What makes an ecommerce business successful? Is it the products you sell, or their price or marketing? Ecommerce industry is continuing its upward trajectory, will continue to do so for some time. But the market is already crowded with a plethora of players and success would be hard to come by with a me too online store. Innovation in product strategy or delivery process is key to success in this competitive industry.
Focusing on the 4 PS of marketing – Product, Price, Place and Promotion can give you a starting point to build a strategy that leads you to ecommerce success.
Here are some tips that will guide you to success in the competitive world of ecommerce.
Create a Niche For Yourself
The days of general ecommerce stores are over. That war has already been won by Amazon and the other major players. If you get into eCommerce trying to become another amazon or eBay, that’s a surefire way to fail. The future of ecommerce is about specialty stores. Stores that specialize in one product category and stock deep. For example if you select eyewear as the category to specialize, stock so many variety for eyewear that even amazon doesn’t have. Become the destination for people looking to buy eyewear online.
Choose The Right Technology Platform
Since ecommerce business is heavily dependent on technology, Getting the right technology is critically important. Consult with a good ecommerce development company and decide on the platform. For example if you have enough resources, you can go with Magento. But if you want your development maintenance costs to be low you can go with WooCommerce.
Whichever platform you finalize you also need to ensure it is fully functional and scalable to meet the demands of a growing business.
Get Your Pricing Right
Your product pricing strategy may make or break your business. Do a thorough research of your competitors and their pricing and decided on your products prices (and discounts) accordingly. If you are in a very competitive category you may have to keep your prices low initially to make a dent in the market. You can run periodic discount offers to attract more customers. But try to strike a balance. Don’t give too much discounts or else customers will start expecting discounted price all the year round.
Examine Where Your Target Audience Is
Be it a small eCommerce business or big, you must know your customers and figure out where they hang out. Where they go to buy products and how they purchase. You need to take this step sincerely, because your eCommerce business is centered on your “customers”, what they look for and where they are. This will also help you improve your online store will give you insights on how to reach your target customers.
Promote Your Business Online
Online promotion is more suitable for ecommerce industry than any other. Since every promotional content will include product links, you have a great way of attracting customers to your online store and increase sales. Focus on organic SEO to increase traffic from search engines but focus equally well on paid promotion methods like PPC advertising through ad networks or social media sites depending on where your customers hang out more. PPC gives immediate sale and as long as your net ROI is positive its just a matter of scaling up your ad spend to grow your business.
Become A Credible Brand For Your Business
Assure your customers that your store is a good place to buy products from. Ask for testimonials and feedback’s of satisfied customers. To make your customers review products they purchase you can offer a small discount for their next order if they write a review. Integrate reviews from third party sites to your store to make the feedback look more genuine useful.
Get your website audited trusted certification companies like Verisign and show their certificate. Add a ssl certificate to your site to make the payment process more secure.
Improve Shopping Experience
If you want to sell more products, you must ensure that your buyers are not getting irritated, leaving their carts, just because of the long check out process or insufficient information or less than desirable checkout options. These problems can get escalated on mobile devices to make sure to make your online store completely responsive.
Apart from removing long check out process, you can eliminate the requirement of creating an account. Also ensure your default shipping option is pocket friendly. You should also include various payment options like credit card, debit card, mobile wallets, net banking, etc.
Final Thoughts
Success in ecommerce industry isn’t easy and would require creative ways to reach your target customers and make them more loyal to you through various means. Online shoppers are notorious for switching store far too often depending on who gives more discount. If you don’t build a brand and engage in price wars with your competitors then you are fighting a losing battle.
