Do you have an incredible business idea? Gone are the days when entrepreneurs had to make hefty investments to launch a startup. In today’s digital era, starting a business venture has become effortless.
It requires an outstanding idea, a small amount of capital, and an excellent digital presence to kick-start an eCommerce store. It would expose your brand to millions of local and international consumers, unfolding an opportunity for global expansion.
As online stores continue to rule the retail landscape, competition in the digital arena also increases. Amongst retail giants like Amazon, eBay, and Ali Express, developing brand recognition can seem challenging but not impossible.
Social media forums offer everyone a platform to create brand awareness and market their products across different channels. Similarly, the paid advertisement campaigns help brands reach their target audience.
In other words, you don’t have to beat existing giants to taste success; instead, you have to focus on building on your brand. In case you don’t know much about the digital marketplace, have a look below. Here we are listing five tips to help you stay ahead on your eCommerce game.
1. Perform A Competitor Analysis
Today, we have more than 24 million eCommerce websites worldwide. Before you start implementing any marketing strategy, learn a thing or two from your existing competitors or use the best map compliance monitoring. It will help you spot new trends and anticipate market shifts in the industry.
You would also determine potential barriers within your niche, helping you make more informed decisions. So, now the question is how to keep a close eye on your competitors?
If you think of opening a shop on retail forums like eBay, look up to fastintell for a detailed analysis. They will highlight the leading sellers on eBay within your niche while helping you expand your store.
Otherwise, if you are starting a venture all by yourself, perform a competitor analysis. Identify the key competitors in your industry and categorize them into an either primary or secondary competition.
The primary competitors would be the ones that offer the same products and target the same audience. However, the secondary competitors may sell the same products but will have a different audience.
Perhaps, they might be selling a low or high-end version of your product. Once you have identified your competition, look into their website, shipping and handling, and pricing strategies. It will give an in-depth idea of how price-sensitive customers are and what strategies may work in your niche.
2. Focus on Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Brands selling unique and exciting products get a lot of hype in the virtual sphere. Therefore, you have to stay up to date with the latest technology trends to have the upper hand in the digital market. Here are some tips to differentiate your products and stand out in the crowd.
- Include newer technology and applications to stay ahead of the curve. For instance, if you are selling precision cookers, incorporate Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. In addition to making your product unique, it will solve customers’ needs better than competitors.
- Give customers options to customize the products according to their preferences. According to Deloitte Consumer Review, customers are willing to pay for 20% more customized products.
- Concentrate on quality control of the product to ensure there aren’t any manufacturing defaults. Once you have mastered one product, feel free to venture into other products to serve your target market well.
3. Prioritize SEO
As the eCommerce economy experiences swift growth, more businesses will be launching their websites. It means finding a brand on the search engine will become super challenging without optimization.
Thus, you have to start prioritizing SEO now to remain visible on the search engine results. You can begin by optimizing the webpage for the most prominent ranking factors such as loading speed, website responsiveness, and navigation tools, etc.
Likewise, you have to target relevant keywords that drive traffic towards your webpage. In case short-tail keywords have high ranking difficulty, capture long-tail keywords. In addition to improving the visibility, long-tail keywords can optimize the webpage for voice search. Besides this, add pictures and videos of your product offerings since Google ranks the website higher with visual content.
4. Offer Incredible User Experience
As eCommerce businesses make sales and profits through websites, you have to work on the interface to ensure optimal user experience. You have to focus on the visual arrangement, present information well, and add visible buttons. In short, you have to make sure the website is captivating and functional. Here is how you provide an incredible user experience.
- Add a Search Bar: Forcing users to scroll through the entire website won’t drive conversions. Hence, insert a search bar to let people find products readily and complete their purchase journey.
- Increase Payment Options: Usually, entrepreneurs assume everyone has a Visa or MasterCard. Even if they do, people don’t prefer swiping cards online because of the increase in cyber threats. It means you should also accept payments through PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo, etc.
- Live Customer Support: You can leverage AI-enabled chatbots to answer customers’ queries round the clock.
- Streamline the Checkout Process: Once the user decides to buy something, he/she should find it easy to complete the purchase. Thus, you must eliminate the extra steps in the checkout process and get their shipping address to process the transaction.
5. Establish Branding
Nowadays, people come across plenty of advertisements from different eCommerce sites. Hence, it becomes impossible to break through their sensory overload when your brand seems like everyone else.
So, how can you position yourself differently? Branding reflects the core identity of your business, your values, mission, and vision. It also drives customer’s perception about the brand that drives conversions and sales. Therefore, invest your resources and time into brand building.
You can share your brand story, tell consumers who you are, what your brand stands for, and what you wish to achieve. These answers will feed into your online branding strategy, helping you connect with audiences.
Similarly, entrepreneurs can also share their values and beliefs with online customers. For instance, if you have the vision to give it back to society, include corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns in your branding strategy.
Final Words
Running an eCommerce venture is no easy feat, especially when the competition is at an all-time high. Entrepreneurs have to keep a close eye on key market players in the industry and implement strategic marketing techniques accordingly.
Likewise, they have to bring innovation in their offerings and provide a superior customer experience to stay ahead in the marketplace. A tactical digital marketing plan can improve conversational prospects, making the eCommerce business thrive.