Guest post by Competera

In 2018, E-Commerce Sales made up almost 12% of global retail sales, and its growth is projected to reach a staggering 17.5% in 2021. As online shopping becomes more popular and widespread, sellers engage in fierce competition for the customer’s attention. Today we are taking a look at must-have e-tailers’ munition to win the battle for traffic and conversion.

There’s a number of reasons why more and more consumers lean toward online shopping, abandoning good old brick-and-mortar.  One of them is the opening hours. Almost two-thirds of shoppers admit they chose e-commerce platforms thanks to their 24/7 availability and, therefore, convenience. Along with other promising figures, that’s definitely good news for those who have a vibe for sales. On the other hand, if they want to buy around the clock, somebody’s got to sell around the clock, which might be challenging without smart technologies by your side. So, here they are.

Omnichannel shopping

Today there’s no alternative to having control over multiple sales channels. According to Harvard Business Review, nearly three-thirds of all the buyers rely on several channels while making decisions about their purchases and finalizing them. Besides, this group of shoppers is willing to spend more than those, who shop via one channel.

Put in other words, an omnichannel strategy is a sheer necessity for e-commerce breakthrough in 2019. Bringing all those eBays, Facebooks and Amazons to the common denominator might seem to be quite a task, but not when there’s an opportunity to synchronize the inventory.

• Example: Magento, a website builder designed specifically for e-commerce stores. It's an ideally suitable platform for running Omnichannel, operating smoothly with the open source easily upgrading according to the development of business, unlimited functions to use, being able to customize for each specific business type.
  
  
  

Referral programs

Referral programs are particularly significant for the market, where referral yields are gaining in weight. According to the study conducted by Referral SaaSquatch, 14% of shoppers who end up on a referral page, do take the next step towards the purchase. Moreover, almost 70% of referred visitors eventually convert into active customers.

Referral marketing has been around for quite a while now, and statistics show that users look for recommendations from people they know almost implicitly. 67% of Americans are more likely to purchase a product which has been shared via social media by their family members or friends. What’s even more interesting, people also eagerly trust reviews of complete strangers, and as many as 88% of American shoppers are eager to be motivated and rewarded for referrals, —  the Ambassador survey says.

Overall, referral pages, floating referral widgets and other sorts of referral campaigns tools can be effectually led through the platform and attract new customers while stimulating and gratifying existing clients.

• Example: Talkable, a platform which has been created to run successful referral programs of different nature.

  
  
  

Personalization & social commerce

The time to personalize customer experience has come. Stats clearly show that consumers look not just for products, but for experiences. However, most companies stick solely to conventional methods of communication, Pure360 study says. In the aftermath, they lost numerous opportunities to engage more active buyers.  The year of 2019 should definitely change that!

While birthday emails or messages with their first names mentioned impressing fewer than 1 in 10 potential customers, almost a half say they will be coming back to the store after a single case of a truly unique and personalized shopping experience.

• Example: Tools such as Qubit or Nosto, highlighting goods that consumers express their interest to, along with those products that shoppers have been looking at themselves.

  
  

Another big part of personalization is to work on social networking services, such as Facebook or Instagram. Clever social media tools effectively engage users in social commerce and make them active participants in brand growth, for instance through galleries which can be accessed from various locations

• Example: Foursixty, an app designed to turn Instagram feeds into a “shoppable” gallery, letting sellers tag different products in all sorts of posts, and polish their brand philosophy.
  
  

Analytics

Even though 2019 demands creativity and unconventional personalized approaches, figures and numbers are still highly important. The quantity of information to gather and analyze is increasing every day, calling for Competitive Analysis and Price Intelligence. Driving sales and managing margins is impossible without tracking, optimizing, and making smart decisions based on sufficient and trustworthy data.

Accomplishing sales goals through analysis and dynamic reprising has become an essential strategy for tech-savvy retailers. To manage the data and successfully apply it into practice, sellers can rely on pricing platforms driven by big data and AI technologies.

• Example: Competera, the pricing platform for a new era of retail, allowing enterprises to remain competitive with giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba and maintain the best shopping experience, brand loyalty, and pricing leadership in the market.
  
  
  

Google tools

Although Google isn’t a novelty and has already become a household name in internet marketing, it’s worth mentioning. Since Google diversified its Shopping instruments not long ago, it remains one of the best choices empowering retailers to accumulate desired clicks and buys.

Google apps for sellers are still among retail must-haves for the year, starting from spreadsheets and presentations – and all the way to Webmaster Tools and Keyword Planner, which can easily reinforce every strategy. Identifying the keywords, observing client searches and filtering between categories can give a broader picture of what’s going on – and upgrade the retailer’s experience.

A variety of tools may look seemingly overwhelming and complicated, but it’s not the thing. All of them are surprisingly easy to discover and explore. Besides, these instruments are designed to make the retailer’s life brighter and less stressful by virtue of automation and user-friendliness.