3 lessons learned from revolutionary changes in the ecommerce space

With ecommerce rates increasing each year and becoming such a large part of the economy, a tipping point is fast-awaiting many retailers. Ecommerce in 2016 is set for a major revolution.

People love to shop. People especially love to shop online because of the comfort it gives them to shop where everything is accessible anytime and anywhere. This access is exceptional – and not just for shoppers. Retailers also get 24/7 access to their customers, residing in different corners of the world. As a result, ecommerce has significantly changed the business model and revised the way shoppers approach retail.

When establishing yourself as a trusted, reliable ecommerce platform, making over 10 sales each day, about 60% of your overall efforts should be aimed at customer retention. Retention costs less than acquisition and it boosts profitability. Increasing user retention rates by only five percent can boost profitability by 25% – 95%. According to KISSmetrics, the global average-value of every lost customer is approximately US$243, which is indeed a big hole in a business’ pocket.

Offering only competitive prices are not enough in today’s cutthroat competition world. Today’s customer is smart and savvy and can be expected to focus on a specific store that they can depend and rely on that will also provide them with an awesome shopping experience. For example, a customer will have a better experience when they get a personalised email summarising the latest offers on smartphones that are relevant to their recent search history or if they get rewarded for being a loyal customer for 3 years in a row. Such little reminders flaunt how important and valued the customer is to the brand, which keeps that customer engaged and desiring more.

Over the years, we have seen drastic, revolutionary changes in the ecommerce space and for good reason. Many retailers and manufacturers have easily-appreciated the prospects created by new technology and inventions. The ecommerce world is ever-changing. 2015 saw a record increase in online shopping and some experts have predicted that it will climb by an additional 45% before the end of 2016, surpassing US$327-billion in revenue. There are many reasons for this boost in ecommerce sales. Technology development and inventions have resulted in a more-perfect shopping experience, improved engagement and more targeted-marketing campaigns.

Considering all of this, ecommerce giants have taken exceptional care to ensure that their esteemed customers stay connected to them and there are many things we can learn from their initiatives:

1. Habit commerce

The digital commerce industry looks to be promising in the years ahead. The digital landscape has changed drastically over the past few years. The hottest trend soon becomes business as usual. For example, 2013 was the year of Facebook “likes”, 2014 was the year where app downloads dominated the conversation and 2015 was the year of digital wallets, the biggest indicator of upcoming changes in the digital world.

Undoubtedly, 2016 is going to be the year of “habit commerce”, where more and more people become engaged in the habit of online transactions. Habit commerce is steered by the multitude of easy payment methods, use cases, personalized communications and enjoyable delivery services. Using these methods, your business should adapt in order to grow your ecommerce sales.

Gone are the days when a business had to push and compel customers to transact using online methods. As a result of today’s increased internet access and bigger smart phone subscriptions, people nowadays do more browsing and web surfing out of habit. Today’s ecommerce significantly affects consumer behavior. According to a survey by Mobi commerce 50% of respondents agreed to spend 1-3 hours online each day, whether reading, writing blogs or engaged in social media or other sites. 28% of those respondents ended up spending three to five hours online and 15% more spent over 5 hours online each day.

Mobile wallets and other related technologies have reinvented the way people shop online. Whether they are directed by other mobile handouts or taken from the phone, these technologies look less like the outdated billfolds they replace.

2. Strategic advertisement

Over the past decade, the internet has significantly-changed how people buy and sell goods and services. ecommerce has transformed the customer’s shopping experience.
Content is the king and indeed the holy grail of engagement. This concept makes great sense – well-written, quality content is educational, entertaining and useful. Similar to marketing strategies, it’s also efficient, cost-effective and a great impact to return on investment (ROI). As a result, 78% of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) believe that personalized content is the future of marketing.

In fact, content is something that an organization can easily and instantly develop. It only takes a small amount of resources to create an informative blog or product user-guide, all you need is to be strategic and thoughtful with respect to your approach.

Today, leading ecommerce companies and other shopping platforms such as Paytm, Amazon and FreeCharge are providing numerous exclusive offers to allure new customers and retain old ones.

Let’s have a look at them…

Amazon is most-likely the first name that comes to mind when thinking about shopping online. The primary reason behind Amazon’s grand success isn’t its large collection of products or low prices, it’s the fact that they are very good at knowing how to improve the customer’s shopping experience to make customers want to come back!

Amazon’s Amazon Prime, the customer-loyalty program offered by Amazon, has significantly grown their sales by 30% at a time of recession when other big retailers were striving hard to keep up in the market. According to analysts, Amazon’s prime members purchased more on the website, upwards of 150%, after joining this program and can be relied on to provide as much as 20% of Amazon’s total US sales so far to date.

Let’s consider another brand – Paytm, which has grown dramatically over a short period of time due to their cashback schemes. This is India’s biggest ecommerce platform. It began by offering mobile recharges and utility bill payments using a wallet in which money could be loaded for making payments. When it launched in 2010, Paytm offered 50-60% off online bill payments, which is what made them so successful and popular among the crowd. Then in 2014, they launched their own mobile marketplace, similar to other ecommerce systems. Cashback is the key tool strengthening Paytm’s customer retention strategy, resulting in its ecommerce world domination.

3. Customer service

Apart from profitability, outstanding customer service is crucial for customer satisfaction and customer retention in the retail industry. Having a well-defined customer service strategy in today’s arena can no longer be delayed. Today’s customers are web-savvy, connected, smart and intensely disloyal. They enjoy an increasing array of brand and product choices.
In order to be successful in today’s online business world, online stores must focus on delivering a comprehensive and exceptional customer experience. This is rapidly becoming the differentiator in customer decisions and it must be something that online stores are emphasizing.

Unexpectedly, this is something being unexploited by most online stores today. As essential as customer satisfaction is, businesses just aren’t delivering. Merely one percent of customers state that their expectations are always met. We have learned that the only way to win this battle is to deliver an exceptional customer experience that is as effortless and seamless as possible, while taking on real-time conversations using email, live chat and social media. Consumers appreciate it which results in a more profitable web store.

Customer service is the new battlefield of ecommerce. That’s why big brands have started upgrading their customer service strategies and social users are asking for instant satisfaction. Competition among retailers today is tough and customer expectations have never been so high. A recent Forrester study concluded that 45% of US shoppers will quickly ditch an online transaction if their concerns or queries are not resolved quickly. Zappos, an online retailer, has used extraordinary customer service methods to develop a highly-loyal customer base.

Ecommerce is hotter and more in-demand than ever, but what kind of figures are attached to this exponential growth? Per a recent report by Internet Retailer, ecommerce sales in 2017 are predicted to surpass $434 billion in the US alone. What this means is that more and more people are shopping online today. If you want to sell, you need to be smart. You need customers and those customers are demanding innovative, new products with exceptional quality.

Finally, it’s crucial to keep in mind the straightforward expectations that customers require. They want their demands to be met, on time, and without issue. Frequently optimizing your customer service strategy and making it more effective to ensure that it’s designed perfectly to make things easier for your customers and prospects is one of the best and easiest ways to improve customer satisfaction and develop customer loyalty. Brands that capitalize on this fact are putting themselves a step ahead of the competition and are well on their way towards achieving success in today’s competitive marketplace.
With ecommerce rates increasing each year and becoming such a large part of the economy, a tipping point is fast-awaiting many retailers. Ecommerce in 2016 is set for a major revolution.

People love to shop. People especially love to shop online because of the comfort it gives them to shop where everything is accessible anytime and anywhere. This access is exceptional – and not just for shoppers. Retailers also get 24/7 access to their customers, residing in different corners of the world. As a result, ecommerce has significantly changed the business model and revised the way shoppers approach retail.

When establishing yourself as a trusted, reliable ecommerce platform, making over 10 sales each day, about 60% of your overall efforts should be aimed at customer retention. Retention costs less than acquisition and it boosts profitability. Increasing user retention rates by only five percent can boost profitability by 25% – 95%. According to KISSmetrics, the global average-value of every lost customer is approximately US$243, which is indeed a big hole in a business’ pocket.

Offering only competitive prices are not enough in today’s cutthroat competition world. Today’s customer is smart and savvy and can be expected to focus on a specific store that they can depend and rely on that will also provide them with an awesome shopping experience. For example, a customer will have a better experience when they get a personalised email summarising the latest offers on smartphones that are relevant to their recent search history or if they get rewarded for being a loyal customer for 3 years in a row. Such little reminders flaunt how important and valued the customer is to the brand, which keeps that customer engaged and desiring more.

Over the years, we have seen drastic, revolutionary changes in the ecommerce space and for good reason. Many retailers and manufacturers have easily-appreciated the prospects created by new technology and inventions. The ecommerce world is ever-changing. 2015 saw a record increase in online shopping and some experts have predicted that it will climb by an additional 45% before the end of 2016, surpassing $327 billion in revenue. There are many reasons for this boost in ecommerce sales. Technology development and inventions have resulted in a more-perfect shopping experience, improved engagement and more targeted-marketing campaigns.

Considering all of this, ecommerce giants have taken exceptional care to ensure that their esteemed customers stay connected to them and there are many things we can learn from their initiatives:

1. Habit commerce

The digital commerce industry looks to be promising in the years ahead. The digital landscape has changed drastically over the past few years. The hottest trend soon becomes business as usual. For example, 2013 was the year of Facebook “likes”, 2014 was the year where app downloads dominated the conversation and 2015 was the year of digital wallets, the biggest indicator of upcoming changes in the digital world.

Undoubtedly, 2016 is going to be the year of “habit commerce”, where more and more people become engaged in the habit of online transactions. Habit commerce is steered by the multitude of easy payment methods, use cases, personalized communications and enjoyable delivery services. Using these methods, your business should adapt in order to grow your ecommerce sales.

Gone are the days when a business had to push and compel customers to transact using online methods. As a result of today’s increased internet access and bigger smart phone subscriptions, people nowadays do more browsing and web surfing out of habit. Today’s ecommerce significantly affects consumer behavior. According to a survey by Mobi commerce 50% of respondents agreed to spend 1-3 hours online each day, whether reading, writing blogs or engaged in social media or other sites. 28% of those respondents ended up spending 3-5 hours online and 15% more spent over 5 hours online each day.

Mobile wallets and other related technologies have reinvented the way people shop online. Whether they are directed by other mobile handouts or taken from the phone, these technologies look less like the outdated billfolds they replace.

2. Strategic advertisement

Over the past decade, the internet has significantly-changed how people buy and sell goods and services. ecommerce has transformed the customer’s shopping experience.
Content is the king and indeed the holy grail of engagement. This concept makes great sense – well-written, quality content is educational, entertaining and useful. Similar to marketing strategies, it’s also efficient, cost-effective and a great impact to return on investment (ROI). As a result, 78% of Chief Marketing Officers (CMO’s) believe that personalized content is the future of marketing.

In fact, content is something that an organization can easily and instantly develop. It only takes a small amount of resources to create an informative blog or product user-guide, all you need is to be strategic and thoughtful with respect to your approach.

Today, leading ecommerce companies and other shopping platforms such as Paytm, Amazon and FreeCharge are providing numerous exclusive offers to allure new customers and retain old ones.

Let’s have a look at them…

Amazon is most-likely the first name that comes to mind when thinking about shopping online. The primary reason behind Amazon’s grand success isn’t their large collection of products or low prices, it’s the fact that they are very good at knowing how to improve the customer’s shopping experience to make customers want to come back!

Amazon’s Amazon Prime, the customer-loyalty program offered by Amazon, has significantly grown their sales by 30% at a time of recession when other big retailers were striving hard to keep up in the market. According to analysts, Amazon’s prime members purchased more on the website, upwards of 150%, after joining this program and can be relied on to provide as much as 20% of Amazon’s total US sales so far to date.

Let’s consider another brand – Paytm, which has grown dramatically over a short period of time due to their cashback schemes. This is India’s biggest ecommerce platform. It began by offering mobile recharges and utility bill payments using a wallet in which money could be loaded for making payments. When it launched in 2010, Paytm offered 50-60% off online bill payments, which is what made them so successful and popular among the crowd. Then in 2014, they launched their own mobile marketplace, similar to other ecommerce systems. Cashback is the key tool strengthening Paytm’s customer retention strategy, resulting in its ecommerce world domination.

3. Customer service

Apart from profitability, outstanding customer service is crucial for customer satisfaction and customer retention in the retail industry. Having a well-defined customer service strategy in today’s arena can no longer be delayed. Today’s customers are web-savvy, connected, smart and intensely disloyal. They enjoy an increasing array of brand and product choices.
In order to be successful in today’s online business world, online stores must focus on delivering a comprehensive and exceptional customer experience. This is rapidly becoming the differentiator in customer decisions and it must be something that online stores are emphasizing.

Unexpectedly, this is something being unexploited by most online stores today. As essential as customer satisfaction is, businesses just aren’t delivering. Merely 1% of customers state that their expectations are always met. We at Tagove have learned that the only way to win this battle is to deliver an exceptional customer experience that is as effortless and seamless as possible, while taking on real-time conversations using email, live chat and social media. Consumers appreciate it which results in a more profitable web store.

Customer service is the new battlefield of ecommerce. That’s why big brands have started upgrading their customer service strategies and social users are asking for instant satisfaction. Competition among retailers today is tough and customer expectations have never been so high. A recent Forrester study concluded that 45% of US shoppers will quickly ditch an online transaction if their concerns or queries are not resolved quickly. Zappos, an online retailer, has used extraordinary customer service methods to develop a highly-loyal customer base.

Ecommerce is hotter and more in-demand than ever, but what kind of figures are attached to this exponential growth? Per a recent report by Internet Retailer, ecommerce sales in 2017 are predicted to surpass US$434-billion in the US alone. What this means is that more and more people are shopping online. If you want to sell, you need to be smart. You need customers and those customers are demanding innovative, new products with exceptional quality.

Finally, it’s crucial to keep in mind the straightforward expectations that customers require. They want their demands to be met, on time, and without issue. Frequently optimizing your customer service strategy and making it more effective to ensure that it’s designed perfectly to make things easier for your customers and prospects is one of the best and easiest ways to improve customer satisfaction and develop customer loyalty. Brands that capitalize on this fact are putting themselves a step ahead of the competition and are well on their way towards achieving success in today’s competitive marketplace.