A Brief Overview on eCommerce Marketing Tactics

What is eCommerce?

eCommerce can be defined as a collection of online business activities dealing with products and services. eCommerce uses electronic communication and digital information to transform and redefine relationships between organizations and individuals. From its emergence in the early 1990’s, eCommerce has almost become a necessity for companies to carry out a successful business. The most prominent examples are Amazon and eBay, which are world leaders in this sector.

How to Do Marketing of eCommerce Website?

eCommerce has been a major turning point in how organizations conduct their business operations, but investing in the wrong marketing agency will not serve any purpose and, in turn, can result in losses. Thus, a good marketing agency with prior experience in this sector can go about it the right way. Below are four marketing tactics that can help eCommerce websites reach their desired customer base.

1. Using Social Media: The impact of social media on our lives is huge, so it can be said that it will have a major impact on the purchasing decisions of consumers. Although the return on investment will not be readily realized in the short run, it is an integral part of any modern marketing campaign. There are many methods of using social media to a marketer’s advantage, but it all depends on the platform selected. The most famous ones are Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter. Content pertaining to industry related news or current market trends can be used to attract customers’ attention. Apart from this information, the content can also carry links to the website or even feature a product, but it should be done subtly in a properly integrated way.

2. Using a Press Release: A Press Release or PR can be used to generate attention around a brand or website. PRs can be used in newspapers, TV ads, and even in popular blogs to build a good reputation amongst the target audience. Perhaps the most used medium is through blogs, where bloggers can release company related content, or review its products for a better customer engagement.

3. Using Radio as an Advertisement Medium: Using Radio advertising to increase eCommerce sales is often overlooked by marketers, but they have a definite advantage. Getting a slot for a radio ad is comparatively cheaper than other forms of advertisement media. Although it’s not profitable all year round, it can be used to its maximum advantage if the timing is right. Getting the right time slot for your advertisements and the quality of content can ensure maximum exposure.

4. Selling through Multiple Channels: eCommerce websites can market themselves by taking advantage of multiple platforms. Using platforms like Amazon or eBay can be effective. Business cards or discount codes can be attached, along with promotional flyers, to further attract the customers. Most of the time, this results in the direct purchase of products from the business.

The Advantages of eCommerce Marketing

The advantages of using eCommerce marketing services are plenty. The major points are highlighted below.

• Availability through Search Engines: Using Search Engines can be advantageous to both the customers and the marketer. The customers can search for specific products much easier using search engines, which is not possible in a physical store. For marketers, it can result in an increased exposure with the use of Search Engine Optimization. By ensuring that the website shows up on the first page of a search result, the resultant exposure is huge, which in turn, increases the profitability of the business.
• It Reduces the Cost of Maintenance: Probably the most obvious advantage of using an eCommerce website is that it does away with the need of maintenance of inventories. Physical stores have to be maintained. Maintaining inventory and the infrastructure of stores can be costly. eCommerce websites do not have such extra expenses and thus, it is reflected on the price per product offered.
• Maintains a List of Customer Trends: There’s no denying the fact that knowledge about one’s customer base is of paramount importance in the current market situations. Although physical stores can maintain records of past purchases, it’s time consuming and laborious. However, in the case of eCommerce websites, a record of past purchasing activities of each customer is easily maintained. This information is of paramount importance for analyzing and assessing customer needs.

Start-up eCommerce businesses require to hire eCommerce experts to manage and market their portal. Though eCommerce marketing tactics require multi-level marketing expertise, it is always advisable to begin with the professional consulting firms to minimizes the risk of online business investment.

eCommerce marketing services have opened up new avenues for all types of online businesses. Even if they cannot compete with industry giants like Amazon and eBay, they can start trading within a matter of moments. eCommerce has proved to be vital for the growth of small-scale businesses, and in helping them continue to thrive, even amongst large retailers.