How do you take a physical shop online in one sitting?
By the Gritticon team · Updated · 5 min read
Taking a physical shop online starts with the customers you already have. Put your products and prices on one shop page, share its link at the counter, in your WhatsApp groups and on Instagram, and decide whether people collect or you deliver. With Gritticon OMS you can be live in one sitting and add more products afterwards.
Start from who already buys from you
A shop that goes online does not need to find a new audience on day one. The first online orders come from people who already walk in: regulars who would rather order ahead, customers who moved away, families who message you for the same things every month. Going online is giving them an easier way to keep buying from you.
What to put online first
- Your best sellers and the items people ask about most, each with a clear photo and price.
- Sizes, colours or portions as choices on the item, so the order arrives complete.
- Anything you sell only to order, with a note on how long it takes.
- Leave the long tail for later; a short, accurate catalogue beats a long, out-of-date one.
Collection, delivery or both
Collection is the simplest start for a physical shop: the customer orders ahead and picks up at the counter. Delivery reaches people who cannot come in, but you need a rider or courier and a delivery area. Many shops start with collection and add delivery nearby.
Gritticon OMS lets you offer delivery, collection or both. You arrange delivery yourself, with your own rider or courier.
Keep prices and photos right
An online catalogue only helps if it matches the shelf. Take photos in the shop, in daylight, against a plain background, and use the same angle for similar items so the page looks tidy. When a price changes at the counter, change it on the page the same day. Customers forgive a sold-out item far more easily than a price that changes when they arrive.
Give one person in the shop the job of keeping the page current. It takes minutes a day, and it is what makes customers trust the link.
Hours and orders out of hours
In Gritticon OMS, a retail shop takes orders at any hour, even at night, and its opening hours are for packing and collection. A food shop takes orders only inside its opening hours, or you can switch on Open 24/7; when it is closed, customers can still browse the menu.
When something sells out
Untick it. In Gritticon OMS an item or size that is out stays on the page as “Currently unavailable” instead of disappearing, so customers do not think you stopped selling it. Gritticon OMS does not count stock for you, so untick items as they run out.
How Gritticon OMS gets a shop live
You can be live in one sitting: create the account, add one item, publish, and share the link. When you sign up you choose Food or Retail, which shapes the catalogue and the shop layout. Your shop name, colours, logo and banner sit at the top of the page. Your link is https://{your-shop}.stores.gritticon.com; the short name in it can change until you publish and then stays fixed.
Publishing waits for an identity check, and you can keep setting up while it is done. Everything runs on a phone, and the same screens work on a computer.
Tell your customers
- Print the link as a QR code for the counter and the bill.
- Send it to your customer WhatsApp groups and put it on your status.
- Add it to your Instagram bio, and to the website if you already have one.