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It’s that time of the year – New Year’s resolutions, trends, and predictions. We already had posted an article outlining some of the marketing trends we see for 2018, but in this post, we would like to focus on the e-commerce trends specifically.
Selling online? You only have one competitor.
You might think that this is good news, that you only have one competitor. However, knowing that the one competitor I am referring to is Amazon changes everything. As you might know, *Amazon owned nearly 1/3 of all online sales during Cyber Monday this year. This number puts everything into perspective, doesn’t it?
What does this mean to you? Well, if you have an e-commerce website or you are planning on selling online in 2018, think how you can be better than Amazon.
- sell unique products
- offer better prices
- offer free shipping
- offer fast shipping (you must ship within one business day)
- offer an outstanding customer support
If you don’t have a competitive advantage in the abovementioned areas, you will have a tough time competing with Amazon (and you may want to consider selling your products on Amazon, instead of creating your own e-commerce shop). Especially, if you are a Canadian retailer, since our shipping options here are limited (in comparison with the US).
Have a strong brick-and-mortar presence
This may sound counter-intuitive, but this could be a good way of supporting your online sales. Or rather, create a shopping experience offline, offering people to shop online after they get familiar with your services and products.
- offer in-store pick-ups for online shoppers
- offer special deals online, to get rid of unwanted inventory
- promote your brick-and-mortar store on your e-commerce website, to provide more credibility and foster trust
Use your e-commerce website as a research tool
How well do you know your customers?
As Tony Robbins says: Don’t fall in love with your products or services, fall in love with your customers.
If you intend to stay relevant (which your must, to stay competitive), you have to evolve. Your products and services will change over time, so don’t get too attached to them. Your customers? They will stay with you if you give them what they want.
So, how well do you know what they want?
Use your e-commerce website as a research tool.
- enable the search function on your website
- track (in Google Analytics) what your customers are searching for
- notice people’s interests, by offering email subscriptions with exclusive content
- enable blog and see what type of content attracts your customers
Are you considering an e-commerce website? Give us a shout or stop by our Vancouver marketing agency office – we always have chocolate.
*Source: marketing land
Photo by Jason Briscoe