8 Strategies For Success In Ecommerce

What makes an Ecommerce business successful? Is it the products you sell, or their price or marketing? Ecommerce industry is ongoing its upward trajectory and will continue to do so with the passage of time. Competition is fierce in the land of e-commerce, as today e-market is crowded with a plethora of players and success would be hard to come by. Innovation in product strategy or delivery process is a key to success in this competitive industry.

Getting back to the fundamentals of marketing i. e. focusing on the 4Ps of marketing - Product, Price, Place and Promotion can give you a starting point to build a strategy that leads you to long term ecommerce success. Here are some tips that will guide you to success.

1.Develop a USP for Your Store

The war of developing general ecommerce stores is over. That has already been won by Amazon and the other key players. And if you want to become another Amazon or eBay, that’s a guaranteed way to fail. The future of ecommerce is about specialty stores. Heavily invest in your brand which is unique & creative, and never take it easy on your lead. In this online age, it’s hard to have customer loyalty.

Constantly acquire the new customers - this may comprise "joining" competitors like Amazon marketplace at the point you’re offering is no longer niche. It may be diversifying and expanding your product offering ahead of the competition. For example if you opt for footwear as the category to specialize, stock so many varieties for footwear that even Amazon doesn't have. Become the destination for people looking to buy footwear online.

2.Choose the Right Technology Platform

The e-commerce platform market is not an easy one as there are dozens of options available. Choosing the best e-commerce platform has never been easier task, since ecommerce business is heavily dependent on technology. Nowadays, it's not sufficient to just offer simple setup, a few level of customization, and the additional of standard features. Social media integration, good UI & UX, mobile friendliness, SEO, modules for content marketing and customer support have become a fundamental need of an online store today.

Based on these factors and the understanding of what's required to open a successful online storefront, decide which e-commerce platform will suit you best based on your business goals, budget, and technical experience.

3.Work on Your Pricing Strategy

Your product pricing strategy may make or break your business. Do a detailed study of your competitors and their pricing and then decide your products prices (and discounts) accordingly. If you are in a very competitive category, to make an impression in the market you may have to keep your prices low initially. And to attract more customers, you can run periodic discount offers. But try to keep a balance. Don't give too much discounts otherwise customers will start expecting discounted price all the year round.

4.Understand Your Customers

Understanding your customers aids you to sell further. The more you know about their needs, the easier it is to recognize opportunities to sell them the new products and target them with suitable offers. Profiling existing customers also makes it easier to find new ones. You can go through the similar diagnosis, and sell to them in a similar way.

However, you must confirm that you act in accordance with data protection regulations for any personal information on existing and potential customers that you collect, keep and use. There are specific rules for e-commerce. Lastly, understanding your customers facilitates you in planning. You can forecast what they will buy, and guess how much stock you need. Relating customer management to purchasing can severely improve profitability.

5.Have the Right Online Marketing Strategy

The most difficult part of running an online store is how to market it apart from setting it up. There are several ways you can go about marketing. Having a concrete marketing strategy is important to succeed in online business. You can consider eCommerce marketing as a roadmap where you have to follow the whole route to reach your goal. That doesn’t mean that e-commerce marketing is hard it’s just that it requires a lot of effort and work. Ecommerce marketing would typically comprise of

• PPC advertising
• Email marketing
• Content marketing
• SEO
• Social Media profiles

Implementing such strategies themselves will develop a solid base for your online store.

6.Improve Your Brand's Credibility

The way to enlarge the credibility impact of a website is to consider what elements your target audience interprets most favorably and make those elements most important. Credibility is basically important for e-commerce websites, as they face higher conversion rates.

Give your customers a guarantee that your store is a good place to buy products from. Ask for testimonials and feedbacks of satisfied customers. Offer a small discount to your customers for their next order if they write a review. Integrate reviews from third party sites to your store to make the feedback look more genuine useful. Get your website audited from trusted certification companies like VeriSign and show their certificate. Add SSL certificate to your site to make the payment process more secure.

7.Make It Easy for Customers to Buy From You

Today consumers have various ways to shop than ever. And if you have an ecommerce business, and you wish for online shoppers to buy from you, you have to promptly attract their attention - and make the shopping experience satisfying and easy.

There are certain ways to attract your customers like make sure that your site loads rapidly; to focus on navigation; customer reviews etc. Apart from this, you can remove the requirement of creating an account. Also make sure that your default shipping option is pocket friendly. You should also contain various payment options like credit card, debit card, mobile wallets and net banking.

8.Keep functionality in Mind

When it comes to functionality and speed, Note this: bounce rates and shopping cart abandonment are directly connected to your website performance. The slower your store functions, the less money you will make.

Other feature of functionality is navigation. Formulate it as user-friendly. Often, this comprises of categories list, a well-organized header and footer. You may also need to append a search field and site map on the homepage of your store. This will assist your shoppers to search exactly what they are looking for within seconds.