Studies indicate that the online market share will represent 22% of retail sales worldwide in 2023, an increase of 6.5% compared to 2020. That’s right: selling things online can be profitable. But to break into this growing industry, you must first understand the process of selling online.
Building an eCommerce store involves multiple steps, from selecting the right products or services to creating effective marketing strategies. This guide will teach all the steps and tools to create a successful online store and the benefits and challenges. At the end of this article, you will know how to sell online and earn money quickly.
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How to increase your e-commerce sales this year
If you considered taking your company one step further during the past year, it is time to make it a reality. Your company can enjoy all the benefits of having an online store.
Our main advice is that you always consult an expert, like us. Thanks to our experience, we can identify the needs of your business and design the best strategy to increase your sales.
Use of social networks
Facebook, Instagram, and even Tik Tok Social networks are strategic allies of companies. In them, you will be able to share and live with your target audience, get to know their needs closely and adapt your strategy to them. Depending on your business and goals, you’ll find the right social network to increase sales for your online store. Maybe a Facebook page will perform better, or Pinterest pins will attract a larger audience.
Selecting the right social network for your strategy will depend, in part, on the market you want to cover.
Loyalty to your customers
If you have time with your eCommerce, you have likely identified those seasons of sales stagnate. If you are new to this, you must know that it will happen, which is inevitable. But, to avoid losses, it is advisable to retain customers who already know your products and services. How to do it?
When a business begins to be successful, a common mistake is to neglect customers who buy frequently. Have you analyzed what the preferences of this sector are? Do you know their needs? It’s time to do it!
Older customer spends more in an online store because they already know the processes of buying and delivering products. Take advantage of this in your favor! How? With marketing strategies.
Marketing for customer loyalty
Some of the strategies you can develop to retain your frequent customers are:
- Email marketing campaigns.
- Exclusive release notifications.
- Promotions may include coupons, discounts, or a birthday greeting card.
- Product recommendations according to your preferences in previous purchases.
Knowing your frequent customers will allow you to retain them. This way, when a slow season hits, sales won’t be paused entirely.
An image speaks more than a thousand words
This section, for better understanding, can be divided into two parts:
The importance of an excellent image to increase the sales of your eCommerce
Select only the best ideas to promote your products. Please make sure they are of good quality so that details are not lost. This will allow your customers to zoom in on the images and get a perfect view of what they want to buy. With good photos, you will also be able to capture the attention of your potential customers.
Mobile-friendly pages
This, more than advice, is necessary. When designing your online store, you have to think about the mobile version. Many users connect from mobile devices, and if your site does not look good, they are likely to look for another option.
Design a simple yet attractive site. Take care of the length of the texts so that they are not tedious. Highlight the headers and give an excellent design to each of the pages. All this work will be reflected in the increase in sales.
SEM, SEO, and PPC
Although they are concepts that sound similar, they are different from each other. SEM is summarized as Marketing strategies aimed at positioning your results on the first pages of Google search and comprises two short-term (PPC) and long-term (SEO) tactics. They are different from each other, but both aim to position and support each other.
PPC can be summed up as paid campaigns on Google and other search engines. These results appear on the first page with the legend “Announcement” or “Ads” on one side, and you pay for each click or each time a user enters the ad.
SEO, on the other hand, is the optimization of websites. With it, organically, they achieve a place in the top positions of the search engine. It is a medium and long-term strategy, unlike the PPC, which has short-term results.
Cross-selling & Upselling
When talking about cross-selling, reference is made to the practice of “cross-selling.” That is to say: the recommendation of complementary products and accessories to those that the client is buying. It is necessary to recognize your target market’s preferences to do this.
This strategy can go hand in hand with retaining repeat customers. Analyze which products customers usually buy together, which are those that sell the most and those with a low number of sales.
For its part, upselling is the possibility that you offer the customer to opt for a higher category product or a complete service in exchange for a membership or a subscription. The latter is usually more effective than cross-selling, according to Econsultancy. A case in point is Amazon, which offers faster shipping and special deals to those who are Prime members.
Options and delivery times
Some companies that have online stores have a problem in this section. Delivery times or the inefficiency of some parcels make the company looks bad in front of the customer.
Try to think like your customers and look for the parcel company that offers you the best delivery time and price. Regardless of which company you choose, always opt for one that has good references and enjoys an excellent reputation.
It also adds information on delivery times and always provides a guide so that customers can track their orders. Enable an email to resolve the doubts of your customers and create a protocol for customer service. All this will translate into “word of mouth” advertising. Remember that the best advertising is what customers do on their own.
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