E-commerce Trends You Should Follow
When talking about e-commerce, the idea behind it is to drive traffic to your website and sway users to buy your products. In 2013, business owners frantically ramped up their e-commerce campaigns to push up sales during shopping periods like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas season. With constant improvement and technological changes, here are e-commerce trends you need to follow if you want your business to prosper.
Mobile Bandwagon
The Black Friday of 2013 saw 40 percent of customers shopping via mobile devices, and that trend will continue for years to come. If you are a business owner, you can no longer procrastinate on developing your mobile website. Start creating a website designed to function efficiently for any mobile device before your competitor beats you to it. Since mobile devices are handheld, you need to go directly to the point by eliminating long lists and excessive texts. Streamlining the buying method is a must if you want to keep the customer’s attention.
Social Media Presence
If you want to build relationships with the customers, an active social media page is a legitimate option. Online shoppers are more likely to purchase products from businesses that interact with their customers through social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. If intelligently used, a dynamic Facebook page can be a portal where buyers are funnelled and directed to your website. To have a successful social media page, diversify your posts by including relevant images, company stories, and creative marketing promotions. The worst thing that you can do is to focus on advertising your products all the time. Consumers are repulsed by the act shameless plugging of products on their newsfeed.
Enhanced Shipping
The current generation enjoys instant gratification, so instead of going against the grain, it is best to take advantage of the situation by offering better shipping options. Big companies like Amazon have dictated this trend by providing high-tech delivery options. As a small business, it is tough to compete on that level. However, what you can do is to offer faster shipping options by working with companies that facilitate shipping. If you cannot afford to avail the services of a third-party company, writing a personalized message is sure to make your customers feel special.
Content Marketing
If you are still relying on old-fashioned advertising tactics like catchy slogans or creative images, then your competitors are way ahead of you. You want to gain the trust of your customers and one way to do that is to show that you are an expert on your business. Today, business leaders establish their authority through content marketing. A report by B2B Content Marketing revealed that 60 percent of B2C marketing experts are planning to increase their budget in 2014 for content marketing. To follow this trend, you can outsource freelance writers to create engaging and informative articles relevant to your business. This way, you are setting up your expertise in the field and at the same time building rapport with your prospective clients.
Latency
With the consistent improvement of electronic devices and the Internet, consumers have shorter patience on cluttered websites that take time to load. You definitely do not want to lose customers just because your website has not been updated for quite some time. To reduce latency, what you can do is to utilize faster hardware like flash storage where you can keep your most important data. For your less significant data, just keep them on your hard disks.
Better Customer Experience
If you want to keep your customers coming back, you need to be able to engage them even after the purchase. In line with the popularity of handheld devices, business owners have developed apps for this particular purpose. As an example, Domino’s Pizza crafted an app that allows consumers to track their orders and save their favourite dishes. Going an extra mile in engaging your customers with enhance loyalty and provide additional value.
Personalization
Consumers are captivated by unique products and if you want your business to be a step ahead of the competition, you need to be part of this trend. This year, companies are finding creative ways to design products according to the personal preferences of the consumer. With the advent of 3D printing technology, more and more businesses will be able to produce tailored products en-masse. If you cannot purchase 3D printers, take advantage of big data analytics. The information you will gather will help you in creating a personalized experience for your customers. For instance, retail companies are able to send product recommendations to consumers based on their social media activity. Driving traffic to your website and persuading users to purchase your products is the concept behind e-commerce. Technology is ever-changing and if you want to ride the rising tide you need to be able to follow these strategies, regardless of your business size. In the game of e-commerce, trend is your friend.
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