First of all, in the era of e-commerce boom, you need to create a winning e-commerce strategy. In order to make your online shop stand out of the crowd, you need to work on a smart and sustainable online selling strategy.
But what are the main stages to plan an online sales strategy?
- Build a strong internet presence
- Play it “Omni-Channel” and attract customers through various channels including Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, ebay…
- Optimize your conversion rates
- Build a solid customer loyalty
Below is a quick summary of eCommerce at the turn of the 2020 decade.
In 2020, online sales in global world sales were still moderate (16%).
But if the lack of trust in online stores could prevent some users from shopping online, the coronavirus pandemic has distributed new cards.
But between Amazon’s ever-growing new and the plethora of new sales sites, how can you find your place and make a profit in e-commerce in 2021?
The steps that help to create a consistent e-commerce strategy.
STEP 1: Plan your e-commerce strategy
The first step in your e-commerce marketing strategy is to plan and target your most profitable search keywords for each langage you are targeting.
If you haven’t yet defined the product you want to sell online, a good ecommerce strategy starts with a good industry choice. Observing the companies that are currently developing will give you a first idea of the industry sectors that will develop in the years to come. For example, there is strong growth in sectors where e-commerce is not yet king, such as food, lifestyle or personalized care.
Below are the criteria to consider when choosing a business, you should implement an e-commerce strategy:
Identify and understand your goals
You need to determine and identify the steps in the online purchasing process. You can launch surveys.
Keyword research will give you a holistic view of how your customers search for information on the Internet, and more specifically in search engines. This analysis will allow you to position the content of your e-commerce website as an answer to these needs and questions. By using tools like SEMRush or Google’s Keyword Planner, you should be able to bring out the keywords used by your target in sales.
STEP 2: Build your internet presence
With a clearly defined target market, you need to start building a profitable online ecosystem.
Determine your objectives
With the activity of new eCommerce sites and marketplace, it is important to define a clear and if possible unique Value Proposition.
What will make one internet user buy your product and not another one?
The first first step is to focus on the client, identify his fears and needs, in order to prepare a tailored message and client experience that will answer his questions and offer a product that he is looking for.
The more you are able to offer effective and visible customer focal points, the more success you will be having. In this case:
- Test your product
- Prepare a good test phase in real conditions
- Choose the right platforms
There are two main types of e-commerce platforms:
If you want complete freedom on your site, it is recommended to use the so-called “open source” model configured and optimized by the technical team. You need to have a technical team.
If your desire for personalization is weaker, you have more limited resources, and you want to accelerate the launch of your eCommerce store, a SaaS platform such as Shopify or X-Omni-Channel eCommerce SaaS would be more appropriate.
And don’t forget, your e-commerce site doesn’t live by itself, it needs a complete ecosystem to be visible: local sites, online reviews, social networks, comparison sites …
Should you sell on Amazon and / or its website?
You need to assess the size of your community and the maturity of your brand. In the early days of your business, Amazon can be a great community-building tool. But the more your e-commerce marketing strategy develops, the less will you want to become addicted to Amazon.
Optimize the technical structure of your website
A good e-commerce strategy requires that you regularly check and optimize certain technical aspects of your website. These aspects have a direct impact on your website’s ability to organically attract and convert leads.
Invest into with good tools
Once you’ve optimized your web architecture, you’ll also need to invest into some tools. Among these tools you will find some essential tools such as Google Analytics to analyze user behavior, MailChimp or a CRM to monitor customer relationships and offer promotional and loyalty programs, monotir the client lifetime value.
STEP 3: Attract customers
There are several channels for attracting customers to your online products. Social media, Google ads, natural references … all to know how to use them together and at the right time.
If you’re at the beginning of your e-commerce strategy, you’ll likely be dependent on ads to attract your first customers. Once your campaign has started and is optimized, you can spend some time developing organic search. Positioning will allow you to position your products in the long run in front of users who are actively looking for them.
Focus on SEO to create a sustainable acquisition channel
Organic traffic remains very important to the sales development of e-commerce sites. It currently accounts for 40% of all e-commerce site traffic in many counties.
The eCommerce SEO strategy can be summarized as follows:
Social network sales are becoming more and more important for e-commerce websites, especially in Asia. In China, ⅓ WeChat (Chinese WhatsApp) users make e-commerce purchases directly on the social platform. In Europe and USA, the share of e-commerce sites using social trading is still limited compared to the Asian continent.
But with the advent of Facebook stores that will soon allow in-app purchases from social networks, this trend has started to intensify around the world. X-Omni-Channel eCommerce SaaS helps you to sell directly on Facebook and Instagram for example.
Getting started on Instagram and Facebook, the e-commerce platforms work very well with Messenger support. It is important to invest in this channel. E-commerce platforms linked to social networks provide considerable community proximity.
Create an emotional attachment with brand
Currently, the main focus of the e-commerce strategy is “millennials” (people born after 1982 who represent ⅓ the purchasing power in the US for example). We advise you to promote your brand using various criteria such as:
- A solid multi-channel marketing strategy
- Engaging content distributed through different channels
- Responsible positioning and activities with a strong social impact
STEP 4: Optimize the conversion rate
The conversion rate between buying from a brick-and-mortar store and buying online is very different. In fact, 55% of consumers who visit a store make a purchase, and only 1-3% of internet users convert on a website.
This gap can be explained, in particular, by the lack of one-to-one contact in the network. It is possible to maximize the quality of perception of your product by including, for example, a consultant in online video chat to explain the specifics of the products and answer consumer questions.
STEP 5: Keep your customers
Encouraging customers to maintain a strong relationships over time is one of the key success factors to a profitable e-commerce strategy.
Indeed, a loyal customer can bring you several benefits: It is easier to have returning purchases (and therefore at lower cost) than in a case of a new customer. It can become your brand ambassador.
To ensure an effective loyalty strategy, give a maximum value to your customers and stay connected with them either by contacting them virtually, for example via the email communication, or by getting them to visit your store. The goal is to create a lifetime relationship.
Implement precise monitoring of key indicators
After doing all these steps, you will need data to evaluate their performance and adjust your e-commerce strategy. Tools such as Google Data Studio will allow you to centralize key data on visualization boards. As competition is expected to increase, a complete and sustainable e-commerce strategy is becoming a priority.
These five main steps should help you see better! And if you need help developing an eCommerce marketing strategy, contact us at Exporis.
Exporis eCommerce Team
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