3 Ways an Ecommerce Strategy Helps You Kick Start Your Sales

If one of your goals for the new year is seeing a boost in your sales, an ecommerce strategy is something you cannot afford to skip. As the ecommerce space continues to grow in South Africa, more online shops are appearing each and every month. Competing in a crowded market is no small feat. How do you ensure that you stand out? Better yet, how do you make sure that you bring in enough sales to hold your own against a sea of similar shops?

For starters, you need to invest in a comprehensive ecommerce strategy that is designed to help you grow not only your presence but also your sales. Let’s take a look at what a strategy does for your bottom line.

How an Ecommerce Strategy Helps You Boost Your Sales

Some of the ways that an ecommerce strategy can take your sales from zero to hero include the following:

1. Attract your ideal customer: In order to kick start your sales, you first need to ensure that you are attracting the right customers. Trying to appeal to everyone is the quickest way to appeal to no one. A catch-all approach almost never works in ecommerce. One of the biggest mistakes made by many online stores is failing to segment, score and target potential leads. Another major mistake is failing to personalise emails and offers. A good strategy will give you the benefit of ideal customer profiles, which in turn will help you find the best way to find customers who are genuinely interested in buying what you are selling.
2. Recover abandoned carts: Once potential customers arrive at your online shop, what are you doing to ensure that they convert into paying customers? How do you convert those leads? Abandoned cart emails are one of a number of strategies that an ecommerce marketing plan may include, helping to target customers before they are lost forever. This strategy works especially well with email personalisation, mobile marketing, and other customer retention strategies that are designed to seal the deal.
3. Increase average order size and value: Finally, the right strategy can also help you increase the average order size and value as well. This is done through personalisation, advanced lead nurturing, up-selling, cross-selling, retargeting, carefully planned discounts, loyalty rewards, package deals, incentives, and various other approaches that are designed to deliver the best possible customer experience.

Without a strategy, it can be all too easy to lose customers through aggressive, poorly planned marketing tactics.

The biggest risk for your bottom line is that a non-cohesive approach can often end up putting customers off, which in turn leads to poor customer experience, reduced retention, decreased sales and minimal conversion. With a well-constructed ecommerce strategy, on the other hand, you can be sure that you are reaching customers in a way that converts far more effectively.