The internet is drastically changing the way companies of all sectors conduct business these days. Not to mention, the rising trend of mobile-friendly interfaces allows users to shop online for products and services at the touch of their screens. In today’s competitive e-commerce industry, where everyone is fighting for profitable market shares, what can you do to differentiate yourself from your competitors? The answer to this question lies in devising appropriate e-commerce strategies. This solution might seem vague to some people. However, your ultimate goal is to drive more traffic to your e-commerce website through various critical factors. These include SEO, social media platforms, proper PR strategies, good customer service, impeccable online content, and much more. Also, you can prefer business mobile phones for your online business to achieve great leads.

In the end, if you fail to provide your customers high-quality online shopping experiences, they will surely prefer your competitors and switch immediately. Keeping this in mind, if you own an online business, then you have come to the right place.

Below we’ll discuss some strategies to help you survive and attain a competitive edge in today’s demanding online marketplace.

Offer stellar content

Today, we have online businesses selling bicycles, auto parts, and camping gear to pet care and food delivery services. Regardless of your market offering, it is vital to provide your customers a credible place for instructions and information. Therefore, you have to set up your online business in a way that guides your customers through stellar content that relates to their market segment or persona. So, consider including product reviews, testimonials, images, videos, and other user-generated content to engage and captivate buyers.

However, the tools you utilize to accomplish this depend on you. Besides, it’s crucial to leverage digital tools for any online business to excel and grow in today’s competitive era. So, it would seem like a viable solution to check out Digital Supermarket and compare various tools and resources to find the perfect pick. Doing so will allow you to make the right choices, whether you’re looking for web hosting, cloud storage, or web builders for your online presence.

Consider dealing with shopping cart abandonment

Typically, when a customer abandons their shopping cart, it means you lost a potential purchase when your customer was going through the check-out phase. There might be a few reasons for this;

• You’re offering high delivery and shipping charges
• You require too much and too complex shipping info
• Your website is slow to load
• Your competitors are offering the same products for a lower price

Whatever the case may be, it is vital to engage your customer right via live chat. It will allow you to offer your customers assistance and guidance at the right time and prevent them from abandoning their cart halfway through the purchase. So, consider adding a live chat feature to your e-commerce website and start chatting with your customers. Moreover, a live chat feature will also provide you analytics features such as your customer’s past visits, geographical locations, IP address, and much more. It will allow you to give them a more personalized shopping experience according to their likes and preferences.

Provide excellent customer service

It is a no-brainer to provide incredible customer service to your clients, whether you’re running a brick-and-mortar store or an online business. However, it is of immense importance if you’re doing the latter. You will have to be proactive with responding to your potential and existing customers to drive sales.

For instance, you have to keep them informed about their orders’ status even if they don’t ask. Alongside this, offer excellent product/service pricing, incredible refund policy, and remain transparent at all times. Moreover, you will have to answer any post or pre-sale questions and encourage them to provide feedback. Then, you can utilize this feedback to improve your online store, attracting more like-minded customers while you do so.

Offer multiple payment methods

Add more payment options to your online stores such as Cash on Delivery, credit/debit card payment, Amazon payment, or PayPal. It will allow you to win the masses as people today prefer various types of payment modes. That said, such a method has two distinct problems. First, because of the recent credit card frauds, some customers avoid using their credit/debit cards for online purchases. And that’s especially the case if they are visiting an online store for the first time. Second, according to the Click and Buy survey, 50 percent of online shoppers don’t purchase products/services online if their preferred payment method isn’t available.

Hence, it is vital to take a multi-dimensional approach here and offer multiple payment options, as mentioned above. So, for example, those who avoid using credit/debit cards can use the cash on delivery option. In contrast, those who prefer electronic money can use their credit/debit cards or PayPal.

Provide your customers with an App

According to comScore’s Media-Metrix® Multi-Platform’s research, customers spend around nine percent of their time on the mobile web, and Apps enjoy 51 percent of it. With such a statistic in mind, it is crucial to have an excellent functioning mobile App to entice customers. So, without a mobile app, you will surely lose potential leads.

While this will be the perfect approach to remain competitive, providing an excellent mobile browsing experience is necessary. And that’s especially critical for individuals who want to use your mobile App. After all, according to Google, if a website isn’t configured according to its SEO algorithms, you will surely see a drop in your SERP rankings.

Deliver your promises

In the end, your customers want what you promise them. So, whether you’ve pledged to deliver thema product in four days or seven, don’t disappoint them. After all, the delivery process is vital to any online business’s success. And if you’re failing in this department, you will slowly lose customers and, in the end, your online business will go belly up.

Let’s say, if a customer orders a product and the quoted delivery time is seven days, ensure that you deliver it within seven days. If you provide earlier, that will be much better. After all, if a customer doesn’t get their purchase within the provided time has to wait longer, chances are they will cancel their order.

Conclusion

In the e-commerce world, existing businesses will always have an advantage over you, especially if you just launched your online store. These businesses don’t need to fight for loyalty or trust. They have already paid their dues and established themselves as key players in the marketplace. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t stand a chance against them. With the help of these strategies, you can take your e-commerce game to the next level and build a customer base to beat any multi-million dollar company.