Last Updated on December 8, 2022 by Umer Malik
There is a fundamental shift happening in the world of global trade and commerce. Especially during the global pandemic, all retail stores have moved online to adapt to the changing demand of the consumers and the buying habits of the millennials. In fact, many of the physical stores were fully closed during the pandemic, which was replaced by virtual storefronts and online marketplaces. It is now becoming a more leveled playing field for all types of business to try their luck in this competitive online market.
However, it may be challenging for a business to start online as there are various marketplaces and scope for opening E-commerce storefronts on competitive online platforms. Here, we will discuss some of the top tips to build a successful E-com business online.
Tips for building e-com business
1. Take your first step to move on
As somebody had told it rightly, everyone was a novice at a time before their business became successful. This is true in the case of Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon. With the assistance of many e-com store builder platforms, it has become much easier for beginners to build their virtual store online. The e-com platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc., put forth ample expert help to build e-commerce websites. These require only zero coding or web designing skills to construct e-commerce stores. You can simply make use of the drag and drop features to build the portal, set the navigations, and give it a perfect look and feel as you like.
You can also use the add-on applications to enhance the features and functionality of your eCommerce stores. It is also possible to use these platforms to sell your own products, or you can source products from different suppliers and simply perform ecom business in a drop-ship model by avoiding the hassle of maintaining an inventory.
2. How to drive traffic to your store?
Once you know how to set up your store and display your products, next, it is time to tell the world about your business and get it popularized. Before you start with your efforts for the same, it is recommended that you install your website tracking through Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel, etc. By using these types of e-commerce support tools, you can gather valid data about the visitors to your website and the performance of the marketing campaigns you initiated.
You can also try to create some lookalike audiences through different approaches to analyze your business performance. It is also very important to understand what type of traffic is coming to your online stores. The primary type of traffic you can look at is organic traffic, which refers to those visitors who are coming to your website from Google due to the unpaid search results. Other real-time examples of the same are social media marketing, blog posts, and organic SEO campaigns. You may also try to build a solid database backup with the help of expert providers like RemoteDBA.com,
As a real-time example of online marketing, you can take a dog care brand, for example. To popularize this, you have to first make it omnipresent across different social media channels and do some posting on a daily basis to build a fan following. You should also find and use the most common #Dogcare hashtags to reach real followers. You can also go a level deeper by targeting dog lovers in general and trying to target the sub-niche like people who own Pit bulls or German Shepherds. Each breed has a unique personality, and you will be able to target those subgroups specifically.
Another type of traffic is paid traffic. It is recommended to focus on specific advertising platforms each time while trying to generate paid traffic to your portal. A classic example for such a paid traffic platform is Facebook Ads, which will let you target a very specific audience based on demographics and geography, and Facebook has a considerably huge database of users.
3. Raising average order value
Another important trick you may focus on is the average value of the order. Try to raise it to the maximum. The average order value can be calculated by dividing your overall revenue by the total number of orders. So let us take the real-time example as a customer who tries to purchase or simply purchased a product from your porta. You may be able to present them with another offer by offering another product more or less the same they purchased with a discount. In this case, you may offer a second product at even half the price or offer another smaller placed item along with the first.
The major goal here is to raise the average order value, which will allow you to spend more money for acquiring the customer and outperform the competitors who are focusing on the same customers. You can also try post-purchase upsells, as with it, you will not interfere with the users’ buying experience. While doing this, you have to remember a key thing that a confused may turn out to be a non-buyer, so play it safe.
4. Email marketing is not outdated
While you are trying to build an email list, one should try and turn it into a very strong money-making machine. An email is a mighty tool like social media or blogging when it comes to the digital marketing of your e-com services. Email is powerful because you have already acquired the lead with the contact details. With this, you can do more powerful segmentation of the customers to ensure the best rates are offered to them, and the deliverability is easier. In real-time, people are segmented over the email lists into different categories as repeated customers, VIP customers, negotiators, and there are such endless possibilities. This segregation of the email list will allow you to plan targeted campaigns based on user behavior and bring in more conversions.
5. Build a real brand
Many e-commerce store owners do not treat their businesses as real. They may be into dropshipping and may focus on inferior quality and cheaper items or those with longer shipping times. As you might imagine, not only do the customers dislike this approach, but they will also never try to buy from this seller again. However, the great thing while trying for dropshipping is that you can find quality suppliers who can ship faster, with which, you as a brand, can build customer loyalty and ensure customer satisfaction. Only try to sell products which you are comfortable with and if you are confident about their quality. It may be much cheaper to retain the existing customers than try to find new ones. Over time, your customers may become your best marketing resources.
By keeping all these expert tips in mind, you are already on your way to creating a winning E-commerce store that can prove to be a valuable asset. You may also be able to attract many new investors by building a brand, who will help you scale up your business to the next level.
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