We are the Millennials, and we don’t do anything without the internet. The world is now digital, and everyone loves to chill in their couches and order food or book a cab via the internet. Every business is now online. Whether you want to book a hotel or consult a doctor, you can do everything from merely a mobile phone application. Gone are the days when we used to go to Walmart and Target to buy everyday groceries. Because now, even Walmart is online! (Walmart boosts sales through online marketplaces, faster delivery, and promotions.) So why stand in the long billing queues, if we can do it the e-commerce way? E-Commerce markets hold a significant place around the globe.
Amazon and eBay are the very first e-commerce launched in the late ’90s. Since then, the widespread use of e-commerce websites has been insane. From small businesses to large scale businesses, whether B2B or B2C, every business is targeting the online marketplace.
If we talk about the fastest-growing e-commerce platform, I would say Amazon. Amazon has used unique marketing strategies that have made them popular in no time.
More than 67% of people prefer to shop online and avoid in-store marketing
LitCommerce can help you to list and sell products on Amazon, allow data on this to be centrally managed in one . way, you can easily fulfill your orders on Amazon and ensure the best customer experience.
Online marketing is one of the low-cost and low-risk marketing. That is the reason for the widespread use of e-commerce marketing around the globe.
We will learn more about such strategies later in this blog because prior to this, we should know insights about what is e-commerce marketing.
What is E-Commerce Marketing?
E-Commerce (Electronic Commerce) marketing, also known as Online/Digital Marketing, is the buying and selling of goods via the internet.
Whether the business is a Business to Business or Business to Consumer, every industry relies on the internet to make logistics operations. E-commerce is not just about buying or selling goods. With the invention of e-wallets such as PayPal, the monetary transactions can also be performed online.
The internet has made everything so easy. Isn’t it?
Consumers are the last in the e-commerce hierarchy. It begins with the Producers, Wholesalers, and Retailers and then comes Consumers.
Alibaba is the wholesaler and does B2B marketing, where else Amazon is the retailer and sells products directly to the consumers. Everyone is indulged in e-commerce. Even consumers can also sell to fellow consumers via eBay or Ubuy India, which is an online auction e-commerce website.
Can creating an e-commerce website earn you customers and revenue? No! You need to plan and strategize many factors to keep up with the fast-paced marketing sector.
Strategies to E-Commerce Marketing
E-commerce is not just about buying and selling goods online. It is more of using promotional strategies and optimizing the online store so that it reaches a broad audience.
Customers are one of the primary reasons to make a brand. Thus, attracting customers to your online store will eventually increase your online sales.
The following are some strategies that every e-commerce need to follow:
a) Marketing Automation
Implementing tools that automate your business strategies can be of great help to reach your goals. Marketing automation shares the workload with you and cuts down the manual work to half. Whether you want to follow-up the new leads or send automated emails to your customers, marketing automation can do everything for you.
According to many reports, marketing tools help a business to reach its conversion goals in a much faster way.
A/B Testing, Personalization, NPS are some of the tools that can change your marketing game forever. There are many such market automation software providers which give out the tools in bulk so that you can manage all the tools at one place.
By implementing market automation to your e-commerce, you can send regular emails to your customers. You can ask for their feedback via the survey forms or test about their preferences via the AB Testing.
b) Remarketing
Remarketing has resulted as a very successful marketing strategy for e-commerce. It is the targeted advertising based on the internet search and online behavior of the customers’. When a user visits your online-store, a cookie is dropped on the users’ browser and then whatever they search is used for retargeting them.
Every time they are on the internet, they will see advertisements similar to their search. Remarketing has led to a significant goal conversion for the ecommerce sites as they see the related results of their need everywhere they go (on the internet). This results in the high engagement of the customers and 53% of the users end up buying the product via remarketing.
c) Upselling
Upselling is very much prevalent in the e-commerce industry. Amazon was the first seen doing the upselling. Upselling is the tactic where you bribe your customers with ad-on and similar products once the customer is about to purchase the product.
Suppose your customer added Kylie Jenners Makeup Pallet to their cart. Thus, the upselling products can be the products that can be useful for the customer while using the makeup pallet.
By implementing up-sale to your ecommerce, you can expect a higher sale and more profit. As, you are recommending and suggesting the products that the customer might need in the near-future. Thus, customers end-up buying the recommended products.
d) Email Marketing
Make sure your customers never miss out on any update. Send your customers regular emails and notifications to keep them engaged. You should find ways to capture the email address of the customers so that you can send them regular updates using email marketing software.
On every new purchase send them a thank you email. Send them emails whenever the shipment of the product is completed. Keep a keen eye on every customer’s wishlist, so that you can send them triggered emails regarding the products in their wishlist.
The emails which customers interact more with are the emails which are about discounts or sales.
e) Social Media
Social media is the best source for marketers to interact with their customers. Every other person is on social media, so what better place is there to engage your customers.
Every business should create a profile on every social media platform to post pictures, reviews, and updates now since the technology is so advanced that you can even create ads on social media to see the accelerated results.
In 2017 Instagram launched its shoppable posts. This is a boon to the e-commerce world because many studies suggested that Instagram is the most used social media application. Thus, giving direct links to your products to the Instagram post can surely gain you some leads.
f) Referral Marketing
Referral marketing is considered one of the best and cost-effective marketing strategies. Referral Marketing is favourite amongst the customers as they love to receive rewards by recommending the brand to their friends. It is a two-way optimization where both the brand and the customer gets the desired outcome.
You can give out loyalty rewards to your customers on every successful referral they make. and those loyalty rewards can be used by the customers during purchase.
A study by New York Times suggested that if a product/brand is recommended by their friends people are 4 times likely to buy that product.
g) Online Ads
With the invention of ecommerce soon after, Google launched its platform which is called Google Ads. Paid advertisements are the one of the best ways to reach out directly to your customers. By creating google ads you can reach your existing and new customers in a more accelerated way and see more quick results.
Shopping ads are shown with the product images, so that if people search about a product the ad will be displayed as an image on the search engine result page.
h) Website Optimization
The first page of your website where a customer lands first is the very first impression of a customer. Website optimization plays a major role in your sales. If your e-commerce website ranks on the first page of search engine then it is more likely to be trusted by the people.
Also The website should be easily trackable and user-friendly. The online-stores that buffer a lot and take time to load are a big turn off. Images too play a pivotal role in web page optimization.
Conclusion
There is always a wide variety of options when it comes to e-commerce marketing, from clothing to footwear. From groceries to medicines, every product has a scope to go online and create an ecommerce platform. Every e-commerce platform is essential to people, and it can make you a good profit if optimized accurately.
If you follow the strategies mentioned above, you can dominate the market to run a successful e-commerce platform.
All you need to do is find your niche, learn about the consumer’s behavior, target the audience, and then create an incredible e-commerce website to increase your ROI.
