Getting started in e-commerce
Text: Cassie van Wyk. Article from the October/November 2013 issue of Your Business Magazine.
Are you ready to move online? Here’s how to sell more and stand out among your competitors…
2013 has seen a growing number of consumers look to purchase their favourite brands and goods online. Big players like Kalahari and Takealot have dedicated much of their advertising budget to TV and above-the-line promotions, which has resulted in a massive uptake that bodes well for online sales in general. The challenge for small retailers is how they can compete against the big players to benefit from this uptake.
Many business owners start with the assumption that the platform they use will determine the quality of their e-commerce offering. In reality, it’s the company’s core competencies that determine the quality of the e-commerce solution; the platform is just a commodity. Most of the platforms are easily manipulated and are dependent on the skill of the developer. So what then are the important issues? Ironically, they are many of the same things that would impact the success of a traditional retailer.
► Product
In the first place, your products must be in demand. Next you need attractive, high quality images, detailed descriptions and customer reviews. Managing your inventory is imperative to ensure customer satisfaction. Irate customers, who have ordered a product only to be told that it is out of stock, are not fun to deal with.
► Price
Your pricing must be competitive. Your customers are probably spending time online comparing prices before buying. If you’re not competitive, there are dozens of competitors waiting to grab your customer.
► Promotion
Once you’re up and running, you need to work on a strategy to tell people about your offering. Develop a short, intermediate and long-term strategy to get people onto your site and buying.
Pay-per-click advertising helps drive clients to your site and allows you to customise which offerings you want to promote aggressively. This strategy will cost you, however as it is based on a bidding principle, where competing companies bid for popular keywords relating to their industries. The great thing about this is the fact that you can set your own budgets. Google is the search engine that is best geared and easiest to use when setting up your campaigns. They offer great support and training for any novice, and being the most popular engine by far, this is a great place to start.
With the database you grow through paid efforts, you can start marketing to clients using mailer promotions. Frequency of these campaigns will always vary according to the products and business rhythms of your company.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) improves the quality and relevance of the content on your site and allows it to rank higher organically. It is always advisable to get experts involved when planning your SEO strategy as it is a very scientific field and will impact the intermediate as well as long term strategy you follow.
Last but not least, social media can be a handy marketing tool, if you’re strategic in your approach. A good social media strategy will help you reach and gain new clients over the short, medium and long term. Interact with your customers in a sustainable and creative way and this medium could prove fruitful.
► Policies
Set up clear policies and procedures to govern your site, just as you have in your traditional business. These should cover how you manage returns, deliveries, refunds etc. You’ll need to comply with the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act and Consumer Protection Act. Customers are very aware of their rights, and if they are dissatisfied with your service and offering, they will turn to the regulators and cause massive problems for you.
► Analytics
By integrating Google Analytics into your site you will be able to track how visitors engage with your products. It allows you to analyse how many visitors you have had in a given period, which pages they spent time on, which products were searched for, how many ended up buying from you, and how many people abandoned their baskets and purchases. Analysing this data will show you where improvements need to be made, like for example what pages and products prove to be most popular on your site, which pages are least popular, how many people abandon their baskets, what time of day people visit your site the most and even what percentage of men versus woman buy from you.
► Order fulfillment
Where delivery within 48 hours was acceptable a few years back, the minimum requirement now is 24 hours, and customers are even starting to demand same-day delivery. Some of your clients will also want to return their purchases, so this needs to be considered in your delivery strategy. Lastly, and this is a biggie, free delivery is a massive drawcard. So consider whether or not this should be part of your strategy.
► Customer care
In keeping with traditional customers, online clients also want to be able to speak to someone when they are unhappy or need support. Some will be happy to correspond via email, but you should also have a dedicated support number that people can call. The better your customer support, the better your chances of being around for the long haul in both the online and offline environment.
► Innovation
At all times stay in touch with the demands of the growing market of online buyers, and don’t be scared to innovate. Look at what the industry leaders are doing right and what you think they are doing wrong. A great company to keep track of is Amazon.com. This is a market player that isn’t scared of trying new things, whether it is on their site or in the back office. Their innovations regarding landing page customisation, loyalty, and even delivery methods are all game-changers. There are a lot of other thought-leading websites too, but look at those that relate the most to your industry to ensure you gain some relevant insights.
The usability of your website is a big contributing factor to your success, and the big players spend millions on plugins and tools to provide a better experience for users. As a smaller retailer, you can start by running two or more versions of your website concurrently to see which one delivers the best results. Another great tool is heat mapping, where software is used to track the specific areas that people engage with most on the pages within your website.
Success in e-commerce is less about the tools you use and more about the strength of your strategy to meet customer expectations around your offering and solutions. Transfer the core competencies that have proven successful in your offline offering into the online environment to ensure that your customers fill both their trolleys and their carts. Happy selling!
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