There’s a widely believed notion that e-commerce is changing everything about retailing, with traditional brick-and-mortar stores being obliterated. But a closer look at the figures reveal otherwise. It’s just a myth that people have about e-commerce. The truth is, there are still many misconceptions or misunderstandings on e-commerce that need to be clarified such as:
E-commerce merchants should now be familiar with the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. This law puts more focuse on personal data protection and levies stringent penalties for non-compliance. It is considered as the most comprehensive data privacy law and can affect firms which operate or have customers in Europe.
One of the easiest and simplest ways to strengthen your relationship with your customers is to express your gratitude for their support. However, not all firms and entrepreneurs realize how simple and effective thanking customers can be.
Yelp reviews are the ones which are posted on the Yelp website. It is a business listing website that has reviews posted by the public as per their experience on a particular service or a product that is listed on Yelp.
Adding your phone number to your WordPress powered website can pave the way for your business. By linking these two you can avail the convenience of receiving customer’s calls. However, the addition of a business phone service will give you more than just one benefit. You will be able to track the duration of the call, overall usage and much more. Operations like call routing, tracking caller ID etc. will also become extremely easy.
Following is a list of the best business phone services that are apt for small businesses:
Online shopping has been the rage for the past few years but did you know that online sales surprisingly represented just 9% of total retail sales in 2017? This means that 91 percent of retail sales are still spent in traditional, brick-and-mortar stores. What does this tell you? First, online shopping maybe convenient but majority of shoppers still prefer in-person shopping because they can physically see the product being sold. Second, there are brick-and-mortar marketing strategies that e-commerce has to replicate in order to get a bigger slice of the pie, so to speak.
Do you know that large retail stores spend a lot of resources for visual merchandising? They have personnel which prepare reports that detail which products should be put in prime locations like racks and front windows. And these seemingly simple decisions yield increased sales.
This kind of attention must also be paid to a website’s homepage. Updating the website’s home page should be as regular as updating the display windows at brick and mortar stores. A refreshed home page gives prospective customers another good reason to visit the store. It also leaves an impression that there is a new, exciting product being offered by the online store.
One reason why many people still prefer to go to traditional retail stores is because they can always try a product they are interested in. This is particularly true in clothes.
However, technology can help online stores in overcoming this particular weakness. There are now virtual fit assistants being rolled out by websites
that can replicate fitting rooms in brick and mortar stores. These virtual assistants can eliminate guesswork by predicting the size based on the height, weight and bust size of the customers.
Retail customers today have plenty of shopping options, from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce websites. With the increasing competition in the retail sector, it has become important for online entrepreneurs to offer personalization. Leading research firm Gartner says that companies that incorporate personalization into their e-commerce marketing can boost their revenues by up to 15%.
Online retailers, though, have lots of tools at their disposal to determine the personal preferences as well as shopping habits of their customers. By doing so, they can deliver curated offers and products that their customers expect.
The following are some tips for small business owners to personalize their online marketing efforts:
The first step in personalizing an e-commerce marketing strategy is to gather information on how customers shop, browse, and buy. Doing so can give online businesses a 360-degee view of their consumer profile.
Once a firm has gathered information about customer’s preferences, it can now start to predict their future behaviors. Predictive targeting can incorporate both offline and online behaviors like the social media activities and financial data of customers. Doing so can aid retailers in crafting more effective marketing campaigns.
Using location-based Internet of Things (IoT), a firm can personalize the information, offers, and deals for their customers vising the online stores. Most studies point out that customers are up to two times more likely to redeem location-based offers.
Providing personalized service can make lives of many shoppers a lot easier. In turn, they will become more satisfied and loyal to the online store. E-commerce stores can achieve this by creating personalized shopping lists for their customers, making it easier for them to buy goods on their mobile devices and PCs.
E-commerce merchandising is the practice of displaying products online with the objective of increasing the sales of a firm. Many of the biggest companies in the world such as Amazon and Apple have relied on online merchandising to improve their sales. Small and medium-sized firms can learn a thing or two from these giants to boost their sales as well.
The following are some of the most important online merchandising lessons to keep in mind:
Displaying a single offer on the home page is one of the most common practices for big retailers. Apple, for instance, regularly displays its products on its website home page and promotes these as recommended or possible gift ideas.
Individual product categories are then placed on the lower part of the home page. In most websites, products were displayed depending on the shopping and viewing history of the customer. It’s customization in full display.
For instance, Amazon displays products that are related to the recent shopping activity of a guest. An online visitor who browsed basketball shoes, for instance, may see offers of basketball jerseys or gear because of his browsing history.
In online merchandising, it is important to show not only the product but also an offer. Aside from showcasing a product, why not display a free shipping banner on the homepage? For example, a website that sells a MacBook Pro would often show a free shipping banner to entice potential customers to buy.
One of the few advantages of the traditional brick-and-mortar shop is that it can let a shopper hold the item. To compensate for this ‘disadvantage,’ online stores provide multiple images of the products on sale.
Indian e-commerce sector has been getting a lot of funding from some of the biggest retailers and venture capitalist companies in the world. But how is the sector performing and does it merit all the attention that it has been receiving?
According to US research company eMarketer, India’s e-commerce sector is valued at $33 billion. The sector is estimated to account for barely 3% of the total retail market in the country this year. But three years from now, it is predicted to be worth around $50 billion meaning it should grow by 50% in the next decade.
Despite the rather underwhelming figures, the e-commerce sector in India is getting a lot of funding. Just last month, US retail giant Walmart announced that it was purchasing a majority stake in Indian firm Flipkart for an astounding $16 billion. The deal was valued at $22 billion.
There are other major players in the Indian e-commerce sector worth billions of dollars. American firm Amazon has an Indian arm which is reportedly worth $16 billion. Digital payments company Paytm has an e-commerce firm named Paytm Mall valued at $2 billion. Then there’s another firm called Shopclues that’s worth $1.1 billion.
Don’t expect the trend to stop in the next few years. Major e-commerce players are investing heavily in India. Amazon, for one, is said to be splurging $2 billion on top of the $5 billion that its boss Jeff Bezos had initially committed to the sector. Even Chinese firm Alibaba has been investing heavily by backing Paytm Mall and startup BigBasket.
These investments hinge on the optimism that an increase in internet penetration in India will further e-commerce growth in the country. It is estimated that more than 300 million Indians or roughly 25% of the population will be using a smartphone at the end of the year, increasing internet penetration in the process.