eCommerce

Why eCommerce is on the rise

The global eCommerce sales grew by 20% in 2020 and crossed over $4.2 trillion in market value. Given the COVID-19 situation that’s showing no signs of stopping for the next couple of years, consumers will continue to buy from online eCommerce storefronts because it offers safety, convenience, and offers a better experience than brick-and-mortar shopping.

While several offline retailers pulled down their shutters due to the coronavirus epidemic, retailers who already had an online presence not just continued serving their customers—but saw a steep growth in their business due to lockdowns and curfews.

Besides the pandemic’s impact, the eCommerce industry is organically growing because of new and innovative technologies that online retailers are embracing to enrich customer experience. The growing popularity of mobile and social commerce and the widespread use of voice search, delivery drones, and AR/VR technologies are driving more momentum to help the eCommerce sector grow.

But eCommerce has its challenges

The rapid growth in eCommerce in the past several years has led to some unprecedented challenges that e-retailers had not faced before. The barrier to entry in the eCommerce space has become significantly low—thanks to the myriad of eCommerce enablement platforms like Amazon, Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento making it easy for people to start their own eCommerce business.

This has in turn made eCommerce one of the most competitive business landscapes across the globe. As an example, the cost of customer acquisition in eCommerce is very high while the conversion rate on eCommerce is one of the highest across all industries.

The proliferation of new eCommerce websites also means online stores have to invest more time and money in improving their marketing and increasing sales. To grow steadily, eCommerce sites have to maintain a healthy presence across many channels like desktop, mobile, social media channels, and even offline locations in the form of pop-up shops.

The simple answer to growing your eCommerce

Most problems in eCommerce can be solved by applying a simple solution—by offering a unique, personalized, and seamless customer experience (CX). However, it’s easier said than done.

To overcome the growth problems in eCommerce, you need to start by identifying the right eCommerce platform to build your site on. Although all the major eCommerce platforms offer more or less the same functionalities and benefits, choosing the right one to meet your business requirements is winning half the battle. You need to evaluate the platform in terms of cost, performance, security features, and your unique use cases.

Devising a solid omnichannel eCommerce strategy is often the next step to building a good foundation for your eCommerce store. An omnichannel strategy is a must-have for eCommerce businesses today because you can’t bank on just one platform to fuel your growth.

Research shows that most eCommerce buyers are used to navigating from one channel to another—such as mobile or social media—before they come back to your eCommerce website to make a purchase decision. Therefore, the traditional strategy of investing heavily in SEO to optimize for Google search engine results page falls short in front of the growing number of eCommerce problems.

Your omnichannel eCommerce strategy should also include a well-thought-out marketing plan to build exceptional brand awareness, minimize the new customer acquisition costs, improve conversion rates, overcome cart abandonment rates, and offer a delightful shopping experience.