Retail Ecommerce (Marketing) Tactics

E-commerce is thriving, and by 2021 this industry is predicted to reach an astonishing $4.88 billion in revenues.

Digital transformation has brought substantial changes to the way we do business, the way we live, finish our everyday errands, and make our purchases.

And with the Coronavirus outbreak, e-commerce has become even more critical, as one of the safest ways to shop.

However, as the competition is fierce, you need to do your best to stand out from the others. Here are six effective tactics that you can try out to gain a competitive edge and boost your sales.

1. Focus on Your Brand

Creating a brand around your e-commerce is worth every effort you put into it, as it can be gratifying in the long run.

Your potential customers have a plethora of options to choose from. To become their preferred retailer and thus increase your sales, you need to offer your customers a brand they can relate to and form a personal relationship with.

To become recognizable to your customers, invest your resources into creating your brand identity. Every detail matters, including visual elements, such as your logo, colors, fonts, and design, so make sure to use it consistently on your website, business cards, packaging, ads, etc.

That’s how you’ll improve your ecommerce store’s visibility and recognition.

2. Optimize Your Website

Your conversion rate and your sales depend a lot on how your website is designed, and how it performs.

A clean but visually appealing website that functions smoothly will invoke confidence in your customers, and make them more willing to shop in your store. This means your website needs to:

  • Load fast. More than half of your customers will churn if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, and a 1-second delay can result in a 7% drop in your conversion rate.
  • As more than half of worldwide traffic comes from mobile phones, ensure that your website runs smoothly on all types of devices.
  • 94% of first impressions are design-related, so all visuals should be attractive. However, stick to minimalistic, uncluttered design so that your website content is easy to read and navigate.
  • As over 30% of e-commerces’ traffic comes from organic searches, use on-site and off-site SEO to rank high in searches.
  • As voice search is becoming more relevant each day, it’s important to optimize your online store accordingly and ensure it’s among the results shown to your potential customers when they’re performing screenless searches.

Photo Courtesy of Concise Studio 

3. Scale Up Your Content Marketing

Content still rules big time, so consider starting a blog on your website.

By regularly posting high-quality content that matches your potential customers’ interests and needs, and that they can use to solve some of their pain points, you’ll attract high-quality leads, and significantly boost your sales.

To be able to do so, you need to base your content on a thorough understanding of your customers. Instead of creating content to sell your products, focus on delivering your prospects content pieces that they will find valuable, useful, and relevant. Spice it up with relevant keywords and leverage link building in order to improve your rankings.

Instead of sticking to text and image, don’t be afraid to experiment with different forms of content, such as video, infographics, tutorials, ebooks, and podcasts.

Also, make sure you provide detailed product descriptions and excellent product photos.

4. Deliver Great User Experience

Your e-commerce customers expect and deserve nothing less than great user experience, so do your best not to disappoint them. Otherwise, you risk high churn rates.

Here are a few suggestions:

– Offer your customers 24/7 support using conversational chatbots that can answer their questions and help them navigate your store and find what they’re looking for. Even when your customers encounter a problem, your AI-powered employee can respond in a timely manner and solve the problem themselves, or if a matter is too complex and requires critical thinking, transfer it to your human rep.

– Whenever you can offer your customers free shipping, as it plays a decisive role in online shopping.

– Make it easy for your customers to return their products if they’re not satisfied.

5. Email Marketing and Promotions

Email marketing plays a significant role in both the B2B and B2C sectors and is very cost-effective. In other words, for every $1 you invest, you can expect an average ROI of $42.

In addition to informing customers about their orders or abandoned carts, you can use email marketing to send newsletters and promotional messages, offering discounts, or free shipping to all or some of your customers.

Use your blog to build your subscribers list and an automation email tool to send email marketing campaigns tailored to specific customer segments, and personalized to fit their individual needs.

6. Rock It On Social Media!

Social media, such as Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook, can bring you a lot of new leads and help you instill loyalty in your existing customers.

Statistics are pretty clear about it, too, as online store owners with at least one active social media account generate 32% more sales than those who don’t use social media.

If you can’t handle more than one channel, determine where most of your customers hang out and establish a strong presence there.

Use competitions and quizzes to engage your users, and incentivize them to post user-generated content related to your brand. This way, they will spread the word about your business and serve as nano-influencers in their private circles.

Reach out to influencers in your niche too, and see if you can get them to post something about your brand.

By following these six tips to market your retail e-commerce, you’re bound to get more traffic and conversions, and subsequently, a significant rise in sales.

By Anurag Rathod

Anurag Rathod is an Editor of Appclonescript.com, who is passionate for app-based startup solutions and on-demand business ideas. He believes in spreading tech trends. He is an avid reader and loves thinking out of the box to promote new technologies.