How your startup can Gain an Edge in the eCommerce Marketplace

Today, the eCommerce platform has become a crowded market place. Each of the service providers or sellers are looking to outshine their competitors. So, for a startup gaining a competitive edge in the eCommerce market could be extremely daunting, and difficult as well. On a brighter side, the eCommerce platform is much developed than before.

Source by: oskitsolutions.in

This means you can launch your startup at a lower cost, and with a simpler business model. Having said that, still, you need the correct recipe for your startup to take off at first glance. If you are looking for that recipe, then this article is for you. As an entrepreneur of an eCommerce app development company, one is expected to infuse innovation, invest in proprietary products, develop a perfect content marketing strategy, develop an affiliate marketing program and many more.

However, these expectations are the golden rule of the eCommerce marketplace, and anyone who is involved in E-commerce app Development will definitely follow these golden rules. Hence, it is not going to help you initially, if you are an entrepreneur looking to make your mark in the digital marketplace. There is something more you need to do, and we will tell you what that will be.

  • Personalized Experience: As an entrepreneur foraying into the E-commerce app Development, you need to know your target audiences. This involves segregation of customer base and then establishing one on one contact with the customer base. Yes, it sounds daunting but definitely not impossible, especially the kind of digital tools we have. Contacting the users can help in collecting vital information, that can provide key insights about the experience which the customer is looking for.

This can be done through polls, questionnaires, collecting user preferences through cookies, survey emails, etc. The collected information can be used for creating personalized experiences for targeted customers.

Some good examples will be personalized recommendations, personalized offers (like birthday, anniversary, etc.), personalized preference of communications, etc. Also, the collected data helps in determining the behavioral pattern of the customers, which further helps in redefining the services and products for the intended customer segment.

  • Influential and Fresh Content: If you are looking to gain a competitive advantage in the market, then content marketing plays an important part. So, any content works in this case? No, it doesn’t. Your content needs to be fresh and it should be powerful enough to influence your customer’s purchasing decision. So, spun or rewritten content is not going to work simply.

If you are managing an eCommerce development company, then you need to have a professional content writer who can develop good quality content for your platform. While the marketing team decides on the content mix, which will be rolled out to the customers. For example, you might have a content mix of newsletters, infographics and blog posts.

This entirely depends on the product segment and the customer segment. Last, but not least, your content needs to be search engine optimized (SEO). So, that whenever your customer is searching for products or services that you offer, your content link should appear at the top of the search page.

If not, just like the product, the content will be lost in the crowd as well. Content marketing is an important platform for showcasing your product to the intended customers, and influence their purchase decision.

  • Increased Usage of the Mobile platform: Be an early adopter of the mobile platform, and stand out of the competition. Today, the mobile platform has got wider coverage than any other platform available in the market. Consumers prefer to access e-commerce platforms on their mobile.

This is one of the key reasons, why E-commerce app Development companies are developing mobile-friendly platforms. Moreover, the number of mobile users is all set to grow in the next few years. As per the projected data, more than 50 percent of eCommerce transactions will take place through mobile.

So, if your eCommerce app or platform is not mobile compatible, then maybe you are losing out on a large chunk of customers. Today, most of the major eCommerce players like Amazon, Alibaba, Tesco, have mobile apps as well as mobile websites, since they understand the importance of doing business on mobile platforms.

  • AI-enabled platform: AI-enabled platforms are still in their early stages, but they are the future of digital marketing. Once artificial intelligence (AI) is completely implemented, the digital marketplace is not going to be the same. AI-enabled eCommerce platforms can function by learning from the customer’s behavior, over a period of time.

It can perform predictive analysis with the help of machine learning. So, after a certain period of time, the customer will find the recommendations, billing preferences, communications as per his preferences. You can just call this a next-level personalized experience. However, if you are a startup company, and really low on budget then this might not be a perfect option.

Implementation of AI does involve analysis of huge chunk of data, which will also refer to big data. Generally, it requires enhanced storage capacity and enhanced processing power. Both these features come at a certain cost, and might not be the best bet for a startup company.

  • Voice Shopping: Voice is the latest trend in technological development. Just speak up on the phone, and you get what you have requested. Moreover, if you are using any of the digital assistants such as Siri, Alexa or Cortana, your life becomes easy.

The best part is, if your eCommerce app is compatible with these digital assistants, then your customers can order, just by speaking to these assistants. Yes, it is that easy. So, just tell “Siri, I want to order Bose Headphone from Amazon”, and in the next moment Amazon app comes up with the Bose Headphone.

Succeeding in the digital marketplace could be a challenging task, but if you are capable of innovating and developing a distinct approach, then nothing can stop you. One needs to understand the market trends and remain on top of the things, in order to be successful.

Author bio

Shahid Mansuri

How your startup can Gain an Edge in the eCommerce Marketplace

Shahid Mansuri Co-founder Peerbits, one of the leading top Mobile application development company USA, in 2011. His visionary leadership and flamboyant management style have yield fruitful results for the company. He believes in sharing his strong knowledge base with learned concentration on entrepreneurship and business.

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