Customer Story
Connecting the Art Community in Singapore with Visualtroop
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance” – Aristotle
The topic of art may not appeal to all, but there will always be a small group of art enthusiasts that support the local art scene through exhibitions or events such as Singapore Art Week, Art Stage Singapore and etc. What’s missing today is the online art appreciation.
Meet the team at Visualtroop, who aims to build and bring together the Singapore art community through online and offline efforts. “As with every business, you would need to start off from a small community and serve their needs to the best of your abilities. While our vision is to build a global art marketplace, we would like to first connect the local community together online through Visualtroop,” shared Leonard, co-founder of Visualtroop.
Customer differentiation helps to improve the clarity of marketing messaging
Selling online was the first step for Visualtroop as their business model is based on print-on-demand and this would eliminate any inventory problems. Initially, they encountered difficulties in sourcing for suppliers which took them 6 months to launch their online store.
“We are glad we chose Shopify as it saves us the time and money to build a website from scratch. I realized that business owners today try to focus on everything and end up not doing what is important for the business. A great example is creating a perfect website. As cliché as it sounds, time is money. Prioritize what is needed at the early stage of business and do what it takes to get there. Then you can work on the frivolous things; everything else can wait.”
What matters most to Leonard and Jean is to identify who their target audience are. This will help them in crafting marketing messages that appeal to them as well as leveraging on the right social media platforms to engage and interact with them.
“Our primary target audience are the modern home owners and those who have an eye for the contemporary art. The modern home owners are aged between 25-40 years old and have reasonable purchasing power. They are usually active on Instagram and Pinterest to look for home decoration tips and inspiration. On the other hand, we are also reaching out to the general consumers who have specific interest in art-oriented everyday products. These consumers will purchase on a more regular basis, albeit on a smaller average order value.”
Creating an online marketplace for local artists
“We are currently working with 48 local artists and we receive positive feedback from time to time that they love our concept and are interested in joining us as it is a mutually beneficial relationship. Their willingness to help us spread the word would be pivotal in the growth in the platform,” shared Leonard.
Besides that, Leonard feels that a forum is essential to foster stronger ties between the artists and the general public. It allows more opportunities for internal collaboration as well as increased communication among artists. “The forum we envision is pretty open and anything can be posted as long as it’s related to art. In the long run, we hope to organise physical events and exhibitions for our artists and customers. We believe that it is through physical meetups that will truly bond the art community together.”
How to convert sales from website traffic
According to Leonard, business owners often correlated traffic with sales which is not true. Generating high traffic does not guarantee conversion so it is important to prioritise these two as separate goals for your business. The first step would be to market your online store to the target audience so as to garner high traffic to your website. Google adwords, Facebook ads, forums, local websites, influencers are a great start.
The next step is to convert these visitors into customers. Figure out why people are not buying from you. One common strategy huge ecommerce players do to gain market share is to offer steep discounts to acquire new customers at the expense of low or negative profits. Once their desired market share is attained, they will then reduce their discount amount. Therefore if price point is a factor for your customers, discount popups might work well in increasing sales and market share. Keep in mind your customer lifetime value (CLV) and not just the value of his/her first order.
Ask yourself these questions and run through your site as a customer. Is your ‘About us’ trustworthy enough? Are your product photos appealing enough for customers to buy your product? Are your product descriptions interesting and informative? Hence, business owners need to carefully evaluate the buying process as well as the user-friendliness of their website to increase sales conversion.
Advice to those who are thinking of starting their own online business
Always keep track of changes you make and see if they add to your bottom line.
Set clear goals. It’s the only way to ensure that you have progressed forward.
Do not belittle marketing and customer acquisition. If nobody learns of your wonderful product, it will fail.
Shopify makes it easy for anyone to start their business online, from adding products to accepting orders from customers. You can make your first sale the same day you sign up! Start your free 30-day trial today!