Marketign an E-Commerce Store

It’s no secret that E-commerce has been on the rise since thanks to our constant connectivity. Today two thirds of adults own a smart phone and each of us spend over two hours engaging with our device each day.

In 2015 it was predicted that the UK would be the most frequent online shoppers, with an average spend of £1,174 each.

This is a stark comparison to the meager £1,023 Germany were predicted and the even more miniscule estimation of Sweden’s £588.With potential customers now having 24 access to your e-commerce site it’s vital that marketers approach their strategy differently than in recent years, customers will not just stumble across your online store in the way they might with a physical retail space.

To run a successful e-commerce business, you need to get the marketing strategy just right. And, whilst you may have heard plenty of phrases such as ‘growth hacks’ being used in the e-commerce industry in regards to marketing, there’s nothing that can beat a sustainable, long-term marketing plan when it comes to successfully driving traffic to your site and increasing your sales and profit. We’ve listed some of the top ways to market your e-commerce business which, when done right, can result in a lot of success.

Multichannel Selling

The latest e-commerce marketing innovation follows the format of “sell more places, sell more items” and it’s entirely true. Although you’ll mainly sell on your main e-commerce store website there are many other channels which you can use additionally for selling products. Not only will this widen your online presence as a seller, you’ll also be able to approach and sell to customers who normally would not have stumbled across your site.

This could be done through setting up a shop on your social media page – such as Facebook’s new Shop feature – or using popular selling channels to list your products such as eBay, Amazon or Etsy. Because it’s important to gain more sales from your actual page, you can use these other channels as a method of bringing in new customers and providing them with links to your ecommerce website for when they wish to buy a future product. So what can these sites bring you?

Amazon

  • 85 million unique monthly users
  • Easy checkout
  • High customer fulfillment rate
  • Gain repeat customers

Ebay

  • Easy to use interface
  • 17 million unique UK users each month
  • Strength in international e-commerce

Etsy

  • Niche users, interested in hand-crafted and vintage products
  • Passionate community feel
  • Easy store set up

Social Media Marketing

With a large majority of the population today using social media sites such as the market leader Facebook, who acquires 15.9 billion active users, Twitter and Instagram, it really makes sense for businesses to also get involved.

More and more social media sites are being updated to be more business-friendly, and they make the ideal platform to reach out to all of your potential and existing customers in just one place. With some ground-breaking social media automation tools available today, you can enjoy maximum outreach with minimal effort.

With 60% of Instagram’s 300 million user base falling between the ages of 18-34, the exact same demographic as those most likely to shop online it would a huge mistake not to target this captive audience through their favourite social media site.

The best thing about social media is that you don’t have to spend loads of time on it in order to promote your business – with a few well-timed, interesting updates per day you can easily generate interest which results in extra traffic to your site.

An easy-to-adopt way to engage users is to run a contest where users to promote your products by “liking and “sharing” have a chance to win a specified item. Though these are just one of the ways your e-commerce site can engage with users, other methods include:

  • Sharing behind the scenes photos
  • Offer sneak-peaks and behind the scenes access; this works especially well with Snapchat
  • Involve customers in the community by utilising a hash tag

Offline Marketing

Of course, do not underestimate the power of traditional offline marketing. Your e-commerce business may be solely online, but that in no way means that you can’t advertise it offline as well.

Humans are extremely visual creatures, engaging with visuals 60,000x faster than we do with text, so traditional aspects of marketing such as stunning logo design will increase brand awareness and drive customers to visit your online store when they see it pass by on the street, either on a carrier bag or clothing item. Traditional offline marketing has not disappeared entirely; in fact we are still greatly influenced by these old-school methods; when asked what prompted customers to visit an e-commerce site the results were as follows;

  • Television advertisement: 44%
  • Word of Mouth: 41%
  • Magazine/Newspaper Advertisement: 35%
  • Radio: 23%
  • Billboard: 13%By employing some tried and tested offline marketing strategies such as displaying posters or giving out business cards, you can prompt potential customers to visit your social media page or even your site to make a purchase.This will bring you online and offline efforts together seamlessly. Although online shopping is definitely on the rise, many customers still enjoy that in-person experience, which makes offline marketing even more important for e-commerce store owners.By displaying great customer service in person, you can get a lot of great results. This is especially true when approaching potential customers who are still a little wary of shopping online – having an in-person interaction can often help them to build up trust and a sense of security regarding your business.Of course, once your customers reach your ecommerce site it’s crucial they have a positive online user experience in order for them to complete the transaction, return to the site and become brand advocates. The most important aspects of a successful e-commerce site include:
    • A call to action to make a sale, inform your customer, or gather information
    • Promote savings and shipping deals
    • Include a search or navigation bar
    • Have an easy to use check-out

Author Bio

https://www.bestwebhosting.co.uk is the author of this blog. They specialise in providing web hosting services in the UK.