Today the eCommerce industry is growing at a tremendous pace. The global volume of sales touched USD 2.86 trillion in 2018, as against USD 2.43 trillion in the previous year.
What is driving this sales volume? Is it just the convenience factor and the discounts associated with online purchase; or is it just the urge to look around and get inspirational ideas for shopping. Research shows that while most shoppers know exactly what they want to buy and browse specifically for it, there is another breed of shoppers who casually browse the online stores and buy on impulse.
In either case, it becomes important for online stores to deploy the best-of-breed eCommerce marketing ideas for their customers, especially since online shoppers are tech-savvy and mostly in the age group of 25-34.
Creating an eCommerce friendly website:
An eCommerce friendly website is a basic requirement to drive online sales. For newbie online stores Shopify and Bigcommerce are two very good online sales platforms as they offer state of the art customer ordering, payment gateways, and shipping services.
Track customer behavior in real time
Tracking and recording consumer behavior in real- time, and making tweaks in the marketing strategy on the fly are some hot selling ideas. Data gathered from online stores provides extensive and detailed consumer behavior patterns which can be adjusted to align with what you sell, at what price you sell, how you sell it and how can you customize it to the tastes and preferences of your customers. Based on the analysis, adjustments can be done on the strategy related to pricing, promos and discounts.
Doing hyper personalization and targeted marketing
An online store lets you collect data of not only shoppers, but also of visitors who put an item in the cart but do not buy it for whatever reason; or who have browsed extensively on the site but have not selected any item. This is very valuable data and offers you an option to send an email to these persons either in real time or just quickly afterwards to lure them to the site to complete the transaction.
Creating customer lists from your eCommerce platform
Technology has now made it possible for eCommerce companies to have access to consumer analytics. Data such as most number of purchases made, purchases over $50, region wise purchases, item-wise purchases, first time buyers etc are now available at the click of a button. This enables online storesto run targeted and focused email marketing campaigns offering promotions, deals, special offers and discounts.
Selling through social media
Social media platforms present a wonderful opportunity for increasing online sales. For example Facebook has a product & services page that enables online stores not only to put posts related to their store and build brand credibility, but also to link it to their website and offer an extra channel for visitors to come to their website.
Market your business beyond geographic boundaries
Online storeshave the opportunity to sell beyond multiple geographies. Physical boundaries that play a major role in brick and mortar stores hold literally no meaning for them. They overcome the barrier of distance by offering free shipping and other discounts. In this way they are able to attract global buyers residing in different regions of the world.
Highlight reviews
Online stores have a reviews section in which customers share their feedback of a product that they have purchased. This is a great way to highlight positive reviews as these lead to higher sales because other customers feel inclined to buy items that have been liked by other folks.
Take advantage of Checkout pages
Checkout pages of online store provide valuable data about the customer such as his or her personal information, shipping details and contact address. This enables online storesto profile the demographics of their customers and reach out to them with targeted emails and campaigns.
Custom content and marketing
Online stores have the advantage of customizing their content based on the profile of their customers and current market trends. They simply tweak the changes in the CMS and the changes happen at the click of a button.
Testing products that actually sell
Online stores allow you to test your products and make changes in your marketing strategy easily. This is not possible so easily in brick and mortar stores. Also, most online stores typically have a new section that is dedicated to recent launches and new arrivals.
Conclusion:
By implementing new eCommerce marketing trends online stores can boost their sales. Techindia Software is a leading web development company in India providing end-to- end services in eCommerce that include consulting and implementation services on eCommerce platforms such as Magento, Shopify and OpenCart.