that this recording is available for you and your team to review at a later time, so we are going to send a recording right after. So let me go ahead and introduce our panelists here. We've got Josh Orr, the founder of Capital Commerce. Welcome, Josh.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: So good to be here, or good to be back, I should say.
Management One: Good to be back, absolutely. Yes. And we've got, Dane Cohen, our Head of Business Development and Sales here at Management One. Hey, Dane.
Dane Cohen: How's it going, guys?
Management One: Going good. Well, gentlemen, I will turn it over to you, and I will find myself in the chat. If you have any questions, please use the Q&A or reach us in chat.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, so the first thing I just want to jump off with is we do have a Q&A portion here. I know Nico covered it, but we love to be interactive, we love to hear from you. This is a resource for the Extended Management One community, so definitely add your questions in, and we will get to them, whether it's in the middle of the presentation or, for some time at the end. But don't be shy, put them in there. And we will get to them. So, as Nico was saying, you know, we love having Josh on because he offers such a informed perspective on what's going on in the e-commerce universe for brick-and-mortar retailers. And Josh, I see, you know, we obviously are speaking to tons of retailers. And it really runs the gamut. You know, I see some really successful brick-and-mortar retailers doing explosive business online, and then I see some brick-and-mortar retailers who are very successful, doing millions in sales, and is getting, like, maybe an order a day, if that. Oh, yeah. So, I'm super excited to hear from you, and I think that there's a lot of people in the community that are gonna be really looking forward to kind of seeing where they fall in all of this.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yes. No, I'm so excited to be here, and that's the big thing that we're about, is we've had the privilege of now working with a lot of those retailers, a ton of which are Management One clients. Which I love, because as they grow online, like, their needs around inventory significantly shift. And I'll get into that some, as… and we can jam on it later. But what is the difference between those retailers that are… they may be thriving in store, but online just isn't at all carrying its weight? and then those that are still thriving in store, but are managing to start to see their online sales be like a location. And so, that's the big goal that I have to cover, Are you good? Do you want to dive in? I have, like, slides and all that cool stuff.
Dane Cohen: Let's jump in. I want to see what you've put together. I'm going to kind of be the voice of the retailer today, so I will jump in with some questions, because I'm getting questions all the time, so I'm going to kind of act as the voice of the retailer, and again, please feel free to put some questions in the Q&A section, and we'll get to those as we go through.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yes, absolutely. I'm used to having, like, the chat, so, like, all the time I'm like, put this word if you're this! So feel free, everyone, open up that chat, and it will say, like, you can send messages to hosts and panelists, and feel free to use that. If things are resonating, if things are… you're like, oh my gosh, like, I feel seen there, feel free to put, like, that's me, or… those pieces, or even, like, drop your store URL. I love to check out those things. Oh, there is a chat that people… can use. Okay, great.
Dane Cohen: Just like Andrea. What's up, Andrea, from Charleston, South Carolina? Shout out, see, we love our people.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yes, I love that. So if you… if you want, like, open up that chat, drop your location and your store URL, like, your web address, because one of the things… I have some members of my team here, and something that I really like to do is go look at your sites now, and then after we do a training, I'll go look, like, a week later and see what changes have you made, how have you implemented it? So drop your location, like, where you are in the world. And where… and your store address. And I see some familiar names here. Good to see you all. Let's get into it.
Dane Cohen: By the way, we have people from all over the country. I saw LA, I saw Oregon, I see Arkansas, Ohio, Pensacola, Florida. Oh, Snapdoodle! Hey, Snapdoodle! In the Seattle area. Another Seattle, Jefferson, Iowa, so it's great to see everyone.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, so good. Alright, so this is what I'm calling the Ecom Roadmap, and this is specifically for brick-and-mortar retailers. Now, if you're online only, by all means, like, I hope you're gonna get great takeaways and some cool ideas, but our specialty is, what does it look like for thriving brick-and-mortar retailers to start to create a ton of traction in their online sales. Now, the big shameless plug I want to make, because I don't want to assume that we've met before, again, I'm seeing some familiar faces. But, my name's Joshua. We… I started Capital Commerce. We're an agency that helps brick-and-mortar retailers create locations out of their online sales. And the one shameless plug I want to make is follow me at RetailJosh on Instagram. I share a ton of tips, strategies. Fun videos, all that cool stuff, all around growing your online sales. And I might be working on something with Dane that… Can I… I don't… I'm not supposed to say stuff yet, but a lot of it will come through on their… With our secret project.
Dane Cohen: And Josh, speaking of shameless plugs, you look fantastic in this picture. This is a great photo.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: I've lost some weight since this picture, but I do love this picture, yes. I use it too much. I need new headshots. Anyway, let's get into it. So when we started our agency, like, we were mainly doing, like, Shopify web design, and that was our big thing. And we were handing off these, like, Maserati of websites to people. And… but what was keeping me up at night was, a lot of the time, those stores weren't necessarily growing in their online sales. And, I mean, that literally kept me up at night all the time, and I realized, like, we went back to the drawing board, and we realized that it wasn't just about the website. It wasn't just about how pretty the site was, how well it functioned, there was more to it than that. There was our plan to drive traffic, the experience we're offering online, how we're creating loyal customers, all those pieces. Carrie's here! Sorry, she's one of my favorite clients. And the operational things that hold it all together, and what we realized is, like, for a brick-and-mortar store, the whole plan just looks different. And so that's where we had to create a completely different playbook, and that's a lot of what I want to share today. Now, one thing I do want to do is I just… I like to give a disclaimer, because, Dane, I bet you've seen this before. In webinar culture, it is never crazy that people are like, it's easy, it's 1, 2, 3. If you just do step one, two, and three, you're gonna be a gajillionaire by the end of the week. And the reality is, like, I'm gonna share some examples of some retailers that are doing incredible online. None of them would describe what they're doing as easy. Not one. But what I do want you to get is clarity on what to focus on. That you don't need to focus on all of these areas, but you do need to focus here. And so if you're the type of retailer that is okay putting in the work, moving towards your goals, and you know that it's work. But you're okay doing it if you have the right system, if you have the right plan, you are in the right place. If you're here because you want step 1, 2, 3, and you're a gajillionaire, I'm not your guy. So I always want to give this disclaimer to say, like, these things do take work. Is that cool?
Dane Cohen: Yeah, and by the way, I think this is very similar to the management, one philosophy. Like, nothing here are… there's no silver bullet, right? Especially in retail. There's not one quick fix that's gonna, you know, increase your profit or build an incredible online business. As everyone on this call knows, the retail business is a tough business. So, yes, hard work. I think everyone here, is ready to roll up their sleeves and do the work.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah. No, that's good. So, when we talk about growing online, like, it's all gonna boil down to 3 simple things. and around how we're driving traffic, how that traffic's converting, like, turning into paying customers, and coming back and buying again. But I use the word simple. Anyone here find this to be really simple? in theory, it's like, those are 3 things, easy enough, but when I talk to retailers, which, like, just like Dane, I talk to probably a dozen a week, and I was trying to find, like, a really good image that would show the general sentiment towards this. And I loaded a bunch of transcripts into ChatGPT, and I asked it for an image that describes the feeling about these three areas. And this is what ChatGPT gave me. was a hamster running on a hamster wheel, but inside a store. Now, I tried to get this to be a human, like, 10 times, and every time it came back. as a hamster. Which, do me a favor, like, put the word hamster in the chat if you've ever felt that, where you're doing all the things, you are posting on social, you're doing all the stuff.
Dane Cohen: But it just feels like you're running on a hamster wheel.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: That's something that I feel all the time, and I'd be willing to bet, if that's you, it probably isn't because you're not working. It's not because you're not putting in the work, it's because there isn't the right strategy, there's not the right system.
Dane Cohen: We got some hamsters in the chat.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, we do. It's a common feeling. And so what I want to talk through today is how do we get off that hamster wheel? And so, the four things that I want to get into, Amy, good to see you! Is, number one, the secret sauce of retailers thriving online. Essentially, what are they doing offline that is driving their online success? My favorite subject, which is bottling the in-store experience. How do we translate the things we do in-store into our online experience? Then we'll get into, okay, how do we take this and start to scale it, and then what is your path for growth? Like, how does this apply specifically to you? So, let's get into it. So, first off, the secret sauce of retailers thriving online. And I like to say, like, these are the things that they're doing offline that lead to their online growth. And what I mean here, like, Dane, I bet you could probably say you've seen this a lot as well, where, like, you can do all the things. You can look at these retailers crushing it and count how many times they're posting a day. Look at what they're doing ad-wise. Look at their site, look at their emails, and go and try to copy it, but if you weren't thinking about it in the right way. it's not going to lead to the right actions. There's a thinking, there's a belief that has to shift first. Before we go and start taking all these actions. And if I just told you a bunch of super tactical stuff. it wouldn't… land. It wouldn't necessarily work. And so, that's what I want to talk through, is what is that secret sauce? Like, what are the things, not just that these thriving retailers are doing, but how are they thinking? Because if we can start to think like they do, we can start to get results like they get. Does that make sense? So, let me give you an example. What's cool is most of the people we're talking to are our M1 clients. Brooke from Out of Town is a amazing one. She has a killer store in North Dakota, two locations. both doing incredibly well. And when we first talked, like, she was sharing with me that she was spending so much time on photography and emails and All these site updates, and of course, social media and ads, and despite all that effort, she told me, she was like, it just feels like my website is a catalog. It is a catalog, and her local customers will walk in with their phone, point to it, and be like, hey, where is this? Where can I get this product? And she's like, well, I'm glad you came in, first off, but second. why didn't you just buy it? Like, what kept you from clicking Add to Cart and creating that purchase? Because she's like, if I'm spending all this effort for you to ultimately come to the store, just like you were going to do anyway, it's not worth all this effort. And… So, for her, she was checking all the boxes, doing all the things, and her site was pretty. Like, she is an amazing brand, and her website looked pretty, but it didn't really reflect what she was doing in store. And a lot of it came down to how she was seeing herself. And I like to say she saw herself as the CEO of a store that had a website. And so this is the big shift, that if you leave with anything today, it's this mental shift with how we approach our online sales. And it's going from what I call a store CEO to being a brand CEO. So let me explain what I mean here, So, when you opened your storefront, you were like, hey, we're opening a store, which makes sense. This is… You have keys to a physical building, you… this is where you help people, this is where you serve people, this is where you solve their problem. But then you're like, okay, but we need to now start to grow in these other areas. And so, you go and you launch a website, and you launch an Instagram, and you launch a TikTok, or whatever page that may be. But at the end of the day, it all comes back to the storefront. It's all about the storefront, because this is where you help people. And if someone really wants to have the best possible version of your experience, they have to go to the store. But instead, what if we started to see things as we're a brand, and we're a brand that is obsessed with its customer. And we can serve them through an in-store experience, and we can serve them through an online experience, and through a social media experience, and no matter where they engage us, our brand is able to serve them. This is one of the key, big shifts that we have to make, where we know that we do all these things in-store, but then we go online and we just sell products. We treat online like it's a catalog, and we treat in-store like it's an experience. Those two have to be one. Is this resonating? Like, put a hands-up emoji, or say, like. yes, I get it in the chat if this is resonating, because if you leave with anything, this is the key thing I want you leaving with.
Dane Cohen: Well, and then, Josh, another thing I hear often, which is along these same lines, is, you know, not only is it a catalog, but they just feel like. have to do it, right? There's no, you know, there's not this passion or desire to expand the brand, it's just this, well, I have to be online, right? Which I think is a…
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Huh.
Dane Cohen: Yup.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, which is challenging, because at the end of the day, if you don't want it, it's not gonna grow. If you don't want it, it's not going to grow, and I think the mental shift is when we can see it as a service. when we can see it as a genuine way that we can serve our customer, it's not just this sales channel that, if we're not doing, we're gonna be left behind. This is a channel that we can really make an impact in our customer's life. And if we start to see it this way. Everything's gonna pour out of that. So let me give you some real… the shifts that make this possible. And it's 3 big shifts that I see every one of our most thriving… like, the clients that are thriving. The retailers I see that are crushing it. This is the thing that I see working. So, let's talk through how, to answer Nicole's question, not sure, how to be a brand CEO. Let's talk through some big shifts, and it's… some of… it starts with identity, how you see yourself. Let me just invite you to give yourself a promotion. You are not the CEO of a store that has a website. That's what the store CEO would say. I own a storefront, we also sell online. The brand CEO would say, I own a brand, and I can serve my customer everywhere they engage us. This starts with a fundamental belief of that our brand can serve people in multiple places. So that's step number one. Step number two is, and if we're honest, is a priority shift. This is probably the biggest culprit I see. The store CEO. I want more online sales, but something always comes up in the store. I want more online sales, but something always comes up in store. The brand CEO can say, hey, I know where I want to be, and with the right strategy, I can prioritize making it happen. It has to be a priority, and we're not going to create a location out of our online sales with something that we go and update every 3 weeks. those aren't in alignment with each other. So it starts with… Defining where you want to be, and then putting in place the right priorities to get there. And so, when I talk to retailers around, like, where you want to be, I tend to hear answers, really, in 3 different groups. I hear some people, they're like, hey, I want… I don't know how yet, but I want to start to become a customer-centric brand. One that serves people in-store, we serve people online, and no matter where they engage us, we can help. And with the right strategy, I can prioritize making it happen. Some people want to just be a store with a site, and if that's your goal, that's okay. And that's to say, hey, the store is always going to be our number one priority. Every strategy, every system, every hire is going to be about the store. But then, it'd be great to get some more online sales. And then some people just want a lookbook, something that people check out before they visit the store. And just so I know, like, who's in the room, if you're here and you're like, okay, the brand piece, that's what I want to start moving towards. Maybe you didn't know the wording for it, but that's what you want, put the word brand. If you're here, and you're like, no, like, the store is my priority, but it'd be great to put more online sales, put the word store in the chat, and if your goal is a lookbook, really driving in-store foot traffic, put the word lookbook in the chat.
Dane Cohen: I like that Amy said, I AM a brand.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Look at that! I love Amy. She's great. Alright. We got a lot of brand here, some store, which is, again, define your goals, and then you can reverse engineer and say, what do I need to prioritize to making it happen? And that's…
Dane Cohen: By the way, could I… Can I just jump in and say something? There's nothing wrong with saying, hey, right now, I want to focus on my in-store experience, and that's where I need to be.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: 1000%. I would say I tell retailers more often than I tell them, like, hey, let's do this. I say, hey, go all in on your store. In fact, most of the stories I share today. are retailers that went heads down on their store first. It had a… they got a ton of traction, they built an unbelievable experience, it became a well-oiled machine before they ever seriously prioritized their online sales. There are seasons where that's great. So… Yeah, it's a… for me, it's a yes hand, is we… we need to… there are seasons to do that, and then there are seasons where we hold ourselves back just because the store is what's comfortable.
Dane Cohen: And I think there, that's some…
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: That's some soul-searching that we can't do for you, to do. And so that's shift number two. So we talk through the identity shift, the priority shift, then we get to the experience shift, which is the store CEO knows that they make an impact in person, but they just go online and sell products. But the brand CEO is obsessed with bringing their expertise and their service to their online customer. And that's what we're about to get into in a deep way. So… after implementing this, after going through it, so go full circle with Brooke, she shifted this belief, and out of that, she shifted her strategy. And for her, like, her online sales have blown up. They're up 234%, her traffic skyrocketed, her conversions skyrocketed. Weirdly, her store sales went up at the same time, and her site now outperforms her best location. Which, when I first talked to her, she would have said, like, not in a million years. Not in a million years would that be possible. So, let's get into my favorite subject. So we talk about that experience shift, and it's bottling the in-store experience. How do we take this amazing thing that we do in-store. And how do we start to translate that into what we're doing online? So, there is a question before I… because what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk through pieces of the store experience, from the first impression, to, like, when people are walking around, to customer service, but before we do that, we do have to answer one big question. Why do customers shop with you? Like, at the end of the… like, why you? If we can't answer this question. There is no part of the experience that we're going to be able to bring online and thrive. But here, for a brick-and-mortar retailer, we have to dig into what is it really? Because there are 3 types that I see. 3 types of brand advantages, or competitive advantages. The first, and sadly, the most common one, is we're the only ones in town that blank. We're the only ones in town that carry E. Newton. We're the only ones in town that carry this brand. We're the only ones that… whatever. Well, y'all, what's… y'all, sorry, I'm Texan. Dane is not… you might hear some y'alls from me from time to time.
Dane Cohen: You might hear some used guys from me.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Great, we'll balance each other. But this is something that I hear all the time, we're the only ones, but what's the challenge with… when you go online? If you're the only one in your town that carries… let's just use a popular jewelry brand, E. Newton. If you're the only one in your town that carries it, when you go online, are you the only ones? That carry what that is. Absolutely not. That competitive advantage is out the window, and we have to have a new answer to the question. Why do they shop with you? This is the… top 3 questions that you have to answer is, why you? And so, here, we get to the next level, which is, I would say, your unique curation. The way you understand your customer so deeply, and you're able to curate something for them, was like, why would I go anywhere else? And so here, what this would look like is you could take all the labels off of everything in your store. And your customer would walk in and still, despite whatever brands you think are the draw, they still would love the way you curate things in your in-store experience. So that's the second one. And then the last one is my favorite, and this is where we combine that curation with our expertise. And when we can take those two, that's where we have something really worth translating online. So, let's dig into the in-store experience, piece by piece, at least the big pieces, and let me give you some ideas for things you can do on your site to implement. So let's start with entering the store. So, and feel free, keep that chat open. When someone walks in your doors, like, at your storefront, how do you… what do you… what is your goal? Like, what do you want them to feel? What is your main goal in terms of what you want your customer to feel when they walk in? I think a lot of us would use words welcome, or warm, or… excited, all these feelings, and those are really good answers. But when people are online, we have to think about those feelings as well. But it happens much faster. in-store, like, you're kind of committed by the time you walk in, but online, like, that back button, people use so quickly, and I promise you, that back button is stealing more sales than Amazon, Sheen, Timu, and that competitor across the street combined. And it's because our site isn't answering these 3 important questions, and I call it the 3Q first impression. So let's get into what those are, and if you're note-takers, these are big things to look through your site. Through this lens. So question number one, is this for people like me? They land and they immediately ask, whether they know it or not, do people like me shop here? So let me give you a fun example. This is a friend of ours named Becca, she has a really cool store, Management One client in Fort Worth, Texas. Thriving storefront, and now thriving online. And she is bright, pink, a little bougie, she wouldn't mind me saying that. bright pink sparkles, and just imagine that this is you. Imagine that you love, like, you're all things pink. and you, you look at this, and you're like, yeah, that's me. So if that's you, and you land on this site. Do you immediately come to the conclusion, yes, this is for people like me? You might think that's a nice-looking store. You might think, like. oh, I've seen that, I'll go visit, but you don't land on the conclusion of, like, yeah, people like me shop here. So, when we dug into what that vibe really was, we were able to put together an experience that did, for her customer, they land, and they immediately know, yes, I'm in the right place. And this is the rider-downer for this. Is that… that's not a word, I know, but I like it. Is the mistake that we make with our site is we accidentally go and we make it all about us. We're like the guy at a wedding or at a bar that you meet, and they just talk about themselves for 30 minutes. They don't ask a single question, they don't get to know you, they clearly never read How to Win Friends and Influence People, they just talk about themselves. Well, that's what we do online. It's like someone walking in your door, and instead of asking them questions, asking how their day is, getting to know them, you just… Welcome to Josh's Boutique. We've been open since 1995, and we serve the best, like, you would never do that in-store. But we go online, and we have our logo huge at the top, we put something about us as the big hero image, then we have our About Us section, where we talk about our childhood dream, or that this store is passed down through three generations. Our website becomes about us, but the website should be more about your customer. How do we make our customer land on the site and feel like this is a brand that gets me? Not, I understand this brand.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, and Josh, it's like an immediate vibe check. You know, I know that that word vibe is now tossed around a lot, but especially for customers, right, who are in, you know, Gen X, millennial, big time, and starting in Gen Z, these are consumers who have grown up understanding aesthetics online, right? So we can identify really quickly, in a millisecond. You know, even walking into a coffee shop, walking, you know, logging onto a website, seeing something, you immediately get a vibe check and say, is this my vibe? And I'll tell you one… Absolutely. I'll tell you one of the funniest conversations I have, and I see this so many times. I'm talking to a retailer, and I'm on their website. And I say, okay, so who's your core customer? And they're like, oh, you know, it's really a mom over the age of 40, or, you know, whoever that customer is, and, you know, let's say it's a woman over 40, and then I go to their website. And the homepage is stock images of 18-year-old models. And I say, is this aligning with who you're trying to sell to? You have stock photos that aren't even, you know, your personality, your aesthetic, your vibe. And you just told me that your customer is 40+, and there's an 18-year-old fit model from a stock photo sitting on the front page of your website.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Oh yeah, I see it all the time, and it's… Photography is one of the immediate level-ups for just about every brand. There are some categories that don't need it, like a candle, whatever, take that vendor image, but especially when we get into clothing, photography is the immediate level up that solves a lot of this. If your models, if the people in those images are either, like. You know, at a minimum, someone that your customer relates to. At best, someone that they aspire to be. If we can nail that, like, that is what solves a ton of what we're talking about. So, that's big question number one. Is this for people like me? Like, do people like me shop here? Does your brand speak to your customer? Or is it trying to speak to everyone, and therefore speaking to no one? So, then we get to the next question. Can you help me? Like, are you actually able to solve my problem? And there's a few ways that you can do this online. Some of it's simple stuff, like. Do you showcase what problems you solve for people? So this is a client of ours, Michelle. She has a killer, an amazing needlepoint store. But she guides people with the different problems that she's solving. Or if you're a clothing boutique, and you're great at event-centric outfits, well, highlight those pieces. Don't just lean into categories. People shop in different ways. So, is this for people like me? Can you help me? And then lastly is, can I trust you? Like, in-store, you have the advantage of, like, they can walk in, they touch things, they feel, they talk to you, but online, they don't get that. And so, yes, we can do this through having a professional website. We also get it through simple things, like social proof. Hey, other people like me have had a good experience. Now, here's the exercise I want to do. I want to help everyone bring some of this home, is right now, pull up your website on your phone. And do not scroll at all. Pull up your website on your phone. Don't scroll at all, and put the word up in the chat once you have your website up on your phone.
Dane Cohen: This is a good one.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Alright, so… Alright, got a few… got a couple people. Alright, beautiful. Now you may be wondering why are we not scrolling? We have heat mapped dozens and dozens and dozens of sites. And probably now over 100 at least. And on average, 70% of traffic will never give one scroll. Like, not one movement. So a lot of times, we think we're gonna have all this stuff down our page to answer those questions, but your traffic's not doing that. And this was across multiple industries, this wasn't just boutiques. This is an on-average statistic. Some are more, there are a few that were a little bit less. So, if just looking at what loads on your phone when you visit the site. How well does our site answer these three questions? Who is this for What do you do best? Should we trust you? Now, feel free to put, like, send help, SOS, One of three, two of three, three of three in the chat on how you feel like your site is doing for this, because this is one of the most important pieces, because that first impression is the make it or break it. And if we're running ads, and we're doing all this stuff, and we're sending traffic, and they're not answering this right, they're clicking back. And so, to give another story, because I love to give examples in different industries, Dane, you look like you're wanting to.
Dane Cohen: No, I love that Tracy… Tracy put an SOS in the chat, so…
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah. And so Michelle, who I talked about earlier, she owned an incredible needlepoint store. Or she owns an incredible needlepoint store, and for her, like, she was kind of struggling through the technology pieces and entering all the things. And if I asked her at that time, like, hey, what do you do best? What's your superpower? She would say, we're the only needlepoint store in town. And when we dug into it, When we dug into it, we helped her create a roadmap of, this is what it looks like to translate your success online. We saw a huge disconnect between what she was doing in-store and what she was doing online. She had hired, like, a local design company to build something, but at the end of the day, they didn't have the expertise. They didn't understand brick-and-mortar retail, and they ended up creating something that was pretty, but it didn't reflect her in-store experience. So we dug into, like, what was her actual superpower? And then we helped in translating that online. So for her, that was completed projects and the community that she was building. And what's amazing for her is in 2025, she hit 7 figures in her online sales. Which, for her, like, if I went into a time machine to when we first talked and told her, that's what she would be saying. She would have called me a liar. I do want to offer, if this is okay, Dane, because I love the Management One Community, if you're already hearing this, and you're like, yes, I need this type of plan, like, and again, this isn't necessarily us, me saying, we're gonna work together. I don't know. I don't even know if we're a fit, but if you do want help putting together a roadmap of what does it look like for your brand. to translate all the success you've built in-store into online sales. You can schedule a free roadmap call at madebycapital.com slash plan. I don't think I can throw it in the chat. Dane, can you throw that link in the chat for me? But you can schedule a free 40-minute call where we'll dig into a lot of these pieces. and help you create a clear plan moving forward. So let's keep going. Then we have the… Then we have the browsing experience. So people walk in, they get that first impression.
Dane Cohen: Josh, could you just go back one to the… I just want to make sure this gets in the chat, the…
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: MadeByCapital.com slash plan.
Dane Cohen: Okay, we're in business.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Beautiful. Alright, so we walk around, we walk in, we have that amazing first impression, then we start walking around. The browsing experience, and there's some mistakes that you can make here. Number one, most common one, especially for brick-and-mortar retailers, is we build the site experience around how we shop. Well, you're a professional shopper. The way you shop through Fashion Go is not the way that your customers shop. The way you shop through Hub inventory is not the way your customer necessarily shops. They all have different ways that they navigate through sites, and we need to make sure that our site experience reflects the way each of them do. And then the next one that you might… the next mistake I see is where we structure our website like a point of sale. Like, we're planning all these classes for our open to buy. And we're building our site navigation based on our inventory plans. Not based on how our customers shop, but based on how we need our reports. Those two aren't one and the same. You have back-end needs, and then you have customer journeys.
Dane Cohen: And then… Management One clients will know, right, that those are two very separate things, right? The way that… the way that we look at your inventory categories does not need to be how it's showcased, online, because, right, when I was a retailer and I was using Management One, we used to have a, you know, a category for nice, like, dressy dresses and, casual dresses. I wouldn't phrase it like that on the website, right? Correct. Just because they're in my planning. Doesn't mean that's how it has to go, up on the website.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Exactly. So let's talk through some ways that you can guide the customer journey. So first off, you always want to see the site like merchandising. I hate, like, I never call it updating. I don't call it updating your site. I call it merchandising your site. And if we approach it that way, that will impact the other things that we do. So we can start to look at, like, how do we group things together in-store? It may not just be by category. Well, how are we translating that into what we're doing online? And this starts with asking the question, it's like, beyond categories, how do customers shop? Do we… and how are we bringing those things into what we're doing? So just to give some low-hanging fruit examples, we have a client that has a really cool gift store, and on her website, it was mostly category-driven. But in store, her tables and her displays were more recipient-driven. Now, that doesn't mean she threw the categories out the window, it meant that she incorporated these other ways that she merchandised into her site experience. Not just in this section, but in her navigation and in other aspects, she thought through, okay, there are these different ways that we merchandise in-store, let's bring that online. I always forget the weird stuff that Otter does. Another example… is, you know, if you're a clothing boutique, that it's not just categories, there's uses. It's like, here we have an awesome brand that has nursing-friendly, bump-friendly, athleisure. These are other paths that they take, and you likely are merchandising in-store through that. So… That's the guided journey. That's when we're walking around the store. But then we get to the heart of retail. We get to the heart of retail, which I think is customer service. I think that so many of us thrive when it comes to this. And so, some great examples of how this translates. I used Michelle as an example earlier. She was amazing with completed projects, and she would inspire people around the projects that they wanted to complete in store, and even on social media. But then you went online, and you had to scavenger hunt your way around the website to find what you would need to create that project. So we did the simple work of grouping those things together. Here is the completed project, and here's everything you need to make that possible. This both increased her conversion and her average order value. by doing this, and this was such a simple customer service thing to bring online, but we thought through not just what's the one product, but what's the thing that we really do in-store. If you're in clothing, one of the easiest examples is as you're leveling up and you're taking your own product photography, you're not just throwing a top on and calling it a day, you're styling these things. Well, just like you would help someone style in-store. Let's bring all the pieces in that outfit into one place, so they're not having to scavenger hunt around your website. They can click buy right there and get everything in one place.
Dane Cohen: Josh, I see Amy asked, is this Shop the Look?
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yes. It is.
Dane Cohen: Okay.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah. Here it's called Complete the Look, but… Yes, the concept is shop the look. And there's a lot of different nuanced ways to do it. It just depends on the brand, and the site experience and the site design. as far as, like, how you do it, but that is the name of that type of feature. Or another awesome client of ours, Pico Armando Toys, one of my favorite toy stores. For her, she was thinking through. Like, people don't necessarily know what categories they are looking for. What they know is, like, winter apocalypse is happening, my kids are inside, and I want them to do something not on an iPad for at least an hour. So let's guide them based on the different types of play that they may have. So these were some navigation changes that they made to be able to accommodate the different things that she helped people with in store. So, here's the exercise for each of you. I want to give everyone tangible things to apply. Is, right now, write down your most popular category in your store. And by that, I don't mean a, like, clothing. Let's go one level down from that. So it may be tops, it may be dresses, it may be denim. What's that big category for you? And then after that, write down 2-3 paths that a customer may take to get there. Now, here's what I mean. So, let's say I like… we're shopping denim. If I'm looking for denim, I may walk into a store and be looking for one certain brand. I may be looking for one specific brand and need help finding it. Other times, I may walk in and be like, hey, it's winter. I need help, like, I need darker wash denim. Other times, I maybe walk in and be like, hey, the Houston Rodeo's about to start, I need jeans that are gonna go over my boots. Right? Those are 3 different paths I would take, all to get to denim. So what are those paths for you? It could be occasions, it could be length, it could be styles. All these pieces, write those down, and then we can start to think, what are simple ways that we can bring these journeys into how we guide customers online, knowing that each person is coming to what you sell in different ways. So, I want to leave some time for Q&A, and so I'm going to skip a little bit here, because I want to be able to dig in a little bit more. I do want to say I have a longer version of this training. And if you want a copy of that, feel free to DM the word training to RetailJosh on Instagram. DM the word RetailJosh, I will DM you a recording where I dig more into all of these pieces. like, in a much more thorough way. Because I want, especially, like, with the Management One audience, I want y'all getting, like, the big pieces that apply specifically to you. And so… the big imitation I want to make, before we get into Q&A, and before Dane and I get to jam through a lot of these pieces, is if you are here and you have a ton of traction in your storefront, like, your customer has validated what you're doing. you're thriving there, and you want to translate that success into what you're doing online. I would love to connect. We'll talk… I call it a roadmap call, where I want to talk through your superpower, talk through what are some first steps you can take, and what's one area you need to focus. And so you can schedule this at MadeByCapital.com. slash plan, and again, if you want, like, a more… a longer version of this training. And I'll go ahead and hook you up with some free resources, feel free to DM the word training to RetailJosh. And I'll send you, like, a longer version of everything that we're covering today, because I know that Dane, I'm sure, has a lot of really good questions and things that we can jam on a little bit that apply specifically to this audience, because y'all are, like, the best of the best retailers here, and so there's stuff I'd love to get into. But…
Dane Cohen: Yeah, so, first off, let's… let's… the chat is open, so please feel free. You guys have been so collaborative here in the chat, so feel free to jump in with questions, and let's continue Josh is here, you have him as a resource, so please ask questions and fire away. Josh, here's one of the things that I get all the time, right? And in relation to inventory, and really where I think the convergence of what you do and what Management One does comes into play. It's the question of, well, when do I start buying specifically for e-commerce?
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: I love it. So here's my advice, and feel free to disagree with me, but I think the mistake that a lot of retailers make is they solve… they try to solve the problem they think will exist. Not the problem that exists. And so they'll be like, okay, this is the year, we're gonna prioritize our online sales, and so they go from ordering 2 packs to ordering 4 packs of everything, and they open their warehouse, they do all this stuff, but then what happens is online takes longer to grow than they thought was gonna happen, and they're now stuck They're overstocked in merchandise. Because they overbought, in light of if, to use open-to-buy words, like, forecasted sales, they overbought for. So, here, what I like to… I typically say, Stick with your store. Like, fulfill out of your store, don't start buying yet until your online sales are at around 20%. At around 20% of your store sales. keep buying for your sort. But once you hit that point, that's where you really need to start thinking, how do I create a plan for this sales channel that now has traction, that now has trajectory, and we can see the growth. And now we do need to start planning explicitly for our online store. But we also don't want to go and overbuy for a channel that isn't Doesn't have that trajectory yet. Does that make sense, or what would you.
Dane Cohen: No, no, that's… well, just on that note, right, I think it works both ways, is that, you know, I always look at this as, you know, you're buying from your store, you're buying for your store, and for your brand, right? Let's take it to the brand mentality. You're using your store as a fulfillment center, right? So, you know, I love that advice, don't put the cart before the horse, we don't need to go and buy a warehouse before you have… X amount of e-commerce sales. But I do think, and, you know, jump in here, but where I see a lot of people go left is that they're buying wide and thin, right? So they're over-assorted, they're buying real… PC, you know, you're doing a pack here, you're not really buying deep into categories, so all of a sudden, what ends up happening is you put a hero image up on your website, or you put, you know, product that's gonna be on the front page of the new releases, and you don't have any, right? You had… you bought four of a shirt, you sold one in the store. and now you have 3 left, and that's not gonna make an online business. So, understanding what categories are driving your business, and be able to, you know, start to pad. That's how I like to think about it, right? Starting to pad your best-selling categories, so you have a little more cushion In those areas, let's say denim is your best-selling category, you have a little more cushion that you know that you could rely on your in-store sales to pick up the slack, but you're also going to have enough inventory to kind of start to grow and build and nurture that online business as well.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Absolutely. And I… I think one thing that's important, this is an area where I get misunderstood a lot, is I talk through translating the in-store experience online. And I think what people hear is they have to be the same. That they have to be the exact same experience. There is nuance. The big goal is that you know how your brand serves its customer. And then you can say, okay, how do we do that best through this channel, and how do we do that best through this channel? So, to go into something night and day different, if I own a restaurant, and I own a food truck. Well, I would want those brand experiences to be similar in terms of the flavors, the kind of things you're getting, but if I serve steaks in my restaurant, and we're in an outdoor event, I'm not serving steaks to something where people are walking around. Right? Those are two different things. one brand, but they can play themselves out through what is best for that channel. And so this is where we can start to look. Like, when you're at market. We've all looked at things where you look at it, and you're like, in store, that's gonna fly off the shelf. You touch it, you feel it, you know, like, that's gonna go so fast. But it doesn't photograph well. And you have other things that photograph so well, and it's gonna sit in the store, but it's gonna fly online. It's okay to be thinking differently based on the channel. But it still is one way that the brand serves the customer, but there is some nuance between the two.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, one of the things that I see a lot in that respect is, you know, stuff that's probably flying off the shelves is very, like, grab-and-go, right-at-the-register items that are, like, on the homepage of someone's e-commerce, and it's like, well, that's kind of like an in-store grab-and-go experience, and that $3 trinket may not be translating, exactly as you think it is online. So, okay, we have some questions. I, I see Edgar. Edgard, Josh, what's the, it's, it's… Give him the website made by Capital,
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, he's made bycapital.com slash plan.
Management One: Just scroll up a little bit, Edgar.
Dane Cohen: So, Edgar, we could get that question. for you, Trisha, do we need to hire our own models and professional photographers?
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: I love it. Not necessarily. I can say almost every example I showed today uses iPhones for their photography. So there's that. Should you be taking your own photos? For most industries, the answer is yes. And that is just one of those… pieces that comes with their priorities.
Dane Cohen: Can I say something? Yeah. I think, also, we're at a point, and Josh, feel free to correct me, where an iPhone could do a lot of damage, and a lot of heavy lifting. In a good way, in a good way. It could do a lot of heavy lifting. And I… there was one image that you put up there that was the… you tell me who the store owner was, where she was peeking through the racks.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Oh, iPhone.
Dane Cohen: And that's fun, like, don't be afraid to have a little fun. Like, your images don't have to look like stock images. You don't have to be, you know, standing there in a model post position. It could be fun, and I think a lot of retailers that I see who are having success, you know, there's an element of whimsy, right? Let's bring back the word whimsy. You know, there's an element of fun, there's an element of personality, and so, yeah, Misty loved that rack photo.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: It should have brand, like, when that…
Management One: the pandemic.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Personality's not coming true.
Management One: The pandemic really lowered the bar in production value. People got used to those home video quality productions.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, and I don't even know if it's that they got used to. So, first off, like, for those pieces. I would even argue that a DSLR, which is a fancy camera, that's all you need to know, fancy camera, you actually have to have some skill to get good photos out of that equipment. the iPhone… yes, you need to be creative. I don't want to pretend like we're all going to go out and be professional photographers with our iPhone. There is some creative skill needed, but the barrier to entry is far lower. Now, on the professional side, funny enough. Like, on ads, which we do have an ads agency, but we're… that one, like, is really for retailers that have already scaled, and they're ready to… scale to the moon. One of the things that we will tell them, like, they'll have their professional photo shoot, and we're like, hey, can you get an iPhone out and capture photos while that photographer is shooting? Because the professional photos don't convert. in ads. They look like ads. They look like every other brand trying to get you to buy stuff, but the stuff with the iPhone looks like it should be there. it looks like it should be in your feed, and it actually works in paid advertising.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, it's the same reason people love live sales, right? They like that, they like the mishaps, they like the bloopers, they like it feeling… feeling real. Okay, I'm gonna answer. Jennifer asks, what do you mean by wide and thin? So, Jennifer, what a wide and thin buying strategy is, just very quickly, is it really is an over-assorted buying strategy. So, I'll give you a great example. It just happened to me this past weekend. I walked into an outdoor retail store. That I really like and respect, and they've been there for a long time, and they're starting to branch out more and more into apparel. I was going shopping, doing a little winter shopping, and on the front table. They had about 7 gray sweaters. And I know exactly what happened there. The buyer went around to market, and they bought a gray sweater that was a little heavier, and a gray sweater that was a little lighter, and a gray sweater with a V-neck, and a gray sweater with a… crewneck, and they thought, I'm gonna give a lot of options to my customers. So I'm buying, you know, a small, medium, large, extra large of each sweater. All I see as the customer is. now I see 7 gray sweaters, which one is the right one for me? I finally see one that I like, they don't have it in my size. Instead of just saying, hey, I'm gonna pick 2 gray sweaters, and I'm gonna go 2 size runs deep into it, and focus and curate for the customer. Right? So if I got in there and I say, oh, these are two great sweaters, this store's showing a nice full presentation of these two sweaters, I'm gonna select between one of them, and they're gonna have my size. So, wide and thin, think about it as, like, a spotty, you're trying to please everyone, you're buying a little bitsies and crumbsies. I just made up Bitsies and Crumsies, you like that? Bits and pieces. everywhere. And you're not really, showing a focused assortment. So, let's keep going. SD says they're struggling with Weighing time required to add items in low inventory quantities versus return from the sale. We are a home decor and gift shop. SD, we're happy to talk that through with you. Josh, can you suggest… Rita ask, can you suggest an initial transitional test? I think that would be a great thing to go over with you on a one-on-one call, Josh.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yes, I don't… to be frank, I don't quite understand the… Question.
Dane Cohen: Rita, if you want to clarify, we got a few more minutes. David, Darcy?
Management One: Can I go up one? Because we had… the chat was moving so fast. We had a couple of questions up top that I don't want to lose.
Dane Cohen: Oh, yes.
Management One: One of them was from Ivory, and she asked, aside from social proof, how else do we show trust?
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: I mean, it comes through a lot of different ways, so it's, one, like, does your site, like, is it professional, is it put together, or do we have, like, you know, Shopify's random, like, shoe and backpack placeholder image? Occasionally through our site, like. That's a simple, low-hanging fruit, is does it look like this is a real brand? If I've never visited you in store, do I believe you're a legitimate business? That's level one. Then you do get to things like social proof, which I think are huge. And then your photography is one of the easiest things you can do to drive it. Now, there are subtle things that we like to do, or we'll put, like, badges that, are little… they're little psychological reinforcements. So sometimes it's putting, like, the badges, like, ships fast from Texas, Those things, they… it… What's interesting is a lot of times we look for these really big changes to make. And a lot of times, it is, like, little small psychological reinforcements that, stacked up, like, when you take that bigger strategy, and you stack this, plus this, plus this, plus this, that's what accomplishes the goal that we're trying to do.
Management One: I would add in there, too, is… making sure that you incorporate your local community somewhere in there, whether it's in your messaging or events that you're doing. Show people that you're not just a store that is in your town. You're actually a member of your community, and you create experiences for the community. I think that would show trust, especially in the local environment.
Dane Cohen: I like that, Nico. And then, also, for… for… for… for… for God's sake, please, have your Google stuff updated. You know, I can't tell you, like, that on its own, like, a lot of business comes through Google, a lot comes through digital advertisement, a lot of your business comes through Google, and if I go on, and you have two ratings, and, you know, your store hours aren't up there, and it's not linking to your site, like, that's just no bueno. So, and I always say this, like, here's a great thing. Just ask your friends and families for reviews on Google. Like… That's, like, a good place to start. I hate to… I hate if that's a little bit of a cheat code, but, like, ask your friends, they… all they have to do is click a star rating, give it 5 stars, right? And listen, they're probably shopping in your store, they're able to give a review of it, like, don't be ashamed to reach out to your sister-in-law and ask her to put up a review of your site, right? That's gonna help build that trust as well. Also.
Management One: Ask them to go through your site, go to the homepage, click through some things. I guarantee you they're gonna find something that you missed. Maybe something was off, something was broken. You can read a sentence 800 times and think it's fine. Somebody else reads it and they're like, oh, you put the twice, and you're like, ugh. Give some… give that second pair of eyes.
Dane Cohen: Misty says, they better be shopping at my store. Agreed. Okay, we have two more questions we'll answer. Andrea, hi Andrea, it's good to… it's good to virtually see you. Shout out to Andrea. Andrea says… If you were going to start an e-com site, easy to use, no brain damage to run, what would your best suggestion be? That's… that's a big question, Andrea.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: That's a big question, because there's, like, platform stuff, and then there's the foundational pieces. Like, I would start with, like, let's get the right foundation in place. Now, if I could… maybe overreach a little bit here, but the wording… what you want to avoid is… and I see this all the time, we build a well-oiled machine in store. We know the team to hire, we know how to train them, we know how to onboard them, and we treat online like it's the owner's side project. It's the owner's side project, and so… like, we had someone, gosh, they were like a $4 million retailer, and they were up at night adding tags to their products in Shopify to get it to go to the right place. They would never dream of running their business that way in-store, but we think that we have to be the ones doing it online. It is okay to start to bring team in, so if our concern is, like, it's gonna be a headache, it's gonna be these things, well, great, let's figure out how we can get a more cohesive brand vision and communicate those things to our team so we can get our team's help. Because if we have, like, that's one of the big things that we do, is help put in place those things so your team actually knows what to do to help move these things forward, but you get to stay as the visionary, rather than treating online like it's your side project against your well-oiled machine storefront. I don't know if you see that, Dane.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, I actually have 3 things I just want to interject here, and then we're gonna get to Rita. Oh, hope feels seen, we love that. I would say the three things here, Andrea, to prevent brain damage. I love how you phrased that. One is, and listen, part of what we do here in the Management One community and bringing, you know, people like Josh into the conversation is use vetted and trusted resources, right? Don't go to the local kid that once built, a website for an ice cream truck, and expect him to build, you know, what you're gonna need for your retail website, right? You want to use vetted resources, and you may have to spend a little dollars, but at the end of the day. you know, we don't want you wasting money. It's a lot worse to waste money on something that doesn't work, doesn't serve your purpose, doesn't give you what you need, and you're running behind. And then, also. You know. A lot of this has been made really easy, and I don't want to undersell it, right? A lot of this is made really easy in terms of platforms, right? So, Shopify being the 800-pound gorilla in this room. There are a lot of apps there that are made to help you, so you're not reinventing the wheel here, and sometimes I see retailers that, I'm building a custom wireframe, it's like… We have easy-to-use tools that are at your disposal that I'm sure a lot of your fellow retailers and people in the business are using. You're not reinventing the wheel. You need to work with good people that are trusted and vetted using, you know, platforms and resources that are Universal and easy to manage.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah.
Dane Cohen: And then, lastly, Rita. Rita came back. Rita, this actually, now I… this makes a lot more straight to the point. How would someone with traditional… a traditional site begin moving toward your brand goals? You know, looking… being looked at as a brand?
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, and that's one of the big pieces that I do like to dig into in those brand roadmap calls. Which, not to shameless plug it, but madebycapital.com slash plan, where we… Because it starts with, like, okay, let's figure out who our brand is, who it is that we serve. And then, let's… I love to start by looking at the in-store experience. And so we look at, okay, how do we translate that online? Then, what are the things that we're doing that generate traffic? Like, one of the mistakes you can make, and I see this all the time, is, like, we swing on the pendulum of… Visit us in store, we're here till 8, visit us in store, come see us today, and then we swing back the other way with, open 24-7, shop with us online. We have to shift to more brand marketing, and knowing that people then will visit us how they want to visit us. Some will shop online, some will shop in-store, but it's even a fundamental different way of approaching traffic. And so, truthfully, whether it's with us or it's with someone else, is I would say, like, work with someone that can help you do those things, who can help you lay that kind of foundation. Rather than doing what most do, and trial and error it for 3 years, yes, you might figure it out, but then 3 years go by, that went out the window, because We were trying to piecemeal it one by one, rather than really putting in a cohesive strategy together.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, and, you know, I would also say, I think this goes back to, have some fun with this, right? That picture of… Josh, who was that retailer that was… That was Gen C Wallace, Gen Z.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Oh, okay, what's Jim Thompson?
Dane Cohen: J-I-N-C-Y-S dot com.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Good plug. Josh gets a kickback for that. No, but… not true. But, you know, have some fun with it. And, like, the thing about Becca from Hail House, right? By the way, she is exactly in person, walking around a trade show as she is on the homepage of her website. If you are a person that only wears black and neutrals. and you click on Becca's website, you are off that website in 2 seconds, right? And that's a good thing, right? Right? She is bright, she is colorful. So, again, it's this mentality of not being everything to everyone. Stick to who you are, and have some fun with it. Put some real people, real customers, real, you know, you don't have to hire the professional models, and I go back to that example that I used at the beginning. If you're catering to 40-plus women, right? Have those women who are real customers, who have real bodies, who have real… wearing the clothes, and show that. And then… You know, and then I think that, again, it's that immediate vibe check of going on and really being able to connect and relate, and also weeding out the people who are just not your customer.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Oh, yeah.
Management One: Go for it, Josh.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, there… it's a scary thing, but the… They go hand in hand. The more that your brand attracts, it will also repel. But that's a good thing, because it's like, if we try to go for everyone, what you're gonna end up doing is you're gonna have 5… there's a hundred people, 5 of them like you, they're for you, 5 of them don't really like you, and then in the middle, you'll have this huge group that just doesn't care about you. They have no opinion, and that is the worst. But if we can build that brand that attracts, we now have 40 that are for us. And they are like, that's my… those are my people, that's my brand, that's my group. And on the other side, you're gonna have 40 that are like, not for me. And that's okay, because the two go hand-in-hand with each other. And I think when we get scared of repelling. That's one of the things that keeps us from being able to really grow online, is trying to do too much for too many people. Rather than really hone in on who it is that we serve.
Management One: So I wanted to bring up, Rosie in Q&A. I think she's asking a question that specifically speaks to what you're saying. So she says, I'm a locally made brand known for our baby blankets and robes. We specialize in embroidery, personalization. My primary customer are grandparents who are shopping for their first grandbaby. So, would I add pictures of grandparents with their grandbabies on my homepage? To reflect the alignment with my customer.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Not necessarily. That's a very nuanced situation, to be honest.
Management One: Definitely worth an outreach, Rosie. Thank you for sticking with us, too.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah, because grandparent, like, just to give an example of the nuance, is the grandparent, where they are mentally, is they're also thinking about their kid. they're trying to impress their kid that they're the good grandparent. Like, if we get into the psychology of that, like, they want to be the good grandparent. They want to be better than the other one. There's all those things that are playing in, and how do we visually showcase those pieces? That's where… that's why I say that's a pretty nuanced… situation. It's not necessarily be the good grandparent, It's something deeper than that.
Dane Cohen: I'll tell you, as someone who works… I'll tell you from the brick-and-mortar side, as someone who worked in the kids' business, seeing a grandparent walk through the front door of your store was the best part of our day. Because you… you knew the parents, the parents are going to be mindful of how they spend. They're concerned grandparents, you know that they are there to spend. So, I do relate to that. You know, that desire to kind of capture the grandparents. So, instead of grandparent, take photos of parents receiving and using the custom-made item. Thank you, Katrina, that's some good insight. Okay, alright guys, so we are… Gonna wrap up here. Josh is available as a resource, so please, reach out. I think we have that, plenty in the chat, so you can reach out to Josh, and of course, we at Management One are here. If you're a current client, follow up with us for questions. And if you're not a client, I'd be happy to talk through anything, you know, we spoke about here, as well as anything inventory planning. related, so book a call with me as well. I'd love to chat and just… Shoot the breeze.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Yeah. Alright, thank you for having me.
Management One: Thank you so much, guys.
Dane Cohen: Thank you, Josh, we love to see you.
Josh Orr - @retailjosh: Alright, see y'all later.