Why do businesses need a Digital-Strategy as Covid-19 has altered the habits of consumers?
The unprecedented Coronavirus Pandemic has resulted in tremendous unpredictable changes, and for better or worse, no industry has gone unaffected or untouched due to its impact. This, of course, includes eCommerce business. The world flipped and was forced online, almost overnight, E-Commerce and digital channels critical for brands to survive in the market. And the businesses who had yet to adapt to eCommerce were forced to do so because of the risk of closing forever. Companies have or are shifting in a variety of ways to meet the demands of their customers.
Take a look at the trajectory by ccinsights.org of how the eCommerce sector has risen year-over-year in many countries.
There has been a 129% growth in U.S & Canadian eCommerce and 146% growth in all online retail orders. In February, the online conversion rates increased by 8.8%. Over 72% of customers are now using mobile devices to purchase online. Groceries, apparel, entertainment etc. have seen immense revenue growth and are probably on their way to replace store or mall visits, at least until the vaccine is available. Companies are putting extra efforts to make the customer experience better. This makes it the right time for innovation as the market conditions are ideal for fast-tracking, testing and launching new mobile apps, websites and touch points across multiple platforms.
According to Statista’s report, e-commerce has steadily picked up its pace and has risen in size and reach, over the past 20 years. In the first quarter of 2020, eCommerce projected 11.5% of total retail sales, which is the second-highest share ever. The revenue in the eCommerce market is expected to have an annual growth rate of 4.4%, and user penetration (77.3% in 2020) will expectedly hit 82.2% by 2024.
Looking at the statistics and the revenue generated from eCommerce, it is certain that retail will never be the same again. Why? The consumer behaviour and the sentiment behind the change, across many countries, seems to be the same. Customers have shifted to online platforms and
the shift back to normal shopping may not be the same as new habits are pasted into the minds of consumers.
For the business without a digital strategy in place, this is a great opportunity to get out there, become more flexible and lay the foundations of eCommerce development and further strategies by getting the right development partner and discussing how your company can provide value to the customers when the physical store is not open!
Further down the article, you will learn why businesses should incorporate eCommerce digital strategies, what are the benefits of an eCommerce Website or Application and the best practices to follow for eCommerce website development. We will also cover some significant eCommerce trends and ways it is changing!
Benefits of Ecommerce for Business
Best Practices for Ecommerce Website development: 5 Guidelines to consider
The Benefits Of Mobile App For E-commerce For Your Business
Ecommerce Trends in 2020 and beyond
4 ways Big Data and Analytics are changing the face of E-commerce
E-Commerce is not going anywhere any time soon. It is here to stay, and these are the top reasons why it is the holy grail for businesses –
eCommerce is not limited to a physical store or visitors, like brick and mortar. It allows you to reach customers on a global level. Your customers can make a purchase from anywhere at any time. Not only that, but you can also use a mix of your online touchpoints. This way, you can reach the audience that you could not before and build a way more extensive customer base.
With the best eCommerce development practices, you can shorten the development cycle. You can create a reliable and attractive eCommerce website, have your business up and running and grow it substantially, with reduced go-to-market time. These best practices will achieve competitive edge and operational efficiency, with either in-house resources or an agency that will help you take your website to the next level, with a plethora of resources and supporting systems.
Controlling a customer’s path is way easier online than it is in a physical space. Promotions, specials, email marketing, ads, videos etc. make it easier to distribute your product or get conversions. You get to provide your customers with more information about your brand, and it can be front and centre when the target audience hits your landing page. You’ll open your business to a greater depth of market.
eCommerce provides customers with optimal convenience to search and shop from anywhere and anytime, with just a few clicks, instead of walking around for hours. But it takes more than just prices to retain customers. You need to list quality, quantity, better prices, alongside convenient payment methods. You can influence these customers with deals and promotions that are easy to find. Through search engine visibility, they can narrow down their search, click through and are more likely to make a purchase.
eCommerce never closes. Whether it is a holiday or some other event or crises keeping people at home – like Coronavirus, your customers can place an order around the clock. Moreover, for the people who work non-traditional hours, shopping online is a more convenient option.
You can easily scale your business up (or down) by adding items or narrowing the store down, taking advantage of the unlimited shelf space according to market trends or consumer demands. Scaling up and down the operations can be done more quickly as compared to brick-and-mortar stores.
While working on eCommerce Development for your Business, there are some practices that you should keep in mind, which will help get the results out. These are the 5 things you should consider –
57% of the traffic comes from mobile devices, which makes it essential to use a design which is mobile-friendly and is responsive. A responsive design will make the website accessible on multiple platforms, i.e. mobiles and desktops. Find the design that best suits your business needs, makes it usable for your customers and enhance the online sale!
The right eCommerce platform will give more flexibility, scalability and expandability to the customers of the industries. Hence, it is essential to choose the correct platform. There are numerous platforms available, with the right development partner, guidance and selecting of the right eCommerce platform, brands can achieve efficiently their business objectives.
To convert your visitors into consumers, you can include various strategies and tactics of web optimization. When the design is responsive, the website automatically works well but to convert your visitors into consumers. You can use persuasive copywriting while showcasing the products and their descriptions. Besides this, the colour scheme, theme, images are also essential to highlight the products and strike the visitors.
Customer experience is projected to overtake price and product as the primary brand differentiator for sales, which makes it essential to focus on providing excellent customer experience across all touchpoints. Providing them with a mandatory Check-out option, easy navigation, good website speed, user-generated content and also a FAQs page!
As customers provide personal information such as bank details, address, mobile number etc., while shopping on eCommerce sites, it is imperative to ensure the security of the website, with a secure socket layer to encrypt all the information stored on the site. These websites need a secure transaction gateway alongside data security.
Mobile eCommerce has substantially picked up the pace and is on the rise. Mobile devices generate more than half the internet traffic. Looking at the data provided by Statista, it will continue to grow rapidly in the upcoming years.
67% of all eCommerce sales across the globe is done via mobile devices.
A mobile-friendly website makes a massive difference in conversion rates, and if a website is responsive and smooth, customers are more likely to make the purchase.
This year, the mobile shares of eCommerce stood at 58.9%, i.e. $1.4 trillion and in 2021, they are projected to rake up to around $3.5 trillion, making up almost three-quarters of eCommerce sales – 72.9%.
The e-commerce industry is predicted to amount to $6.3 trillion in five years’ time span.
● 82% of Internet users in the US have used a mobile device to make a purchase online
● 35% of US consumers use only their mobile device to shop online
● The US had $156 billion in mobile commerce sales in 2017.
● By 2021, US mobile commerce sales are projected to reach $420 billion.
● Conversion rates from mobile apps are thrice the rate from mobile sites.
● Mobile shoppers spend twice the money the other customers spend.
● 53% of smartphone users make a purchase from brand-specific apps.
● 42% of smartphone users plan to shop more from their mobile devices in the coming year.
Consumers prefer mobile apps over browsers, and 78% of users claim to rather use the app than going to a store or using a browser. With 286% more product listings, customers purchase more than they initially came for, and that makes conversion rate 130% higher than on mobile websites. The splendid conversion rate and more revenue are why you should incorporate an eCommerce mobile app into the business.
Personalization plays an essential part in driving sales, and with a mobile eCommerce app, it can be taken on a whole different level. 63% of users looking for a personalized experience in an app, which was around 57% two years ago. Mobile app personalization allows you to track browsing history and shopping history, with which you can provide custom recommendations.
Retaining customers is 25 times less costly than alluring new customers, and if even 5% of customer retention is increased, it leads to 25%-90% profits. Customers tend to come back to an eCommerce app 11 times, once they download it, which increases the conversion rate. You can lure them back with push notifications from time to time by offering discounts or flash sales etc.
With an eCommerce mobile app, customers’ devices can be used to your advantage. The features on your customer’s phones can be integrated with the app and customer engagement can be increased. You can simplify navigation. Use features like GPS, Microphone, Camera etc. to introduce new features, simply search processes or allow them to share media files and shoot up your engagement rate.
Once the user downloads the app, they are more likely to shop from your app than accessing another website on a browser. You can turn the engagement to retention and loyalty by providing them a personalized experience, push notifications about products, flash sales, discounts or merely addressing/greeting them, provide exclusive content and reward them for keep coming back.
Revenue generated from mobile apps is 130% more than of desktop sites and the reason behind this is how the mobile app encourages them to spend more time on the app. Push notifications stay in their subconscious mind, one-click ordering option is extremely convenient and moreover, the easy payment option with multiple payment methods i.e. PayPal, google pay, other wallets etc. quickly gain popularity among mobile app users.
The eCommerce resurrection us all over the world, and it’s emerging at an overwhelming pace. The way consumer buying behaviour is changing, businesses are coming up with innovations and are experimenting digitally, which is how eCommerce is gearing up significant changes in the markets. Here are some eCommerce Trends in 2020 that we’ve gathered, to keep you updated and keep up with the competition.
AI lets businesses gather information in real-time and have a better understanding to generate more leads and provide excellent user engagement. Here’s how AI is flawlessly shaping eCommerce –
AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) create new products and provide stellar customer experience. With these product presentations, AR and VR improve the chances of early success. Let’s see companies which offer AR –
Lenskart – Lenskart was one of the early entrants which used AR and evolved its offerings. The company’s app and website both support the feature of 3D Try On, which accesses your device’s camera, creates a frame and shows how it would look on your face. The customer experience is powerful, with an easy guided setup.
Caratlane – Another company which lets you try products like Lenskart is Caratlane where you can see the products modelled against you. It does not work on a computer or the app. You need to download a VTO app alongside Caratlane to see your virtual self. Customers and go through the products and place them on their face to see how they look, such as earrings.
Everything done online or offline generates data, it’s everywhere and it’s collected from website analytics, sales metrics, customer leads, email subscriptions and so on. All this information provides useful insights which can be used as an advantage to eCommerce operations. Big Data analytics helps businesses respond to various metrics affecting the business. Let’s see how Big Data and Analytics are altering eCommerce –
Shopping Pattern Analysis – Big Data Analytics enhances the shopping pattern analysis by comprehending customer shopping behaviour and predicting purchase patterns. With this information, businesses can create better strategies to increase sales and engagement. Anything seen or ordered can be evaluated with big data analytics.
Effective Customer Service – According to a survey by Deloitte, 72% of companies claim that Data analytics reports can be used to enhance the customer experience. The reports can help in identifying and solving key issues to improve the operations to improve customer experiences, which results in business growth.
Anticipate Future Operations PlansBig Data analytics in eCommerce provides greater insights and helps you in inventory, management, supply chain, forming better pricing and sales strategies, forecasting requirements etc. With Big data & eCommerce, it’s easier to evaluate the operational efficiency across multiple platforms.
Ease of online paymentsWith Big Data analytics, fraudulent activities or any threat to the operations can be identified, which provides a sense of security and safety. Big Data allows you to add different payment options in a central platform which is more convenient for customers for making payments.
eCommerce is here to stay and the future for eCommerce is a bright one. With the right tools, strategies and development team, an online business can streamline every operation into place and achieve business success. eCommerce offers many advantages and looking at it accelerating; companies need to keep up with the trends in order to gain an edge over their competitors.
Are you convinced that you need to start a business online to stay in business and keep booming?
Following the right guidelines, companies can tap the vast audience, engage customers and improve their experience impeccably to retain them. However, to reach out to a bigger market and retain them, the eCommerce website or a mobile app needs to be built correctly, with a responsive mobile-friendly design.
You can either hire a dedicated development team providing eCommerce solutions while you work on your business’ other major operations. The professional developing agency will provide you with all the insights and resources to build a perfect eCommerce solution for your business and take it to the new level. With a team of experts and resources, aTeam Soft Solutions extends a hand for helping you bring your dreams to life.
We will help you find the right platforms for your business, guide you through the process, offer many options at your disposal with full-scale eCommerce solutions. Reach a bigger customer base, increase your revenue, gain success with the right development partner.
Reach our team to have a discussion about your requirements and let us build something great together.
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