ecommerce

Pinterest Rolls Out New Shopping And Commerce Features For Merchants

Pinterest rolled out new merchant features, including product tagging on Pins and a Pinterest API for Shopping. The company says all of the new features are designed to make it easier for merchants to create engaging shopping experiences for users.

New Pinterest products include a Shopping API that integrates a brand’s product catalog and creative ads and generates eCommerce analytics. Pinterest offers merchants an array of features, including tagging products in posts, uploading short videos to catalogs (inspired by YouTube’s shopping-related reviews), and a Shop tab. Jeremy King, SVP of Engineering at Pinterest said,

“In 2021, the number of Pinners engaging with shopping surfaces on Pinterest grew over 215%, and 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase. The new shopping features such as the API for Shopping allows brands and retailers to reach high-intent Pinners during the earliest stage of their shopping journey with the most updated catalog data.”

Interesting Read: Pinterest TV: Another Pinterest Attempt To Monetize Creators’ Efforts

The Pinterest API for Shopping

Merchant can access catalog and product metadata management that will enable more efficient improved data quality for merchant products. Pinterest claims the tool shows a 97% accuracy level for price and availability data.

Product Tagging on Pins

Merchants can make their lifestyle Pins shoppable. They can add products from their catalog to their scene images. Pinners can shop for the exact items from the inspiring imagery they find. The initial tests showed that Pinners showed 70% higher shopping intent on product Pins tagged in scene/brand images than standalone product Pins.

Video in Catalog

Pinterest is enabling video assets in their product catalog to give Pinners a view of the product from multiple angles when making a purchase decision and driving conversions. They have witnessed promising results from video-like ad formats vs. static formats (increased CTR by 158%, lowered CPC by 42%, lowered CPA by 58%) on the platform.

Shop Tab on Business Profiles

Merchants can display shoppable products browsing Pinners. 30% of Shopify merchants on Pinterest get their first attributed checkout from their Shop tab. It allows product group management, customized group cover image, and descriptions as well as a seamless mobile interface.

As of now, Pinterest isn’t transitioning into a shopping platform. With the integration with Shopify, that owns the payment data, Pinterest sends organic traffic to retailers and merchants’ websites or enables add-to-cart and direct payments. Pinterest affiliate fees can be collected by creators (“pinners”) in conjunction with the sales they drive through their in-image product tags.

Other than the Shopify partnership – which has become a standard integration for social media players – Pinterest, and the market as a whole, show many encouraging signs for the company’s commerce goals.

Interesting Read: Pinterest TV: Pinterest Rolls Out Suite Of Commerce-Friendly Features For Advertisers

Pinterest Adds New Checkout Feature To Drive More Brand Sales

Pinterest forays deeper into eCommerce with new shopping features at its annual advertising summit. The image-sharing site introduced direct in-app checkout and a new personalized recommendations feature. 

Read more: Pinterest TV : Another Pinterest Attempt To Monetize Creators’ Efforts

Pinterest Check out- The in-app checkout feature is presently in beta. It provides users the ability to purchase within the Pinterest app. This is available only to some Shopify sellers in the U.S. However, Pinterest plans to provide access to the other U.S based Shopify retailers this year.

Additionally, Pinterest plans to introduce a new application programming interface (API) for shopping. It will make the uploading of product catalogs and listing easier for the retailers.

Your Shop-  It is termed as a “personal shopping concierge, powered by a taste-driven algorithm”. The newly announced “Your Shop” feature is a recommendations engine that provides users personalized shopping pages, It suggests products, brands, and creators to users based on their activities and preferences.

Your Shop is also currently in beta,  with plans to launch to the U.S pinners later this year with other extra nations.

Pinterest Trends- A Pinterest tool for analysis and insights. It helps businesses to understand real-time search data, more trend types, more granular audience tools, and personalized trend recommendations. The feature is available to businesses in the U.S, the U.K, and Canada, with plans to launch globally.

Earlier this year, Pinterest added the augmented reality feature “Try on For Home Decor”. It allows users to evaluate and check home decor options virtually before buying them.

Read More: Pinterest Rolls Out Suite Of Commerce-Friendly Features For Advertisers

What to know: Eventually, Pinterest users will be able to complete transactions without leaving the app, which can speed up the conversion process and lower friction. With Your Shop feature, Pinterest is competing with Instagram’s shopping tab. Pinterest can become a more compelling shopping destination with these retail-oriented features, giving merchants more ways to reach customers

 

Best Buy Expands Advertising Business

Owing to the growing demand and eventual spending on technology and consumer electronics, Best Buy’s revenue has seen a substantial soar in the last year. Best Buy Ads is a new iteration of the company’s in-house media business that provides additional services and a greater reach for businesses wishing to interact with customers.

Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, said – 

“Best Buy’s relevance, customer relationship, and first-party data have grown along with customers’ technology needs and our ability to meet those needs. These are all great examples of value we can provide to our vendor partners that many other retailers cannot.”

During the pandemic, the rise in eCommerce equipped Best Buy with a wealth of data on buyer preferences and behavior.

Best Buy can run advertising on other publisher sites in addition to its own media holdings, such as its app, website, or a row of television screens in a physical store. Brands who want to work with the store for advertising purposes don’t have to sell their products or services via them.

Best Buy’s chief marketing officer, Frank Crowson, noted that the business’s expertise of shoppers who are drawn to technology helps the company generate audiences of consumers who are interested in things like movies, gaming, and cooking.

Snapchat Advertising: New Multi-format Ad Delivery To Increase Reach

Snapchat globally rolls out an industry-first offering, ‘Multi-format delivery’, enabling advertisers to buy multiple ad formats in a single integrated ad set. It allows advertisers to optimize their campaigns toward their key objectives. 

Multi-Format delivery supports all types of video ads, including Collection Ads, Commercials, and Snap Ads, and Story Ads. Snap plans on introducing self-serve augmented reality formats by the second quarter of 2022 for multi-format delivery. By doing so, it will help Snap introduce augmented reality advertising to more marketers.

Interesting Read: Mediabrands and Snap Inc Collaborates For A Mobile Video Measurement

Embrace The Machine Learning  System

This multi-format delivery option is intended to help advertisers be more flexible with campaign setup, so Snap’s Auctions can handle the optimization-related work. As part of a set, Snap determines the best inventory to deliver across all formats.

As quoted by Adexchanger, Peter Naylor, Snap VP of sales for America said,

“When we allow machine learning to do its thing, we’re opening the aperture of possible inventory where an ad can run. It might be somewhere a brand hadn’t even conceived of before.”

Advertisers should not resist giving up manual control over the bidding and embrace the system to see the outcome for effective pricing.

Interesting Read: Snapchat Sees a 20% Plummet In Revenue Due To Apple’s Privacy Changes!

How Does It Work?

Within Snap Ads’ set up, a new ‘Multiple Formats Ad Set’ option will enable advertisers to bundle various creative options for placement across Snap’s suite of apps. It will enable advertisers to evaluate the efficiency of each format and assess its contribution to the success of their campaign.

 

A Snap ad set with multi-format delivery closely resembles a Facebook ad set: a collection of ads with similar settings for how, when, and where to show them. It will bring something new to the table, though when Snap will begin offering AR formats ad sets next year.

As reported by Adexchanger, Naylor said, 

“This is going to unlock augmented reality for advertisers and show them that they can use it to accelerate their results in combination with everything else.”

He further added,

“Once we let machine learning reveal where the best inventory is against their goals, target or bids, they can focus more on the creative itself.”

Also Read: The Ultimate A-Z Glossary Of Digital Advertising!

Pinterest Rolls Out Suite Of Commerce-Friendly Features For Advertisers

Pinterest launched new commerce-friendly features for advertisers and brands to promote their products. In this latest initiative, the company aims to expand online shopping and advertising on its platform.

Pinterest continues to grow big in social commerce. It added many shopping-focused features such as a new twist to shoppable ads, merchant details, and Idea Ads with paid partnerships to name a few. 

What Do These New Features Offer The Shoppers and Advertisers?

Pinterest’s latest step comes as no surprise! The digital pinboard company positions itself as an inspiration tool that eventually leads to online purchases. Here’s more about the new shopping features.

Twist To Shoppable Ads:

Brands can upload their product catalog and Pinterest will automatically pull the items into a slideshow advertisement via Slideshow For Collections. This feature will help advertisers create shoppable videos tailored to individual users based on their interests.

According to the company, Pinterest shoppers have 85% larger baskets than shoppers through other social media platforms. Additionally, they spend twice as much per month. Consequently, buyers can browse more than one product at a time using Slideshare, which encourages them to purchase additional products.

Interesting Read: LinkedIn Rolls Out New Features – All Marketers Assemble!

Merchant Details

Another feature is called ‘Merchant details’ where brands are allowed to feature their brand values on their profile such as “responsibly sourced”, and “inclusive.” They can also showcase the community affiliations like “Black-owned” or “Women-owned”.

Idea Ads with paid partnership

Pinterest is testing the new feature “Idea Ads with the paid partnership”. It is a joint partnership between a creator and a brand. The creator makes an idea pin and tags a brand partner. The brand can then promote the idea as an ad via the paid partnership feature.

(Note: Pinterest is testing this feature in 15 countries with selective creators and is not shoppable yet.)

Verified Merchant Program

The company is expanding its Verified Merchant Program to other countries where users can find their vetted brands. Sellers under this program are allowed to showcase their brand values and community affiliations like ‘eco-friendly”, “disability-owned” and likewise.

That’s What They Said!

In their blog post, the company said,

“People who use Pinterest weekly are 7x more likely to say it’s the most influential platform in their purchase journey, compared to social media platforms. That’s why, as of today, we’re dramatically expanding our suite of shopping solutions for advertisers.”

Related Read: Pinterest Report BlockBuster Q3 Earnings As Brand Advertising Rebounds

Difference Between Buying And Shopping

Pinterest is the latest to join the bandwagon with other platforms like Facebook, Snap, and TikTok to launch new shopping features. The online eCommerce market is booming and lucrative and the tech giants are competing with in-app shopping or virtual clothing try-outs.

What distinguishes Pinterest from other platforms is the focus on discovery and latent intent then facilitating the transaction. 97% of billions of searches on Pinterest are for products not belonging to any specific brand. This gives retailers a chance to reach out to users before they decide what to purchase. Attracting those prospects is the difference between “buying” and “shopping”.    

As quoted by Ad Exchanger, Pinterest CRO Jon Kaplan said, buying is purely transactional, whereas shopping is part of an experience. She added, that they are trying to bring the missing joy and inspiration into the shopping experience.

“These are things that are missing from the digital economy right now because so much of eCommerce is focused on purchases and transactions.”

Also Read: The New World Of TikTok Marketing, Everything You Need To Know!

Taboola Acquires Connexity, A Global Leader In E-Commerce Media

Taboola, the content recommendation company, announced it has completed the acquisition of Connexity. The total consideration of the transaction is $800 million consisting of approximately $590 million in cash and $210 million in Taboola stock. 

Connexity is one of the largest independent e-Commerce media platforms in the open web, and the acquisition brings 1,600 direct merchants, and 6,000 publishers including Walmart, Wayfair, Skechers, Macy’s, eBay to Taboola. The acquisition will enable merchants and advertisers to reach new clients through Taboola on the open web and an alternative to the industry’s walled gardens. Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, said,

Ecommerce is the future of the open web, consumers will be buying outside of Amazon, on publishers’ sites next to trusted editorial content a lot more than they are today. Amazon has millions of merchants, but merchants mainly have Amazon. That changes today. Combining Taboola and Connexity’s technologies is one step forward in creating an alternative to walled gardens

Similar News: Taboola And Double Verify Partners For Brand Safety

Taboola and Connexity are uniquely positioned to drive growth and diversify their revenue mix as well as helping merchants and advertisers- all capitalizing on the significant growth potential. Adam Singolda explained, 

At a time when, according to eMarketer, over 60% of U.S. publishers are turning to e-commerce as a top revenue source, I believe every publisher is going to develop an e-commerce strategy. With Taboola and Connexity, publishers will get instant access to an innovative technology connecting readers with products, which capitalizes on where consumers spend a large part of their day–reading trusted news online

Another benefit to merchants and advertisers would be Taboola offering Connexity e-commerce solutions across the former’s vast network of more than 9,000 digital properties that reach 500 million daily active users. With Connexity’s offering integrated with Taboola’s network, publishers will have a new way to drive revenues, It will scale up customer acquisition by placing products on the stories that consumers are reading.

Similar News: Advertising On Taboola: An Efficient Tool For Advertisers

Connexity Solutions For Publishers And Merchants

Merchant Solution:

–Publisher Network: Connexity core technology powers customer acquisition for merchants like Walmart, Skechers, or Michael Kors on the open web via its extensive publishers’ network and custom-built search platform integrations. Connexity enables more than 750 million product offerings on its shopping intent network, driving more than 1 million monthly transactions for its advertisers.

–Social Influencers: Merchants can reach out to social influencers. Brands like Forever 21, and Wayfair leverage this opportunity to drive customer engagement when social influencers promote their products on their social media post. 

Publisher Solution:

– Shopping Section: Connexity allows publishers to build their own shopping section using contextual signals. Brands like CNET and Brand Reviews are using this offering to build their own customized eCommerce section and connect buyers to the products they love.

– Commerce Content Platform: This enables publishers to integrate their products automatically into their editorial content, which will give the readers an opportunity to instantly buy products based on the article they are reading. Publishers including Condé Nast, Hello! Magazine, and News Corp Australia to name a few, are scaling their e-commerce business.

Recent acquisition deals also signal the maturation of ad tech with the rapid public listing of companies and using the resulting funds to grow in an inorganic way.

Twitter Enters into eCommerce, Tests ‘Shop Module’ Feature For iOs Users

Twitter enters a robust social media eCommerce market and unveiled the pilot of the Shop Module in the U.S. It allows the user to directly shop the products from a business profile without leaving the Twitter app.

Twitter explained in its blog post,

“The Shop Module is a dedicated space at the top of a profile where businesses can showcase their products. When people visit a profile with the Shop Module enabled, they can scroll through the carousel of products and tap through on a single product to learn more and purchase – seamlessly in an in-app browser, without having to leave Twitter.”

US Twitter users can scroll through the carousel of products on their Apple devices. They can tap through a single product and learn more about it and decide whether to buy or not. The company further added,

“With this pilot, we’ll get to explore how our engaged, responsive and chatty audience reacts to products that are emotionally charged — like a new jersey from your favorite sports team — or that provide lasting impact — like a new skincare regimen. And, fundamentally, it’ll give us the chance to keep learning about which shopping experiences people prefer on Twitter.”

It is not surprising that Twitter is also jumping the bandwagon with Facebook Marketplace, TikTok, Whatsapp, and Instagram being big competitors. As quoted by Business Insider, Twitter’s Revenue Product Lead Bruce Falck said,

“We know people come to Twitter to interact with brands and discuss their favorite products. Imagine easily discovering, and quickly purchasing a new skincare product or trendy sneaker from a brand you follow with only a few clicks.”

Even though Twitter said that they are in early explorations but significant opportunities lie ahead. With Shop Module, the social media giant intends to capitalize on the booming social commerce market that grew rapidly during the coronavirus pandemic. Twitter is initially testing with a handful of brands before making any decision of a broader rollout. Stay Tuned, we will keep you updated on the progress.

TikTok To Move Into Social Commerce Game, Partners With Shopify

Highlights:

• TikTok is investing in a social eCommerce platform with an announcement of a global partnership with Shopify.

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• The deal will help Shopify’s 1 million merchants to advertise their products to TikTok’s younger audience and drive sales.

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• Shopify merchants will be able to sell products in the form of shoppable ads whereas TikTok users can click on an ad to buy the tagged products.

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• All transactions will be executed via Shopify’s site.

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TikTok announced a global partnership with the Canadian eCommerce platform Shopify to help brands and merchants advertise their products through shoppable videos. Through the new partnership, Shopify’s one million merchants will be able to create and connect their TikTok For Business account and turn their existing imagery into videos for ‘shoppable ads’. Purchases are executed on the Shopify platform and hence the transaction data and customer data remain with the retailer than TikTok. 

Despite the White House executive order of the sale unknown, business operations for TikTok are as usual and continue to grow. This integration will help to create new avenues of income for TikTok creators apart from influencer partnerships. TikTok’s partnership with Shopify is a significant step by the video-sharing app to widen its nascent advertising ecosystem. 

Run It Using Shopify Dashboard

As per TikTok, through the new TikTok channel, Shopify merchants can access core functions of the TikTok For Business Ads Manager without leaving the Shopify dashboard. Highlights include:

 

Image Credit: Shopify

• New, “1-click” pixel: Shopify merchants can install or connect their TikTok Pixel with a click of a button, making it quicker and easier to track conversions.

• A One-Stop-Shop for TikTok Campaigns: Merchants can create campaigns, target audiences, and track performance in one place.

• Creative Made Simple: The ad tools enable Shopify merchants to create native, shareable content into in-feed video ads that resonate with the community. 

• Free Ad Credit: For enticement, eligible Shopify merchants can claim a $300 ad credit to jumpstart their first TikTok campaign.

 

Expansion Of Other Shopping Features

Blake Chandlee, Vice President, Global Business Solutions at TikTok said,

“As social commerce proliferates, retailers are recognizing that TikTok’s creative and highly engaged community sets it apart from other platforms. We’re constantly exploring new and innovative ways to connect brands with our users, and Shopify is the perfect partner to help us grow and expand our commerce capabilities globally.”

TikTok is planning to test new in-app features that will let users discover Shopify merchants’ products and shop them directly within the app. The new features could be similar to the product tags that TikTok has been testing with some brands. 

The two companies will collaborate to test new commerce features in the coming months. However, no financial details are revealed about the tie-up by the companies.

Satish Kanwar, VP of Product at Shopify said, 

“We’re thrilled to be the first partner to welcome TikTok to the world of commerce, particularly right now, as our merchants prepare for a busy online holiday shopping season.”

Will Walmart Be Able To Ink The Deal With TikTok?

Walmart has been interested in investing in TikTok to enhance its advertising strategy and enhance merchant traffic. However, the talks remain shrouded amidst political uncertainty. Even though the possible ban on TikTok is yet to go into effect, the collaboration between TikTok and Shopify might sign that it is not a major threat. For Shopify, the TikTok deal is more lucrative for the U.S markets.

TikTok has been steadily ramping its tools for merchants and brands in recent months. It introduced a self-serve advertising platform to help small businesses broader reach. It also debuted a marketing program with approved providers of advertising service to support brands in creating, executing, measuring, and boosting their ad campaigns. Meanwhile, in August it tested its first shoppable live stream with Ntwrk. TikTok has been trying to grow its revenue opportunities and advertiser base.

If it plays the cards the right way, TikTok can emerge as a powerful e-commerce engine. This is one of the main reasons for Walmart’s keen interest in buying a stake in the video-sharing app. As per Tik Tok, half of the users indicated that they discover new products through advertisements posted by a product or brand in the app. Such a high level of engagement is beneficial for merchants who are looking to reach the millennial generation whose spending power is high.

TikTok reports that the new channel for Shopify is now available in the US. It will become available in Europe and Southeast Asia in early 2021.

Google Plans To Turn YouTube Into A E-commerce Giant

Google enters the e-commerce space and plans to turn YouTube into the shopping next shopping destination. Google might soon transform its video streaming platform Youtube into a new strong contender for e-commerce like Amazon and Alibaba. On recent call earnings, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the ‘unboxing’ videos could be turned into a massive shopping opportunity.

What’s The Plan

A Bloomberg report suggests that the world’s largest video platform has asked creators to use Youtube software to tag and track product features in their clips. The data will then be linked to analytics and shopping tools from parent Google. This means that whenever a user is watching a video and likes a certain product, they can easily buy it with a single click. Currently, the feature is testing with a limited number of video channels. The channel creators will have control over what products are displayed to avoid any unnecessary product placement in their content. As per Bloomberg reports. It is still unclear how Google will generate revenues from the sales but it has started offering subscriptions for the creators and takes a cut of 30% from those payments.

Integration With Shopify

Youtube is also testing the integration with Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify. The prospect of collaboration with the e-commerce giant could have a huge impact on the e-commerce world. It has serious potential to transform the e-commerce industry and experience by integrating the advertising process directly with sales. The time spent between a consumer seeing something that they like and buying it could be possibly reduced to the shortest duration.

The Covid E-commerce Revolution

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the e-commerce retail market, excluding China, may grow to $2.8 trillion by 2025. Google has really not seen success in the e-commerce space much like Facebook and underdog Pinterest. The tech giant has instead focused on selling ads and sending users to other stores than selling themselves. This pandemic witnessed a boom in e-commerce with people staying at home and buying online. Facebook and Instagram have leveraged its social media platform as hotbeds for online shopping. The sales have soared in the past few months for Amazon and Facebook whereas Google watched from the sidelines. Google has not utilized Youtube optimally and this is a brilliant move to topple Amazon and Alibaba’s dominance. This also gives content creators an opportunity for more earnings. A win-win situation for both!

Read more: Google Agrees To Pay News Publishers $1 Billion For Their Content

How to set up an eCommerce business in 2020? Comparison of best platforms & practices

Latest trends and data about eCommerce in 2020

Introduction

According to Adscholars, E-commerce or Electronic commerce is a digital method to sell goods, and conduct transactions using the Internet. Usually, a customer purchasing goods online and making digital transactions are known as the cyber consumer.

Since the arrival of e-commerce in the digital market, retail outlets have struggled to earn their bread. There are several reasons responsible for the widespread e-commerce business model.

In just a short period of 14-years, e-commerce has expanded its wings and overshadowed every other form of commerce business. The reasons being; the availability of products at customer doorsteps, a wide range of product selection, easy return, and many more.

These days it’s chaos, with so many options to choose from, options available for self-development like Shopify, Squarespace, BigCommerce, etc. They have populated the landscape of e-commerce. The techniques of SEO are changing rapidly, and the need for the custom build website is also changing. Therefore in these times of increasing demands and a continuously evolving world, one must play smart to get what they desire.

 

 Why COVID19 is an excellent time to start eCommerce?

In the time of COVID, the e-commerce market has deepened its roots, attracting more customers every day. According to an estimation, the revenue of the e-commerce model will increase many folds, attaining a revenue benchmark of $638 billion only in the US.

The year 2021 is expecting an increase in the customers on the digital platform. It is estimated to reach up to 2.14 billion. Amongst all products, Footwears, apparels, and accessories will be the major contributors; contributing up to an increase of $123 million in the year 2022.

According to a survey, an average shopper is spending almost 36% of their budget on the online market.

It’s Now or Never

There has never been an easier time in history to build a business PERIOD.
The cost of entry is lower than ever before. The ability to access & qualify experts is much easier. The ability to speak directly to your customers and make adjustments has never been easier.
– Eric Carlson, Co-Founder, 10x Factory

As we proceed further, let us understand- What E-commerce Is?

For the basic understanding of the terminology, let us say that e-commerce, also known as electronic commerce, is the purchase and selling of goods through the Internet.

There are several tools and technologies available on the mobile network which can help you to achieve this goal. It is much easier for mobile users to make the transaction using various transaction techniques.

The well-equipped E-commerce portals are utilized, to perform activities of online marketing, monitoring of sales activities, and even helps in overseeing the logistics and fulfilment.

While targeting the audience there are certain variations to the business, i.e. the business is divided into segments; these segments are mentioned below:

1. B2B
2. B2C
3. B2A
4. C2C
5. C2A
6. C2B

Before starting your own eCommerce business, you must have an understanding of these terms. Below is a brief description of the terms, their operational manner, and behaviour:

Business to Business (B2B): Any transaction made between two business entities comes under the category of Business to Business or B2B. The transaction could be between a retailer and a wholesaler or between the seller and the manufacturer.

It mostly consists of the raw material or bulk purchase of finished products.

Training the New B2B Buyer

Training your customers to use the new B2B tools is important for adoption.
Changing the way some customers do business with you can be a roadblock or a benefit.
Position the change in a way that makes your customers’ lives easier.
– Andy Etemadi, CEO, EYEMAGINE

Business to Consumer (B2C): It is one of the oldest methods in the online trade (E-commerce market). In this market, the customer is approached directly by the businesses. Some of the examples of this model of business are Amazon etc.

Business to Administration (B2A): This method is used for the delivery of goods like legal documents etc. from the businesses to the administration.

Customer to Customer (C2C): This business model is used, for the transactions of goods between the consumers. Examples of such forms of businesses are eBay, Olx, etc.

Customer to Administration (C2A): Here, the customer sells the product to the administration. The products can range from education to the online tax presentation.

Customer to Business (C2B): In this model, the consumer directly interacts or sells its products to the business. Such online business models are Istock, Pinterest, etc.

Essentials to start an eCommerce store

Although there is an ease in doing business online, there are certain crucial things that one should remember before getting yourself into the business. Let me help you by providing a few points that you can consider before getting started:

1. Do a quick research on which e-commerce business model you want to follow. We have already explained the business models above. Now, you can understand them all before making your decision.
2. Select category: It is crucial to start with initials, instead of jumping into things with all you have. As it is said, “You should never test the depth of the water with both feet.” As there is a risk that you might drown yourself. Similarly, you can not be Amazon in a single day, and you should know that even Amazon started its business by selling books online. So, you must understand and decide on a single category in which you want to opt for your e-commerce.
3. Know your customer: It is always better to know the audience before you start selling your product. You should categorize your products according to your customers.
4. Register your business: Registering your business after knowing your customer. Once you know your customers, you will have a better understanding of an appropriate business name, and it will help you to further making it a brand with values. Therefore, you must understand and decide on a single category in which you want to opt for your e-commerce.
5. Finalizing the plan for your business: After completing the steps mentioned above, it is time to take one step backwards and re-check everything. It includes the finances of your business.
6. You are ready to launch: After you finish revisiting all the aspects of your business and start feeling confident about your e-commerce business, finally, you can choose multiple options that are available online. These options will provide a swift launch to your business. Some of the best solutions available in the market for the launching of your e-commerce store are WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and many more.

Here are the 5 best eCommerce tools that Adscholars suggest to its clients, which they can use to launch their eCommerce website:

Shopify

Among all the E-commerce applications available, Shopify is the best. It is simple to launch, and their customer service is wonderful. Therefore, whenever you have any issues with the application, their representatives will be there to help you.

Pricing: There are different plans that you can opt for your business. These are Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. The price ranges from $29, $79, and $299 for a month.

WooCommerce

A brilliant e-commerce product, available for a quick launch of your website is Woocommerce. It is an all-in-one solution for your business and is easy to use. 

You can add the functionality of WooCommerce to your WordPress. It equips its user with functionalities to make payments using Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and many more.

Price: Woocommerce is free for its users. However, if you want to include additional functionalities, plugins in Woocommerce will cost you money. The plugins can cost you up to $300 per installation.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce launched in 2009, and since then it has achieved great success across the market. It has its business across more than 120 + countries across the globe. The merchant sale recorded on the platform is more than $25 billion.

Pricing: The plans start from $29.95 for a month. The plus version will cost you $79.95/month and $299.95/month for Pro.

Magento

Magento, an eCommerce tool owned by Adobe. It is an all-in-one eCommerce solution. Every year its gross merchandise sale reaches up to $100 billion. The website supports models for all kinds of businesses. These include small business, B2B, and mid-market as well.

Pricing: The tool provides a free demo that you can use for a month. You will have to ask for a custom quote with the sales team to launch your business on the platform.

3DCart

3DCart is one of the oldest tools available online. It launched in 1997, and there are more than 25,000 merchants who are using this tool to build their eCommerce store.

Price: Five different plans are ranging from $19/month to $299/per month.

Conducting Research For Online Marketing And Develop A MVP

Online marketing research is the most crucial step. You must perform thorough research before launching your eCommerce portal. It will give you a clear idea of the demand for your product in the market.

How to do online research?

These are the steps that you can follow to conduct efficient marketing research:

1. 1. Researching for the keywords: To do that you can choose the Google Keyword Planner tool. The tool is both; effective and efficient. Also, there are several other options available online.
   2. Look out for the ongoing trends in the market: Google Trends is yet another efficient tool that is efficient in tracking the ongoing trends.
   3. Updating yourself with social media: Social media is a proven way to keep yourself updated and to know the audience and understand their mindset.
   4. Experimentation: No theory is proven; without performing the practical. Therefore you must experiment before you prepare for the finals.
   5. Look out for the competition.

How to do product analysis- pricing strategies, packaging, etc.

How to do market research?

Understanding the market is a crucial step to make sure that you achieve success. One of the most important aspects of a successful business is knowing your product well. To do so, you have to understand what your customers desire.

 So, it is always better to conduct market research before you get yourself into the business. 

There are a few points to remember, if you follow them we can assure you that you can achieve sales and satisfied customers.

Being transparent with the customer is crucial. It helps customers to trust your brand and will result in a long and fruitful relationship.

These are some of the most effective ways to make sure that the customer puts trust in your product and also, feels comfortable while purchasing.

1. Instead of searching for pictures on the internet, try clicking them or hire a professional photographer for a product shoot.
2. Videos help customers see the working of the product and help to build confidence.
3. A description is a must! Write an interesting description, explaining your product.
4. Target the audience smartly.
5. Try selling related products together. It will increase sales, and your customers will like it too. You can provide discounts on bundled items.

Which products to sell?

Well, to make sure that you are selling the right product that will earn you a profit and the customers will like it, look into the following factors which are indeed helpful.

1. You must sell a product for which you feel passionate. Remember, if you will not believe in your product, you can’t expect your customers to believe in it. 
2. Understanding your trait and realizing your strength is the key; you must look into your experience and understand, how you can utilize it in your business.
3. Stepping into the customer’s shoes: To make sure your brand is likeable to your customers, you have to be sure that you understand what a customer might feel while shopping for your products.
4. If you are unable to get ideas on, what to offer to a customer? You can always look for the interests and hobbies of others. The Internet is the best way to do so. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram will make it even easier for you.
5. Try choosing a product which is small and handy and is used more frequently in everyday life. It will be easier to maintain stock for such items and shipping them at different locations.

Value-Based Pricing, Its Strategy And The Effects On Sales

It is good to have a model for your business which generates revenue. However, you must make sure that the model is also considerate about the views of your customer towards your brand.

If the price tag that you put with your products is not appropriate, there is a greater chance that you will lose the business of your customer and they might never return. That is what happens when you don’t have an adequate pricing strategy for your products.

If you are confused about how to price your product appropriately; a Value-based pricing model will be best for you to apply to your business. When it comes to putting a price tag on your product, you can trust the methods of Value-based pricing.

Following are the strategies that people usually follow while deciding the appropriate pricing for your products:

1. Cost-plus pricing
2. Competitor based pricing
3. Value-first pricing

Here are a few things that you want to know about them before you price your product according to these strategies.

Cost-plus pricing: The Cost-plus pricing, is calculated by the formulae, Cost of production + Margin = Cost-plus pricing. However, there is a drawback while deciding the price of your product by this formulae.

Drawback

While deciding the price of your product using this formula, the customer’s perspective is unseen. As you can see, there is no space for the customer’s point of view, which is indeed a bad way for pricing products.

Competitor based pricing: Another way of deciding the price of your product is comparing it, with the product prices of your competitors. The formula for this is simple: Competitor’s price = Your price. Indeed, it is not a way of pricing your products. However, millions are following this formula to price their products.

Drawback

This formula is not a sure shot success formula as you are relying on your competitors for pricing your product. You may think that their prices are reasonable, and decided in taking the customer perspective into mind but you can’t be sure about it and end up losing your business along with your competitors.

Value-first pricing: After conducting in-depth research, Value-first pricing proved to be the best way(strategy) of deciding the price for your products.

If there is one success-proven strategy that helps you to understand the psyche of your customer, determine the price of your product and earn a profit; it is the Value-based pricing technique.

Strategy for value-based marketing technique

It is crucial to understand the mindset of your audience. You must look into the market research, analyze the prices of your product. At Adscholars we utilize the latest technologies to determine the ongoing trends and provide our customers with well-researched data which can be implemented for the growth of the business.

You can understand your customers better by looking into your customer preferences, their interests in other products, and their mindset towards deals and discounts.

The aim must personify your customer based on lifestyle and create different categories or catalog accordingly.

BigCommerce Analytics

BigCommerce stores can use their BigCommerce Analytics Customer Report to see which customers are buying which items –– and which prices. Then, you can easily create customer groups to personalize a cohort’s site experience based on their behavior.

In other words, do you have a group of people who only buy at a discount? Customize their experience to show discounted prices across the board. Do you have customers who only purchase new items? Send that cohort an email alerting them to new products before anyone else –– and use the customer group to give them a VIP experience.

Collecting feedback for the product will provide you with an insight into the customer mindset. It will also let you know about the reasons they didn’t complete their purchase for a specific item.

Van Westdrop’s Metre for Sensitive pricing

There are four crucial points included in this plan. If these points followed for pricing the product, they will benefit you, in providing the product at the best price.

• Decide a maximum price: Ask yourself, what could be the maximum purchase price of your product? Consider a price too expensive; if paid for the product.
• Think of the lowest possible price for a product: Think of a price which is too low for your product. It should be an amount which will make your customer doubt about the quality of your product.
• On the edge of being rejected: A price for your product, which is neither too low and nor too expensive. It lies is somewhere in between, where customers might have doubts and consider the option of not purchasing the product due to the uncertainty of price.
•  The perfect price for the customer: A price range which a customer is comfortable in paying.

 The steps will provide accuracy in fixing the price of your product. You will be able to present your product with confidence, and your customers will also feel empowered while making purchasing.

The Concept of MVP

Today, every merchant is looking for customers for their products. Everyone wants to earn their share of profit and sometimes wants the share of others’ profit too. In this stiff competition and the ongoing fight for the survival of the fittest, it is becoming tough to survive.

However, there is good news for the sellers! The market share of the customers expected to rise at a large scale in the upcoming years. Even for this year, the consumer share has increased tremendously.

But, there is a bigger and better demand generating sector, which only a few have recognized. At Adscholars we predict that the e-commerce market is going to be a big hit in the future and there is still an enormous empty space for new businesses to emerge and conquer the crown! 

B2B is a fast developing, and high demand generating model of eCommerce. More people who are entering the business of eCommerce are paying interest in the consumer sector instead of concentrating on the business sector.

MVP – Minimum Viable Product

The model helps you to quickly create and launch, fulfilling the minimum or early requirement of the market. Initially, the feature on your platform will be limited, just enough to satisfy the current demand of the market.

Then, as you will gain experience in the market, your team of developers can enhance the functionality of your product. Also, the initial product that you are opting to should be simple and quickly acceptable by the customers. However, it is not a necessity that the product needs to be cheap in pricing, it could even be a luxury product, but portable which can be shipped easily to the location.

The reasons to opt for MVP

• There is minimum risk in the project.
• Initially, the focus remains on a single product. Therefore the chances of growth are high, and failure is minimum.
• With the help of MVP, the development of the product is quick and easy.
• The needs of the customer can be identified in the early stages of development.
• You can quickly respond to the change in demand. It can be in the internal construction of your processor could be an external demand.

Creating the MVP

• You must understand the point of view of your customers, before implementing MVP. Your goal should be to inspire your customers to buy products online and interest them in ways that they return.
• Understanding the customer’s point of view: We know that we have repeated the sentence several times already and you must be bored reading the same one-liner! However, we are emphasizing on the topic because it is crucial. Remember, no customers; no business.
• You must understand the customer purchase lifecycle. Divide it into different stages and build the strategy for each level.

If you follow your customers carefully, the chances of failing are lesser.

How to start marketing online? Platforms to use, best strategies, creatives, etc.

Once the store setup completed, the product decided, and the pricing finalized; finally, you can start promoting your product. 

Excited? We know you are!

Well, let’s get an understanding of what are the right marketing strategies that you can follow and how it will help your brand to grow!

Digital marketing is the best platform to market your product. The old conservative days of brochure and pamphlets are history. Now, everything is digital. You must be seeing at least 50 advertisements on your phone daily.

 Therefore it is crucial to understand your options.

 First let us understand, what is e-commerce Advertising?

Ecommerce Advertising is a crucial part of e-commerce marketing. It is indeed an aspiring aspect of e-commerce marketing trends, followed by the leading brands.

Ecommerce Advertising helps you gather customers effectively with minimum efforts. The technique is highly effective, and you can easily create your own space in the e-commerce world.

As you can see, every day, billions of users are surfing on the internet for their needs. Eerie e-commerce businesses are trying to attract them to their website or online store. However, not everyone is following the right strategy or correctly approaching the customers.

Adscholars feels that the right strategy can help you take a leap into a brighter future, leaving your competitors behind. As T. Boonie Pickens stated, ” A fool with a plan is better off than a genius without a plan.”

Let us first give you a quick walk-through about Ecommerce marketing.

E-commerce marketing is broad in its stature. It has several elements or pillars which make provide effectiveness and strength to the model.

Let us understand these pillars and get a basic understanding of how they work?

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social Media Marketing is a widely used trend for various purposes. However, it is advantageous for E-commerce marketing. As each of us spends a lot of our time scrolling through the social media feeds, it is always interesting to find a product that can be added to the cart while we are scrolling through our feeds.

That is how the SMM works. Therefore, it is very crucial to place your advertisement smartly, and portraying your products to the right audience, as every click counts.

Content Marketing

Content is the zest of any marketing strategy. If you have the satisfying content for the website, nothing can stop you from empowering the world of e-commerce.

We discussed earlier, the description of your product plays a crucial role in branding your products and helping your audience to build trust in your brand. That is just one-simple step in content marketing.

Here are a few more things related to the content marketing that comes handy when you are using this tool.

1. Choosing the right keywords and placing them appropriately on your page.
2. Write the blog posts which are relevant to your product and brand.
3. You can create guest posts on external websites. They can also work as an external link to your website. Therefore, it will help in increasing your audience reach.
4. Put pictures of your product on the internet and link them to your website. Similarly, you can create short description videos and put them on YouTube.
5. It will be great for your brand if you can create a Keyword-driven section for the frequently asked question.

Search Engine Marketing

Another aspect of E-commerce marketing is Search Engine Marketing. It includes the paid advertisement for your product as well as the part of Search Engine Optimization.

It includes content optimization according to Google’s algorithm, Pay Per Click (PPC), advertisement campaigns for your product, and the display campaigns.

Email Marketing

Email is another effective way to market your product. It is a crucial tool while dealing in the B2B market for the other models of marketing. If used smartly, Email marketing can prove fruitful and providing results.

Word-Of-Mouth Marketing

The technique work as a miracle! However, to achieve WOM, from your customers, you have to gain their trust. Once the customer’s trust is established, on your products, you can easily create a brand name.

There are some methods by which you can achieve this from the initial stages of your business.

1. Reviews for your product: Getting reviews for your products is one way you build trust. The more reviews your products will have, the more trustworthy your brand will seem.
2. Referrals for your product: You can create a network of people who refer your products to others. This practice will increase the brand reputation and sales of your products.
3. Customers’ testimony for your product. You can use the testimonies, provided by your customers, as a certificate of trust, shown in your products by your customers.
4. Live chats are useful as they provide quick answers to your customer’s queries. They are also a healthy way to keep your customers indulged on the website. The Live chat feature is easy to install, and there are several ready to install chats available in the market. One of the options that you opt for is CometChat.
5. Adding options for quick delivery, easy returns, and customer support can increase your chances of gaining a reputation in the market.
6. Efficient website design with responsive to the customer needs will win the heart of the customer. Therefore, make sure to provide a breathtaking experience to your customers on your website.

How to enhance SEO to get organic traction

The importance of SEO

Making your product famous and your brand visible to the new audiences can be a tough job. You can not just rely on the Word of the mouth of your customers, at least in the initial stage, for the growth of your product in the market. 

It is crucial to gain positive reviews and testimonies from your customers. As it is necessary to make your brand visible to people and make them recognize the potential of your eCommerce business. Therefore, it is where you need the SEO for your website and products. 

Google owns a large share of the search engine market. It consists of nearly 72% of the total market, of search engines. Every second, Google experiences 63,000 search queries, and every year this sums up to 2 trillion customers searching for their needs.

Hence it always beneficial to put your trust in Google. Advertising with Google is fun, and the tools provided by Google for SEO are highly efficient and technically outstanding. They let you experience the digital world and provides an insight into the Google algorithm. 

Therefore, it is never disappointing to put your bets on Google when trying SEO. However, you will need experts who can help you run the tools according to your needs. That is where we step in! 

Here are some features that we have already discussed, but we would like to revisit them as they are crucial to enhance the SEO experience.

Keywords are the key! We have said it earlier, and we will say it a hundred times more. The right keywords result in gaining the visitors, which turn in as customers. Not putting the right keywords will result in the total wastage of money and your valuable time.

There are two types of Keywords. The two keywords are head terms and the Long tail keywords. Let us summarize them for you so that you have an understanding of both.

1. Head-Terms: Head-terms are the short crisp and product-related keywords that help you gain the visitors. However, they do not assure the conversions. Their length is usually 0-26 words. Example: “Elegant Flower Pot”
2. Long-tail Keywords: These are perfect, to obtain conversions. The Long-Tail Keywords are specially related to the head-terms and are used to define a head term. Their length can be from 26-40 words on an average. Example: “Elegant flower pot which will make your living room look lively”

There are numerous tools available to find the right keyword for your product. Some of the most effective tools that you can use are:

1. SEMrush
2. Amazon Suggest
3. Keyword Dominator
4. Keywordtool.io
5. Ubersuggest
6. Google Autosuggest: Suggestion obtained by Google when you type something in the Google search bar.

The architecture of Your Website

The website of your company plays a crucial role in making the customer feel confident about your brand. A great website must be properly stacked and should be easy to navigate by the users. The information on your website should have a clear outline and must make the customer stay and explore.

Here we are discussing some points that will surely win the hearts of your customer if followed correctly.

As your product range grows, it gets difficult to arrange them. Therefore, if you follow a proper website architecture, the problem of the arrangement of products will not affect the quality and effectiveness of your website.

Walmart has nearly 23 million pages for its product on the Google domain. Still, they have them arranged effectively so that the customers can navigate through them.

Therefore, the following architecture is essential. Always remember that no matter how many products you have on your website, the user should be able to navigate back to the homepage of your website in just 3-clicks. Yes! That is the secret recipe for a great website.

1. You should understand your product and develop an understanding of what a customer will search for when they visit your website.
2. The dropdowns are critical, and they must be organized systematically. 
3. Use the category names for the main keywords on your website. 
4. Use Https instead of using Http. Https has better security if payments and transactions related to money take place on your website. 
5. Avoid infinite scrolling for your web page. It can seriously harm the user experience of your webpage and website. 
6. Provide a link to scroll back to the top. The user does not want to do manual scrolling on your webpage. 
7. Optimizing your webpage for mobile users. 
8. Apply on-site SEO. 
9. Provide Meta-Title and Meta description for your webpage. 
10. Internal links are essential to increase the credibility, and in the navigation of the customer on your website. 
11. Add social media share buttons.

Competing With Ecommerce Giants Like Amazon

There is no doubt in saying that Amazon is the whale of the e-commerce business. Entering in eCommerce world will put you in direct competition with the giant. Therefore, to make sure that you face the giant with bravery, and defeat it bravely, you must make sure that you follow some significant measures.

Knowing your competitor

Nearly 44% of the people purchasing goods online prefer Amazon as their first choice. Half of the retail business, in the USA, is occupied by Amazon. According to Jeff, he is just getting started.

Even some of the great names in the market like Google, Walmart, Costco are finding it tough to beat Amazon in this game.

So you must be wondering; what are your chances to beat the unbeatable?

Well, the practical answer to that would be that; you might not be able to beat Amazon in this game!

However, you are independent to play the game with your own rules. Therefore, there are chances that without even defeating Amazon, you might be able to create a brand name for yourself.

Currently, Amazon is an undefeated champion of the eCommerce world. It has nearly 310 million customers, and every day more are getting added to its database. Also, Amazon is selling more than 353 million products on its website. Hence you can not develop a system with such a humongous user base, and capital investment, at least you can not do it overnight. Therefore, the bottom line is that you can not compete with Amazon in infrastructure, discounts, and even when it comes to shipping.

The only segment that is left is an essential factor of service. Most of the merchants suffer to provide it to their customers. The factor is good customer service.

Even Amazon struggles to address this problem for its customers. So, if you will address every issue of your dissatisfied customer, you will be able to build a great user database for your company.

There is a study which shows that nearly 68% of customers leave the company due to the poor customer service provided to them. Therefore it is crucial that you pay undivided attention to your customers if you do not want to end like others.

Collect data for your customers and know their likes and dislikes

The game is all about how well you know your customers. Even Amazon keeps records for all of its customers. Using this information, it tries to make sure that it provides its customer with everything that they desire.

By keeping a record of your customer’s movement, you will be able to suggest them with similar, desirable, and relatable products. That is the current phenomenon that is trending, technically known as the Internet of things (IoT).

A former Amazon employee once said that Amazon “has the ability to track both what people are buying as well as what they search for and can’t find.”

Convince your customers to subscribe to the products

If your product range consists of items that are perishable or consumable with time, you can always ask your customers to purchase a subscription for your product. You can even offer them discounts on a monthly or yearly basis.

Research shows that not only this helps in increasing the sales of your product; it also helps to build a strong user database, and gain their loyalty for your brand.

Try providing the best shipping service experience to your customers.

If you succeed in providing satisfactory shipping service to your customer, the customers will always order from your website. The best service factors include fast service (taking minimum time to reach the customer) and a free shipping option.

The people don’t want to pay a shipping fee while purchasing a product online. Therefore, providing a free shipping option is a great step towards better customer service.

Conclusion

E-commerce is the most trending Digital marketing sector and as per the experts’ predictions, it will be the most promising field of business. Therefore, if you are planning to start your own eCommerce, the time is most opportune.

You must make to do in-depth research before you start with the business. As there are different models of eCommerce businesses, you must choose wisely.

The important aspect to make your business visible to the audience is the advertisement strategy. You must implant your advertisement in the market with precision. At Adscholars we believe that a well-placed advertisement can do wonders and bring numerous positive customers.

The field of marketing and advertisement is broad and it has a lot of versatility in its offering to the users. However, if you are new in the field of eCommerce and haven’t decided yet about where to advertise, Adscholars suggest the usage of social media as your first advertisement option. We recommend social media platforms for the advertisement as it is easy to use, and provide wonderful results to the advertisers and marketers.

An effective website will provide you with the strength of your online business. Therefore, you must design your website as an effective tool to attract more customers. The website must be easy to use and should provide customers with clear options and guidance throughout their journey on the website.

The product delivery has to be perfect, and you should think of it as an important aspect of your business. Try to provide multiple delivery options to the consumer. Adscholars recommend their clients to provide the free delivery option to their customers.

Taking feedback from your customers can help you learn your shortcomings in your business model. You have to be upfront to ask your customers to provide feedback. This will not only help your customers to build trust in your business but will also help them to share their experiences with other users and customers. This is the most effective way to win the trust of your customers. You must not fear the bad reviews, the bad reviews are the best teachers, hence embrace them and grow.

Stay available to your customer’s query, providing effective customer support will make the customers believe in you even more. Resolve their issue and make them understand things that they might not be able to understand. As not all the customers who pay are tech-savvy and know how to shop online. You must step into their shoes and understand their requirements and needs. Make sure that your customers don’t feel disregarded or ignored, as this is one of the major reason several businesses lose their valuable customers.

Therefore, if you will apply the right strategies, understand your strength and shortcomings, apply your experience to the business and work with a plan, no one can stop you from being the next Amazon.

Adscholars wishes you the very best for your business and is always there to assist you in every possible way!