The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the perpetual challenges of e-commerce, but the marketplace proved to be resilient. We are already in 2023, a year when higher customer expectations, challenging international trade, and other related problems are expected to dominate the headlines.
As some brands make record sales in 2023, others will most likely struggle to achieve the desired results. There must be a secret card to e-commerce success that some businesses have discovered. We’ll try to unpack that in the next few minutes.
First, should you be concerned?
As the 2020s progress, there has never been more uncertainty in the e-commerce industry. Apart from the supply chain disruptions caused by the recent pandemic, there are concerns emanating from the entrenchment of NFTs and cryptocurrencies.
While there are more consumers online, businesses and brands usually struggle to improve their e-commerce sales. Yet, increased sales are the goal of a significant number of e-commerce entities as shown by a 2020 survey.
Profitability being a focus for brands, it must not be lost that the e-commerce space is perpetually evolving, and this can be overwhelming for an online business. Businesses will use all manner of strategies –robust marketing, technological interventions, modern e-commerce infrastructure, etc. – but improving e-commerce sales remains one of the top challenges in 2023.
A prominent challenge you will hear from most e-commerce leaders is that of competition from established brands. But there are also concerns related to economic uncertainty, inflation, poor infrastructure, and failure to apply artificial intelligence (AI) or augmented reality (AR) solutions from a reputable provider such as Zolak. The question that lingers is, can an e-commerce business minimize these challenges and improve its sales? So, if your business is yet to conclusively answer this question, you should be worried.
Steps for Improved E-Commerce Sales in 2023
After observing the performance of my e-commerce business for about six months, I discovered several reasons that determine the level of e-commerce sales.
The first one regards web traffic. Executing this strategy well can help improve your e-commerce business immensely. Most online businesses get their traffic from cost-per-click ads, search engine optimization, direct traffic, and social media. Other sources are retargeting and email marketing. If you want the matters to be in your control, perhaps you should focus on email marketing, cost per click, and retargeting.
Making the customer experience remarkable is another area you may want to focus your efforts on. For every business, very few elements if any beat customer experience in terms of enhancing purchases. I can attest that the results of this effort are invaluable. Consider something like word of mouth and all the ripple effects that it can have on sales.
In customer experience, you are looking at all the touchpoints with the customer, not just the customer service. It encompasses the email, websites, phone calls, delivery of items to the customer, and so forth. It pays to invest in resources that leave the customer with memorable experiences.
Such efforts will deliver the competitive advantage every business yearns for. Take, for instance, the fact that the modern online shopper is busy and doesn’t have the time to browse and locate your site. That’s where the idea of a mobile app or mobile-optimized website comes into focus. That way the customer can interact with your business as he walks back to the golf cart after a long day golfing.
Given the stiff competition in the e-commerce marketplace, one undoing that every business should avoid is poor inventory management. Clients of modern times have been accustomed to finding their desired goods 24/7 and receiving their orders within a day or two. So for the sake of your e-commerce sales in 2023, you also want to ensure stock availability. Aim to achieve a decent service level, say at least 95%, to minimize out-of-stock instances so you can improve sales.
Conclusion
As much as the e-commerce industry is changing every day, businesses of all types and sizes can still apply tested tactics for improved e-commerce sales. As long as you have identified what is making your profits margin suffer, there is always something you can do for better e-commerce performance.
If you concentrate on all the experiences of the user from the first visit to all the subsequent engagements, you can improve the engagement and consequently improve your e-commerce sales in 2023.
Which of these strategies for improving e-commerce sales have you tried?