E-Commerce2
Whether it’s an established business or a solo entrepreneur who does e-commerce from time to time, it’s important that brand owners stay up to date with the latest and smartest online sales strategies.
The first thing to be aware of is that trends can affect a brand’s customers and how other online retailers (competing brands) buy and sell online. This information provides useful information about positioning your brand, product, or service to potential buyers.
So what are the current industry trends for 2018? First, people are profit-oriented. They need solutions that make their lives easier. So, the best place to start is with a compelling product description that lists all the compelling benefits of the product or service you offer.
Analysts And Market Experts Predict The Following List Of Some Of The Predicted Trends For E-Commerce In 2018:
Video will continue to be the king of content
Mobile shopping will rise
Holidays will make big seasonal sales
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) will remain a true marketing tool.
There will be more store bots with machine learning
Trust badges on sales websites
Anticipating trends helps marketers develop a comprehensive online sales strategy. It can also save money for your digital marketing budget. Here are some tricks to help serious brands achieve impressive first-quarter sales:
Using Images And Videos To Describe A Product
If there is a big limitation that online shopping has (as opposed to physical stores),
it is the inability to “experience” the product in terms of touch, feel, and smell. For example, some high engagement products (such as electronics or jewelry) require experiential evaluation.
In addition to benefit-oriented product or service descriptions, brands will also need to overcome any anticipated customer objections using a high-quality video display.
Product images and video descriptions should not be long. This can be a one to two minute demo of the product describing its features and benefits. If it requires some training, companies can hire an expert to show people how it works. Brands that add video to their marketing content can increase click through rates by 200-300%. Images and videos are great marketing tools.
100% Mobile Optimization.
The explosion of smartphones continues to shake the online trading sector. As technology improves and mobile payments become easier, more and more shoppers are choosing to shop using their mobile devices.
It goes without saying that a business website needs improvement for mobile shopping. Are the fonts and size of the text legible? Do images look sharp on a smaller screen? What about OS compatibility?
People are also addicted to social media and mobile apps offer a convenient way to log into Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram with just one click. It is best to allocate space for these services on the website so that potential customers can conveniently checkout.
Brands Should Use Holiday Sales For A Winning Outcome
The 2017 Christmas sales season was fruitful for both retailers and store owners. In the US, sales hit an all-time high since 2011, while UK retailers saw a 5% increase, helped by strong online performance. Experts attribute this to a strong economic year. It is also believed that 2018 promises to be just as promising, if not better.
The year has just begun, so savvy brand owners and managers are already outlining potential holiday seasons and preparing a unique selling strategy for each.
Starting with Q1 holidays (like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and the Easter holidays), it’s never too early to start planning an effective online sales campaign. You also need to set aside a bigger budget and the brand needs to be ready to give it its all.
Selling To The Brand’s Existing Customer Base
Even if there is little advertising money on the Internet, now is not the time to worry. There are many ways to generate instant revenue from a company’s existing customer base. It is well known that keeping existing customers is much cheaper than acquiring new ones. Also, generating revenue from a loyal customer base allows a business to use it in advertising campaigns and reach new potential customers.
Big brands like Morrisons have a huge customer base to whom they sell their products from time to time. To follow suit, serious businesses can use customer loyalty card data and create customized offers and combinations to encourage customers to buy. With a large number of existing customers, the margin will be large. Freebies and special offers from time to time are also major stumbling blocks.
Create A Sense Of Urgency In Brand Offerings
If a company’s existing website has a staggering amount of incoming traffic, the brand owner or manager needs to convert those numbers into big conversions. The goal should be to convert every lead on the last visit, because if the brand doesn’t do this, there’s a chance the leads will never come back. However, those who end up making a purchase are more likely to come back.
You must create a sense of urgency in your company’s sales campaigns. People have a natural fear of missing out (FOMO), so it’s a good idea to find a smart way to integrate this into your brand copy or call to action.
According to Brendan Wilde, marketing manager for Freeparking hosting, this strategy works especially well for fashion brands. “We are seeing spikes in online traffic among clients using this strategy. It’s safe to say
merchant traffic increases the chances of a conversion,” he says.
Using Smart Technology And Processing Multiple Payment Options
In December 2016, Alibaba and Macy’s partnered to enable shoppers to shop in virtual reality (VR) on their website. Since then, other online retailers have explored the possibilities of using virtual reality and other technologies such as chatbots to improve the customer experience.
Chatbots act as shopping assistants on websites to make it easier for new visitors to navigate products. This convenient service stimulates repeat purchases and inspires people to share their experience.
Likewise, providing multiple payment options on an e-commerce website makes shopping more flexible and increases revenue for a business. It is extremely important to ensure that the security on the site is also impenetrable.
Displaying Trust Badges To Reassure Your Customers
Safety is always the focus of every online shopper. Just last year, the personal data of millions of Equifax customers was compromised in a hack that sent the company’s stock plummeting. Now customers are more careful than usual. They will leave the e-commerce site if they have reason to believe that their personal information will be compromised.
An e-commerce brand should avoid this by strengthening their security with a secure and trusted SSL certificate. Is the brand’s website “https”? The “S” in the backend stands for “secure”. This is one of the first things buyers notice. It is also important to include trust badges such as the SSL symbol at the bottom of the page, antivirus stamps, and any security awards the business may receive. Reassuring site visitors gives them peace of mind and the desire to buy on the platform.
With these strategies in place, an ecommerce brand should have a good sales year. Brand owners and managers shouldn’t hold back on any of them.
