Four Multichannel Strategies For E-Commerce Success
Source: Joe Palko
Joe Palko serves as VP of Public Relations for the international web development company, Americaneagle.com, based in Des Plaines, IL.
A decade ago, when I was selling pet supplies on the web, the greatest challenge was creating an online presence or risk losing out on customers. Today that challenge has evolved, and it is harder than ever to achieve online e-commerce success.
Mobile, for one, is changing the game: Amazon, eBay EBAY -0.29% and other online powerhouses have gained larger market shares, while important new players continue to appear all the time. Having an online presence is just the starting point – you need to connect with customers across a variety of channels, and via numerous platforms, in order to reach them.
In other words, the future of digital retail – all retail, really – is about diversification, both in terms of how you put yourself out there and how you bring people in. You need multichannel strategies that allow you to reach your target audience and leverage the digital advertising opportunities available to generate traffic and increase sales.
So, what are these multichannel strategies exactly?
1. Make Online Marketplaces Work For You
You’ve probably heard by now that Amazon is taking over the world. In 2015, it accounted for 60% of all online sales growth in the U.S. But even with such dominance, it’s not the only online marketplace that is doing very well and selling lots (and I do mean lots) of products.
eBay is still a retail giant with 159 million active buyers, and Walmart is now inviting more merchants to sell on its online marketplace. You should also consider the growing power of industry-specific and area-specific channels. Fashionistas love Polyvore and Lyst. People looking to update the design of their homes are turning in droves to Houzz, while Iguama was specifically created to help U.S. retailers get their products to people in the Latin American market. The newest channel that’s gotten a lot of press lately is Jet.com, a marketplace built to challenge Amazon.
Marketplaces allow merchants to gain massive exposure to a built-in audience of millions in exchange for a commission of product sales. The best online marketplace strategy involves carefully choosing channels based on your target audience, crafting optimized product listings, using powerful, high-quality images and exceeding the marketplaces’ high customer service standards.
2. Invest In CSEs And Paid Search
A large part of the battle for retailers today is simply ensuring customers know that they exist and that they’re selling a particular product. That’s where comparison shopping engines (CSEs) like Google GOOGL +0.49% Shopping, NexTag, Bing and Connexity come in.
If you list your products on these channels, they are much more likely to show up when someone searches for that specific item. And not just on the channel in question: the beauty of creating these types of listings is that people can see them even when merely conducting a simple web search.
Simply listing your items doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to appear at the top of the search results page, but there is a way to ensure that they do, and that’s by using paid search. You can choose to pay so your listing shows up on the first page for certain search terms. The key is to pay attention to your ROI and focus your efforts on the products that are giving you the best return.
3. Try Retargeting Platforms
Did you know that more than 80% of visitors don’t convert? Getting someone to click on your product page is just the start. You need to ensure that the page itself is as good as it can possibly be. This means frequent A/B testing and ongoing keyword research. But there’s another strategy beyond this, and that involves retargeting.
Good retargeting platforms, such as AdRoll , Criteo and Facebook FB -3.32% Dynamic Retargeting, allow you to show ads of a particular item to people who have viewed that item but have not yet purchased it. In other words, it works like a little reminder: “Hey, remember that cool product you looked at? Still interested? It’s just a click away…”
Retargeting is also a great way to maintain engagement with your audience, utilize audience segmentation and refresh your content.
4. Don’t Ignore Mobile Platforms And Shopping Apps
According to eMarketer, 72% of digital ad spend will be on mobile by 2019. Why? Because more and more people use mobile devices to make online purchases.
In fact, mobile e-commerce now makes up 30% of all e-commerce. People who shop using mobile tend to spend twice as much as those who don’t. Even for shoppers who don’t complete their checkout on mobile, it’s important to note that a growing number of them are discovering products on their smartphone, sometimes comparing prices in-store, making it critical for retailers to be mobile-ready.
To gain more mobile traffic, your product listings should be mobile-friendly and be included on major shopping apps, such as ShopSavvy and RedLaser.
How To Manage Your Multichannel Strategies
These four multichannel strategies will enable you to increase brand awareness, diversify ad spend and target likely consumers. Of course, such a multi-pronged marketing endeavor probably seems daunting to implement. After all, each channel has specific prerequisites and template variations. But it doesn’t have to be.
Companies like GoDataFeed and ChannelAdvisor exist to help simplify the process. They assist digital marketers in managing feed campaigns and optimizing product listing ads. These platforms allow retailers to centralize feed campaigns, enhance product content (like titles and descriptions), suppress unprofitable products automatically, and provide insights that indicate opportunities for growth, such as which product lines they should boost bidding on.
By implementing these multichannel strategies, you will reach new consumers and gain greater brand exposure, which translates to more traffic and more sales for your retail business.
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