How to market an E-commerce website?
E-commerce stands for the digital version of commerce. It includes each and every phase of commerce but in a digital way. The earlier transactions and the mode of exchange that were used to transact are now being used in the same way but digitally. It has found a more active component owing to vast and deep internet bandwidth and more number of internet users. The digital transformation has changed the outlook of people towards commerce. All the activities that were earlier done through Kirana stores, etc. are now being done digitally. And here we are looking at how to market an e-commerce website.
The evolution of commerce towards E-commerce owes its credit to the transformation of the country digitally. E-commerce requires to be flourished. To do so, some of the major necessities are required. These requirements are luckily fulfilled by digital transactions. The market is now flourished with stocks that can be bought and sold digitally. It was followed by the introduction of e-wallets through platforms like Paytm, Freecharge, Mobikwik, etc. The currency which was earlier used as fiat currency is now taking a digital shape. Cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technologies like blockchain are the frontrunners of it. The digital forefront is now transforming into an authentic, credible, and immutable space.
Why do you need an E-commerce store?
- E-commerce business requires a lot of pre-requisites. But these pre-requisites are much lesser than opening for an offline business.
- Offline business requires a major share of land. It needs high setup costs. The business needs to be marketed through a specific mode only through a selected area of impact.
- This increases and keeps the business at a losing side of huge competition from its competitors. The business requires much more than marketing in its neighboring areas to make it work.
- If a business is only offline, it is losing a whole market at a national level or perhaps the global level.
- The setup of an online store is much easier and affordable than an offline store.
- It has low setup and operational costs. The manual and technical labor required to operate this is also affordable and available at viable prices.
- It creates more impact than an offline business due to its large area of influence. An e-commerce store can reach to the people very comfortably through the medium of social media.
- It is explained very well why companies like Google, Facebook, and Instagram earn a significant chunk of their revenue through advertisements. Advertisements are the perfect way to grab the viewer’s attention.
- An offline business has a limit to its reach and the number which it can impact through its advertisements. The economy now is a global economy, and this era is influenced by globalization. Thus, social media acts as an excellent tool to reach the maximum number of viewers possible.
How to market it?
- E-commerce is the most abundant and perhaps the best form of commerce today.
- The effect of coronavirus has put the world and the global economy to a halt. Almost all major powers from Asia to the Pacific through Europe are currently experiencing a lockdown.
- This lockdown is enforced to strengthen social distancing with contact-less delivery and to protect people from the harmful effects of the virus.
- All the major economies are at a halt now with work from home as the only solution towards it. The unorganized sector of the global economy is impacted the most with this virus. The former has survived this slowdown and the stringent lockdown, but the latter has failed miserably.
- It is a heavy and tedious task for the government to provide items of basic needs. These needs need to be fulfilled within a stipulated amount of time. This is where E-commerce emerges as the biggest player.
- Many domestic and international E-commerce grocery websites and applications are working round the clock to bridge this gap.
- Many of the major tools used to market your E-commerce are of utmost importance. These tools include marketing platforms in social media like Facebook and Instagram. These are now much important to reach the maximum number of people in the globalized world.
- Facebook and Instagram advertisements are currently the best way to advertise your product and sell it online. Tik-Tok is also a great platform in this arena.
Marketing Future with Technology
- The world is globalized now with billions of transactions taking place every second. Thus, a proper system of checks and balances needs to be applied to protect the digital currency and the medium of exchange.
- Blockchain is a decentralized, peer-to-peer medium of exchange of data and information. The medium of exchange it uses is secure and is in the form of cryptocurrency. A series of algorithms protect data.
- Blockchain is currently the most reliable medium of transfer of data. It is because of its immutability, security, and integrity. Ethereum, Hyperledger, and many other Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) deploy blockchain over the network.
- The currencies are used in digital forms currently throughout the world. It contributes a significant chunk to the global economy.
- The cryptocurrency is different. It is the secured evolution of digital currency.
- Cryptocurrency entered the market with Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto and is a secure way of transaction. It is defined by a set of rules and regulations and is the most secure way of transactions.
- Bitcoin has shaped the entire crypto market in a modern sense with the significant industry conglomerates entering the arena.
- Bitcoin acted as a gateway for many other cryptocurrencies in the market, namely, Ether, Altcoin, and many more. Cryptocurrency gave the world a whole new vision of trading and transaction. It is secure, immutable, and is an abstract currency.
- Many major E-commerce industries and conglomerates are now moving towards digital financial technology to operate better and to safeguard their services and products.
- E-commerce organizations are now moving towards blockchain and cryptocurrency to authenticate their transactions.
- The medium of exchange with blockchain and through cryptocurrency is much safer and secure. Qualities like transparency, authenticity, and immutability make the medium quite authentic and build trust among its customers.
Strategies to market it
- A search engine like google has millions of websites in its interface. Whenever a simple search is put on it, google shows millions of results within a span of few microseconds. The task and the attention at notice here are to how to take your website to the next level, how to make sure that whenever something is searched in google, your e-commerce website is immediately the first suggestion by google. The key to control this and make your E-commerce website to stand out from others lies in the SEO technique. Search Engine Optimization has many built-in tools that take your E-commerce website to a whole new level. SEO is of utmost importance not only for an E-commerce website but also for any website. The site needs to optimized according to the search algorithms of the world’s most popular and used search engines. The more streamlined the website is, according to Search Engine Optimization, the higher are its chances to stand out of the box.
- There are many technicalities that are involved in an SEO optimized website. Hence, it is better to consult or take an opinion of an SEO expert (this opinion will only let your business stand out if you’re SEO optimized). The other factors include the speed of the website and its uptime. The faster the site is, the better it is. Imagine sitting in front of a website holding onto a tedious and urgent task, and the website is taking minutes to load. Now that’s bad for any business irrespective of its domain and target customer market. A good website should have excellent uptime. A good SEO optimized website should have a remarkable uptime. That is why it is essential to choose the right web hosting.
- Blog about your yourself. Blog not only about your products but also your vision and mission. Blog about the idea your E-commerce has envisioned for this industry. Blogging is the best way to share your thoughts with the outside world. These thoughts can be personal or professional. The digital industry talks through blogging. As an E-commerce, blogging is the best way to make people listen to you and your business. Your E-commerce website can put up about a specific type of product and can attract customers to your niche. Once people are interested in your blog, your business credibility increases by a considerable margin.
- Promotions are one of the best ways to make customers adore your products. It is also one of the best marketing strategies to sell your product. Just like going to a supermarket where you have a promotion-cum-concession stand at the billing counter to provide you with the best deals available at the store. An E-commerce website is much similar to it. The best deals are suggested with the product. Many suggestions based on a recommendation algorithm is available in the virtual cart and at the checkout window. These suggestions and recommendations help a business to grow and nurture correctly. It also helps in building a business footprint.
- Social Media is one of the best and most useful sources and platforms to reach people. When a business reaches people, it is much easier to identify its target audience. A profound social footprint is much required for a company to thrive in this extremely competitive industry. Advertisements are the best way to reach customers. This advertisement culture has been going on through a time even when E-commerce did not exist. It used to be in the form of banners and hoarding. Now, these advertisements have changed digitally. Google, Facebook, and Instagram are the best examples of it. Google, Facebook, and Instagram enable businesses to reach the maximum number of people through their advertisements. It also allows us to filter out and focus only on the target audience through its recommendation system. These filters are based on area, population reach, and the type of audience the E-commerce wants.
- No need to pay big for marketing. There is no needs to pay big for hoardings and advertisements to the most famous places in the city or on the metro. There is a need to understand marketing and choose the right strategy. If you’re starting, you need to choose out which approach works best for you before putting it up for some significant investments. There is absolutely no need for extensive or mammoth size investments in marketing. The key is to find the right strategy and diversify it. The money that has been put up on advertisement marketing can be put upon building a great social media team. This will help in chalking out the right social media strategy.
- The site’s user interface needs to be appealing to the customers so that they visit more. The bonus part about an excellent user interface is that it allows customers to stay on the site much more and browse the products carefully. The better the user interface and user experience are, the better the chances are of customers purchasing more products. This needs much more towards the customer buying experience. The cart needs not to be leftover, just like it at payment checkout. The better the website, the higher the chances are of your E-commerce to stand out.
- Lastly, there is a need for a balanced approach. This approach is much required to make an E-commerce site work and stand out from the crowd. The site should have an excellent User Interface to provide a great User Experience. It should have a great Search Engine Optimization helper to chalk out the site and to make it stand out of the box. Social Media is the platform to be used, and a social media marketing strategy needs to be strategized. Thus, a simple marketing experience can take the E-commerce site to a whole new level.
You can also check out our other blog related to e-commerce.
Lastly, if you’re somewhat interested in gaining a rich and nurtured marketing experience and are interested in taking your E-commerce business to the digital stream, do check out our page regarding Digital Marketing