Internet due to its sophistication and information bank readily available on the go has become an inevitable part of our daily lives. We want to keep ourselves connected with our friends, family, colleagues all the time. Also, we want to get the information we want very quickly and to research the products we wish to buy.
And there is enough space for everyone who wants to sell their products online. So, for small businesses, the future of e-commerce looks promising.
Let’s take a closer look at how independent and small merchants can continue to sell more and stand out in competition with big-box retailers who also have moved online.
These days consumers are adopting new technologies quicker than ever before. According to a recent study, 640 million Indians own a smartphone.
That’s a huge number – and the market still has great potential for growth. It is also found that a lot of people are using their smartphones to shop online for various products, due to the ease of shopping on the go or while sitting at the comfort of home.
The major shortcoming with online shopping to date has been the instant gratification that comes with in-store shopping and the ease with which consumers can get their hands on products in real-time and the skepticism of using credit cards online by Indian people.
But, “no questions asked 15 days or 30 days return” policy by many e-commerce portals is somewhat which gives customers a real satisfaction. Also “Cash on Delivery or Card on Delivery” service is another initiative that a few e-Commerce portals are offering to their customers is a breakthrough into building and cementing the trust of customers on online shopping models.
The challenge for businesses going forward, large or small, is adapting to this change in consumer behavior or even predict it. So where small businesses should be focusing their efforts so they’re not tripped?
Invest in Mobile Website
Consumers can now shop anywhere at any time, whether from their PC, smartphone, or tablet.
The Digital Analytics Benchmark survey of IBM recently showed that online shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday was up over 24 percent compared to 2016, with 44 percent of people using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site.
On Cyber Monday alone, purchases made from mobile devices accounted for 13 percent of all online purchases.
According to an analysis by International Data Corp. in 2017 mobile web usage has in fact outpaced PC web use.
With the smartphone and tablet markets continuing to grow very fast, it is safe to say that in order to be competitive in the online retail space, an app or a mobile website is a must-have for all the businesses looking to attract consumers on their websites.
If not then the existing website should be properly optimized for mobile browsing.
You may get help from the post How Should a Professional e-Commerce Website Designed to design your e-Commerce website.
Create Video Content
At present the impact of social media in business is unquestionable.
An active social media presence is essential to maintaining a core consumer base and quickly marketing your store for consumer-facing companies, especially online retailers either biggies or small ones.
Rather I would suggest that small online retailers need to take a step further and start leveraging the power of online videos to sell more of their products.
Till now and even going further, text updates and product’s pictures were enough to drive traffic to your online store, but now that you have the power of video which certainly provides unique opportunities.
With videos, small retailers can show the live demo of their products by even using voice over to their customer and make the consumer understand the product much better.
Videos are also a great tool to get real feedback from the customers and social proofing your products.
Social Media Advertising
A lot of small businesses are still trying to figure out how best to deliver content to their customers via their social media channels while also reaching new prospective customers.
Advertising on social channels like Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Blogs, and Twitter can be that bridge to a new frontier.
While there is some debate about the overall value of advertising through social media, it is hard to disagree that it offers some of the best targeting available to business owners; particularly when the amount of time Indian consumers spend on social media sites on a daily basis is taken into consideration.
So now the answer to the question of what does the future of e-commerce looks like for small businesses? is Smarter, faster, and more promising.
Only small businesses should be vigilant to leverage the web for selling online.
