For any business that’s serious about growing its profits and expanding reach in this digital era, having an online presence is a necessity. Luckily, there’s no shortage of channels you can use when transitioning your sales and marketing operations to the web. A few effective ways to consider include social media, SEO, paid ads, and ecommerce among others.
For our today’s article, we focus on ecommerce selling which is expected to be a booming business in 2019 and beyond. You don’t want to miss out on adopting this model for your business this year particularly if one of your goals is to beat competition.
Read further to learn five proven tactics that will enable you to rule your locality or industry using ecommerce.
Invest in a proper ecommerce software
Since the idea of ecommerce selling was incepted, there have been significant advancements in the number of tools created to make work easier for users. One area that has seen major transformation is ecommerce software. Today, businesses looking to set up their web stores have access to a large pool of software which they can use to design and run clean, responsive shops that customers love. One standout service provider of ecommerce tools is Shopify.
What makes this platform so popular among users is its easiness of use even for the average webmaster. All you need to get your online shop up and running is a domain name that represents your brand, a reliable Shopify email hosting service, and some design skills to organize your store. Additionally, you’ll need to find a shipping service provider if you’re in the business of selling physical products.
Be creative with your email marketing
If you’re doing email marketing for your ecommerce store, one aspect that’s easy to overlook is sending reminders to customers with items in a wishlist basket or abandoned carts. Normally, these are shoppers that responded positively to your email campaigns, checked out your business offers, and considered purchasing the item(s) they clicked at a later date.
When creating your reminder emails, it’s important to consider the number items on the wish-list or carts, the items’ overall sale rate, and the amount of stock available at that moment. Then as a final trigger, alert anyone with such items that these products are nearly going out of stock.
This tactic taps on the magic of the last-minute rush which is a common reaction among majority of online shoppers. Of course, very few people will want to miss out on an offer they’ve been eyeing. So, this approach is likely to serve the very motivation that’s needed to complete the sale.
Develop a sound content marketing strategy
Whether you’re just starting out or have an already established business, it’s important to create a solid content marketing strategy that helps you connect with your audience. An effective approach to this is to set up a blog on your web shop where you can educate your audience about your services as well as position yourself as a reputable authority. You can also achieve similar results by guest posting on other websites in your niche, starting podcasts, or running live shows on social media.
Whichever method you choose, focus on providing value over selling for all your content marketing activities; this way, you can easily develop lasting relationships and loyalty among consumers.
Integrate social media
Since the idea of interacting over the Internet was born, hundreds of social media platforms have mushroomed in the past decade or so. Subscribing to them are millions of active users that range from consumers, manufacturers, and influencers among others. All these parties play an integral part in growing your business; either by consuming, supplying you with raw products, or marketing it.
Needless to say, social media offers you a golden opportunity to meet and interact with a valuable audiences that can positively change the fortunes of your ecommerce business. Indeed, you can’t afford to ignore its influence on your business success and the reason it should be one of the key channels for your marketing activities.
Consider upselling
This tactic works best where the target consumer already has a product in mind (or has already purchased it) but still has room for its premium/upgrade version. By advertising the supersize version alongside the original offering, you create two desirable effects on the customers. First, they’ll instantly realize that the product they already know about has an upgrade option, and secondly, they may discover that the upsold option could be a better fit to their needs.
If using this tactic for your ecommerce business, it’s important to clearly emphasize the difference between the two products and outline the distinct benefits of each. This can be done by either providing quick overviews over the upgrade versions or simply asking for the customer’s opinion on the upgrade in the right places e.g. point of sales.
Final Word
Ecommerce selling doesn’t have to be complicated. Far from this, it should be fun and rewarding as long as it’s done correctly. All you need is to master the key tactics we’ve explained above and use the right tools to automate most of your work.
Are you contemplating about setting your web store this year? Please share the steps you’re taking to make this idea a reality in the comments below.
