E commerce is an industry that is continuously growing. As per Forrester Research, e commerce sales in the US will keep growing at 10% growth rate with a total retail sale reaching upto $250 Billion by 2014. It is expected that US e-commerce sales could top $434 Billion in 2017. As per recent findings, the global B2C e-commerce sales will be USD 1.5 Trillion in 2014.
Though millions of e commerce sites are out there in the web, thousands of newer sites emerge each day giving tough competition with other sites. The success of the e-commerce solutions depends upon the marketing strategy adopted. The percent of unique daily visitors (conversion rate) decide upon the actual sales happening on the website. Normally the conversion rate ranges from 0.5% to 15%, where a successful e-commerce site should have a minimum of 2% to 5% of conversion rate.
The source which brings in traffic to the website is the main focus for the success of the online shop. Plenty of promotional activities like email promotion, campaign, affiliate marketing etc helps to bring in traffic. Some of the most contributing factors that help to increase the sales via attracting good traffic include group buying deals, auction, loyalty, Pinterest, Facebook, videos, Infographics, branding etc.
1) Affiliate marketing: A fixed percentage of amount is provided to the affiliate site when it captures and sends traffic to the online store. Promotional discounts can be provided for certain affiliates. Sales via affiliates can be monitored via Google Analytics.
2) Campaign management: Running campaign for specific period can bring in more informed customers. The customer navigation across the site can be viewed and the number of repeat customer can be focused.
3) Pay-per-click: This is a quicker way to attract traffic into the site. One should be clear in selecting the right keyword for promoting the product or service. People click the words to get directed into the site, and you have to pay for running the adwords. If there is atleast 2% conversion, it is expected that remaining 98% can be converted with re-targeting the focused customers.
4) Loyalty programs: Announcing loyalty programs can convert visitors into regular customers. Infact loyal customers spend more. By offering points on every purchase, the probability of repeat shopper is increased. By rewarding the customers, e store can ensure that he returns again for purchasing.
5) Group buying deals: The value of ecommerce solutions are increased with the introduction of group deals which attracts more customers to the site. People get impressed with the huge discounts and tend to choose group buying to make a purchase at cheaper rate. This is a win-win situation where the site earns more traffic and sales while the customers enjoy discounts.
6) Facebook: This is the fastest growing network, and promoting your products via Facebook can reach more customers quickly and effectively.
7) Pinterest: This 3rd most popular social site provides pin boards for ideas, holidays, jewels, fashion and much more which is linked with e-commerce site. It motivates and inspires the users to make an in-direct sale.
8) Auction: When a customer gets an opportunity to buy a product cheaper by using auction option then they tend to use the site again and again. Infact they can choose either to buy directly as in shopping cart or participate in auction which increases the sales on the site.
9) Infographics: The features of the product can be explained via visual data which can act like an introduction to shopping trend to promote sales and increase media presence.
10) Brands: Establishing brand names can contribute highly for increasing sales revenue.