The Rise of E-shoppers
Well, one of those e-shoppers is me, and once you get bitten by the e-shopping bug – you are hooked on for life! Yes! With the Internet today, providing a plethora of online shopping sites, that offer apparels, electronic gadgets, furniture and even grocery- it has become the greatest virtual mall invented ever. And while I write this article, you will find a thousand shoppers online trying to buy something off the shelf at their convenience and price. Yes! Convenience is what lures everyone today -with an increasingly hectic lifestyle and even longer working hours, leaving lesser and lesser time for any personal tasks. E-shopping allows you to shop for your needs at the click of the button, at the convenience of your home or work (during that coffee break) and at the time you want! So let’s look at the other benefits that one can get from online shopping: Choices, choices and more choices – If you think that a mall can offer you a wide range of choices, think again! Your online stores have much more to offer! For example, fashion and lifestyle ecommerce portals like Jabong or Myntra provide you with the option to browse through a number of catalogs, with clear filters on the price range, size, color, material etc., adding to the user friendliness of these sites. So you just get enough exercise for your wrists and eyes and can sit comfortably in your chair or sofa at home, while you pick your items at your leisure. Pay as you like – What online shopping also offers is the various modes of payment. While actual shopping provides you with either card/cash payment or payment through gift cards, online shopping allows you do all this and much more. You can avail the number of discounts and offers that they provide, or pay on delivery of your purchased items at your doorstep. Online supermarkets like Zopnow do just that. They offer you a number of discounts, loyalty points and deliver all the items to your house at the time you choose. So you get your grocery shopping done at the comfort of your home, and not spend even a second walking through each block, getting pushed by other shoppers, finding your way through each shelf for the food items you want, or even carry those heavy bags till your house! Phew! That’s a lot of work! Affordable, and pocket friendly – With an increasing number of e-commerce portals offering the same things, most e-commerce portals today, try to get a competitive edge by offering discounts and offers. This allows the consumers to compare and buy stuff that’s fits their budget, and a lot cheaper
than what you get in actual stores. Save time and effort for all your personal tasks – You Don’t need to catch a bus or auto; stand in long queues; get squashed in crowded malls or hypermarkets, or spend all your time searching for things. Online shopping gives you loads of time to do the things that actually require your time and effort – like reading that book, or catching up with friends, making more time for family, or even watching all that missed episodes of your favorite sitcom or soap! Now if you ask me – how can you purchase without looking at the product first and feel it in real? I have only one thing to say- Most savvy e-tailers have overcome this barrier in various ways. Many online fashion sites provide interactive catwalks, product description, advanced zoom facilities, view from multiple angles and even hover boxes. Some even incentivise through a wide range of online options such as exclusive items and also provide convenient delivery and return options- and some even free shipping! A recent Online Shopper Survey conducted by the data analysis firm comScore, reveals that 70 percent of more than 3000 online shoppers surveyed, preferred online shopping. What’s more – By 2017, eMarketer estimates that one-fourth of online sales will be mobile-based as people conduct more of their lives on smartphones and tablets. The spread of tablets in particular will drive mobile commerce; and by 2017, nearly three-fourths of mobile retail sales will be done on tablets, with 125 million people using them to make purchases. But with so many e-commerce portals offering the same things, how does one gain a competitive edge? Staying ahead of competition requires action across multiple aspects – product portfolio, operations, marketing, customer service etc., and all of these need to work in tandem to achieve the desired outcome. Here are few ways that will give a head start in the race Product offerings- Offering a wide range of products, can gather more audiences. But then again, most of them already do. So, how about catering to the needs of a specific audience – becoming a specialist in your offerings? Your store could then become “THE” place to buy that particular product. Also quality is of utmost importance for any online purchase. Be sure to nail that! Ensuring you are never out of stock – Ever wanted to buy a product really bad and found it out to be temporarily out of stock? Well, that’s one customer lost! So you need to have an inventory system that never runs out of stock, gaining an advantage over other online stores that do. But, even if you do run out of stock, you could also set up a notification for your customers on the availability of the product and throw in a gift coupon or discount if they signed up for notification. You will have a happy customer who is sure to come back. The right price- Offering lower prices can provide incentive for your customers to purchase from your online store. But what you also need to do is give them full information on pricing, as consumers today are more informed and would have done their background check before stumbling upon your website. Free shipping- Shipping is one of the most important things that needs to be executed properly for future sales. Providing your customers with carefully packaged and free shipping creates that competitive edge. Get ranked higher- Getting found is another important factor when consumers are looking for products they want to buy online. This is where SEO comes into play, helping you get you ranked
higher and improving your website traffic that can convert into sales. User-friendly website- Making your site easy to use can work wonders. While this is basic, most companies forego the basic for some fancy design. So make sure it’s easy to find stuff on your site, with logical grouping of products. Provide plenty of information and accurate description of your products. Make your order system easy with lesser steps to fill, and provide multiple payment options. Send out regular, personalized newsletters with useful information to your customers. Also make sure you are easy to reach out to, and that there are multiple ways in which you can be contacted. And last, but not the least, try getting an mobile app for your website! Guarantee policies- You can gain competitive advantage online through customer-oriented return policies, on-time shipping guarantees and service results. Friendly staff- A friendly customer support system is also important to cater to the needs of customers. Prompt and friendly replies go a long way to keeping an aggrieved customer. Brand image – Getting the brand equity of a Nike or Coca Cola is not an easy job. But it’s not impossible. You can get your customers to talk as much about you on forums, reviews, and blogs. Harness the power of word of mouth and viral marketing to allow your customers to become your brand ambassadors. So now that we’ve talked about all the advantages that online shopping offers, and what marketers could do to gain a competitive edge, it’s time, you try out some e-tail therapy for yourself! Trust me! You will be amazed at the extra time you get! And to all the marketers out there, you could try a tip or two to gain a loyal customer base. Also see more info @ http://www.prayag.com/blogs