In 2020, people shopped online by the billions. As more and more people flock online platforms to shop, it’s clear that the e-commerce sector will become more competitive in 2021. If you want to retain your market share or even boost your sales exponentially, you’ll have to do things differently. Lucky for you, I have five critical tips to give you a head start over everyone else and have a successful e-commerce business in 2021.
Start investing (more) in disruptive technology
It’s now clear that something new keeps appearing and disrupting the way we engage with our prospects and sell. The business owners who always win are the ones who adopt these technologies early. For instance, companies that started using Instagram as soon as it was released have profited from their followers massively. TikTok is another example that underwent the same boom two years ago.
You therefore need to be on the lookout for disruptive technologies that have the potential of impacting your sector. Grab any opportunity you get to be an early adopter. Although disruptive technologies may not change the e-commerce market in the way you hope, they can still be excellent means to relate with your audience. The faster you appreciate the medium and learn how to monetize it for your own benefit, the faster you’ll reap massive rewards.
As e-commerce rises, competition is becoming stiff. Soon, the influx of numbers will change how the game is played. If you want to survive and thrive, you have to appreciate and employ dynamic pricing, which refers to changing prices quickly in a given channel with the aim of undercutting your competitors.
The good news is that there are many automatic repricer tools that you can use to conduct dynamic pricing. These tools will monitor your competitors and change your prices based on what they find. If your competitors start offering services or products at higher prices, you’ll be able to maximize your profits by adjusting their prices, based on your prospects’ shopping patterns.
Focus on your current customers
As more and more customers shift from offline to online stores, businesses that will be able to retain their customers will be the successful ones. As an e-commerce business owner, it’s possible that you’ll find customer acquisition quite a headache. This is because you’ll have to invest a lot of time and money trying to get fresh leads and traffic, with the end goal being trying to get a few of your prospects to try your service.
That’s not easy.
Thankfully, research has shown us that repeat customers are likely to spend 67% more on a website, and they have a conversion rate of up to 20%. To get started, review your customers’ feedback to improve the quality of your service or products accordingly. Amazon has been incredibly successful because it focuses a lot on boosting customer experience. Find out what your customers say and create excellent customer service. Perhaps your customers want a white glove delivery service? If so, you need to update your ecommerce logistics accordingly.
In 2021, your e-commerce website has to be flexible. One of the best ways of doing that is adding the emerging payment options. Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are quickly emerging as new forms of payments, and leading platforms such as PayPal are embracing these methods to boost their business.
There is clearly a large demographic that uses cryptocurrencies to make their online purchases, and these people are heading to stores that can accommodate crypto payment options.
You can also increase your customer base by incorporating these currencies and other popularly used payment options you don’t already have.
Consider recommerce
Also known as thrift or resale, recommerce simply means selling previously owned products. According to a 2020 report, by 2024, online resale will grow by 414% (from 2019). Resale grew tremendously in 2020, and experts attribute the growth to the pandemic, which led to consumers adopting a thrifty practice to save. As an online retailer, all you need is set reasonable prices to have an edge in the thrift e-commerce sector.
Final Thoughts
It’s not difficult to boost your e-commerce business in 2021 and become more profitable. Start implementing these tips today to achieve your goals in no time.
