Businesses around the world are leveraging e-commerce to boost their sales. Statistics reveal that there are approximately 12 million – 24 million e-commerce sites worldwide and their number is only growing by the day. The competition is high and thus businesses need to keep up with the latest techniques and trends to stay in the game. It is important to understand the key factors that affect e-commerce sales and work on them to stay ahead of your competitors.
In this article, we shall acquaint you with the various factors that impact your online sales directly as well as indirectly. The information will help you understand where you lag so that you can improve your strategies and increase profitability.
Product Price
Online shoppers are growing smarter. They compare and contrast the prices of similar products offered by various brands on different e-commerce portals before making a purchase. There are many websites that have exclusively been designed to compare prices of different products. These are also being used extensively. After all, in this era of growing inflation everyone is looking to save a few bucks wherever they can. Thus, you can increase your sales only if you provide products and services at the most competitive prices.
Cash on Delivery Option and Easy Return Policy
When you are new to the business, people may hesitate making the payment before they receive the product. This is why it is important to include cash on delivery options. Lack of it may impact your sales heavily.
You must also have an easy return policy in place so that your consumers have the leverage to reject and return the products they do not like. This will encourage them to make purchases without thinking much.
Shipping Charges and Timely Deliveries
Many online shoppers leave products worth thousands of rupees in their cart just because they notice the shipping charges when they are about to make the purchase. They prefer portals that offer free shipping over those that charge for it.
While it is not possible to waive off the shipping charges every time, however in order to boost sales you should give free shipping wherever possible or at least ensure that the shipping charges are bare minimal. Likewise, it is important to ensure timely delivery of your products. Failure in doing so can lead to a dip in sales. The consumer should also be able to track the shipping.
Blog Writing
Maintaining a blog may seem unnecessary and trivial to many business owners but in reality it plays an important part in increasing business visibility and driving sales. Research shows that a large number of online shoppers make purchases on the basis of recommendations on blogs. It is often seen that businesses that maintain blogs and update it with relevant and interesting information related to their industry as well as their products and services perform better in terms of online selling in comparison to those that neglect this aspect. Thus, if you aren’t maintaining a blog then it is time you start one and load it with information that generates interest and attracts your prospects. Guest blogging is also helpful in this regard.
Social Media
The way you project your brand on social media has a huge impact on your online sales. Social media has become a popular medium to connect with the consumers. You must maintain attractive and interesting social media handles and use them to connect with your prospects as well as your existing customers. It is a great medium to announce discount offers, highlight your products’ key benefits, generate consumer’s interest in your brand and establish a connection with the consumers. You must pay attention to each and every comment on your posts and reply promptly to make your readers feel valued. Address their issues by taking timely actions to build credibility.
Word of Mouth
Maintaining credibility is essential for businesses. Your e-commerce sale can dip if you do not offer good quality products or fail to ensure timely delivery. The kind of after sales services provided by businesses also impacts their sales substantially. This is because by offering poor products/services you wouldn’t just drive away your immediate customers but are likely to get in the bad books of their relatives, friends as well as colleagues. Business owners must understand that consumers have become quite vocal about how they feel about their experience with different brands. Thus, you shouldn’t underestimate the power of word of mouth publicity. It can work in your favour as well as against you depending on the kind of service you provide.
Chatbots
Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular in today’s times. They have given way to conversational marketing. It is seen that e-commerce portals that have chatbots tend to sell more products. Many online shoppers claim that they prefer purchasing products and services from the website’s chatbot. This is because chatbots clarify many of their doubts and àpprehensions regarding the products on offer thereby helping them take quick buying decisions. Thus, spending a few bucks on integrating this technology can help increase your sales. You may seek help from a reputed website designing company in Faridabad to incorporate advanced chatbot.
Performance Measurement
You can work hard all you want but unless you measure your performance you won’t know where you are going and what change needs to be brought about to improve your online sales and overall service. If you do not set measurable goals and ignore measuring your performance regularly then you may be impacting your e-commerce sales badly. Businesses that monitor their online product sales rigorously are better equipped to improve them over time. Those that neglect this aspect often remain clueless about where their business is going and how to improvise.
Thus, we see there are several factors that impact e-commerce sales. Incorporating chatbots, maintaining an interesting blog, offering high quality products and excellent service, monitoring and measuring your performance regularly, providing products and services at competitive rates, ensuring timely delivery of products, waving off the shipping cost, providing easy return policy, giving cash on delivery option and leveraging social media to your advantage are among the top factors that affect online sales of products. Experienced professionals from a trusted website development company in Gurgaon can help in this regard. They can design and maintain an e-commerce portal that takes care of most of these aspects. Meanwhile, as a business owner you must ensure the quality of your products and offer excellent service. If you are missing out on any of these aspects then it is high time you work on them to increase your profit margins and expand your business.
