Tag Archive for: ecommerce

E-Commerce Marketing Strategy: Where to Start

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With the recent lift of the nation-wide shut down, the country is slowly opening up on a state by state basis, but the majority of businesses still remain physically closed. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the situation, you may be considering, or have already entered into the e-commerce space.

There is an increasing number of people online and numbers will most likely continue to grow as the year goes on. In light of this growing audience, many businesses are boosting digital ad spend and their online presence in general. Making the e-commerce space even more crowded than before. This can be intimidating for those just getting started, which is why Onimod Global is here with helpful tips for getting your e-commerce marketing strategy started. 

Step 1: Choose Your E-Commerce Software 

There are endless e-commerce platforms out there to choose from. When you’re comparing software, it can be hard to tell how seemingly minor differences in features can have a major impact on overall performance, but they can. When it comes down to it, what’s best for you will depend on a variety of factors, such as the industry you’re in, the size of your inventory, etc. We’re going to talk about the three most popular e-commerce software platforms and give pros and cons to each, but there are many online articles that discuss others and go into greater detail on each. 

BigCommerce: Ideal for larger retail brands. Also a good choice for those who have a brick and mortar store and are looking to expand operations. The interface is user-friendly and allows you to customize your shop without having to know code by using templates in design your store. 

Pros:

  • Excels with multi-channel selling
  • User-friendly 
  • Scalable 
  • Variety of quality themes 
  • Comprehensive abandoned cart feature 

Cons: 

  • Can get pricey 
  • No 1-click selling/up-sells 
  • Cart abandonment feature isn’t included in entry plan

Shopify: If you plan to drop ship, rely on Facebook Ads, or Instagram marketing, this may be the best choice. Two big downsides are weak SEO and rigid URL structure, meaning it’s not as user-friendly. You can change some sections of it, but not others. 

Pros:

  • Quick load time
  • Easy set up
  • Many certified partners 
  • 1-click selling 
  • Allow multiple channel and social selling 

Cons:

  • Poor SEO 
  • Unable to customize checkout process
  • Apps can get costly
  • A developer is needed for advanced features 

3dcart: Has many practical features, such as unlimited storage, no transaction fees, and advanced shipping solutions. The main downside is it’s not for beginners. Set up and customization takes a lot of time to understand and get used to. 

Pros:

  • A nice blog feature 
  • Supports any integrations you would need 
  • Good business user management tools (email, QuickBooks, inventory_

Cons:

  • Dated templates 
  • Lacks customer support 
  • Not beginner-friendly

Step 2: Optimize Your Site for Search and Mobile

Online shoppers are constantly bombarded with advertisements, promotions, product options, etc. This means when they do make it to a site, they’re not going to wait around for a slow performing site because they can easily go somewhere else.  46% of shoppers have said they’ll never return to a slow website. Going even further, Google reported that for every one second delay in page load time, conversions can fall up to 20%. While there can be many causes of a slow site, these are the most common: 

  1. Heavy Page Image: Optimizing images will allow the pages on your website to receive bytes faster, and this makes your page more efficient with a faster load time.
  2. Large Files: We highly recommend a JavaScript compression or a minimization tool to help decrease your download size.
  3. Plug-Ins: Enabling caching with a plug-in allows pages on your site significantly faster. This saves you copies of pages with the same request, which allows your server load in a much more efficient manner.

It may be beneficial to get a professional digital audit done to identify any areas your site might be lacking and to get help with finding the right solution. 

Step 3: Identify Your Niche 

E-commerce sites with hundreds of products, dozens of categories, and no real focus rarely find success, at least not when they’re just starting out. Unless you have a massive budget, you have to find a niche to be profitable. Choosing your niche is one of, if not the most important step of starting your online store. You can start this process by researching different niches and identifying successful companies in that space. You don’t want to pick an overly crowded area, but you don’t want to pick a space with no competition either. This can indicate there’s no market there. The more specific you get, the less competition you’re likely to face and also gives the benefit of having shoulder niches. These are spaces that are similar to you, but not identical. This gives you the opportunity to work with other businesses in those niches to cross-promote, become an affiliate, and grow your customer base. 

Step 4: Utilize Social and Content Marketing

As we mentioned before, people are online now more than ever. Not only are they shopping, but they’re also spending time on social platforms. If you haven’t read last week’s blog, we go into greater detail on social media strategy, but for now we’ll just go over some general tips: 

  • Not every social network is the right one. E-commerce sites are highly visual, so choose social platforms that are image focused and give you the opportunity to show off your products, such as Instagram and Facebook. 
  • Be helpful. Give customers credible, detailed information about the things they need. Make it clear you’re there to help them. 
  • Be active. It’s important to let customers know solutions are available whenever, wherever, even if that means in the late evening or early morning. 

As far as content marketing goes, some might think it’s not needed if you’re just selling products online. Actually, content is extremely valuable for e-commerce sites. Content is one of the number one contributions of SEO, and when your business is strictly digital, SEO is essential. Here are some tips for using content to market your store: 

  • Write relevant blogs. 
  • Create guest posts for external websites. 
  • Publish product-related videos on YouTube. 
  • Include a keyword-driven FAQ section. 
  • Optimize product page copy. 

Final Thoughts

Even if you’re only shifting to e-commerce due to the pandemic, it can have great benefits for your overall business long after it’s over. E-commerce businesses have several marketing tools at their disposal. Using digital and inbound marketing just the right way, you can create campaigns that are designed to help your online store attract customers and grow better.

If you find yourself struggling with marketing in any area, you may want to consider outsourcing for your digital marketing needs. At Onimod Global we are experts in everything from SEM, social media marketing, Google shopping advertising, and more.

Learn more about what we do, take a look at how we’ve helped other brands, and become a client today!

Black Friday Digital Marketing Tips

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In 2018, 14.8 million online sales were processed on Black Friday, making it the most popular shopping day of Thanksgiving weekend, including Cyber Monday. Black Friday is one of the most important, if not the most important day of the year for businesses, both online and physically. Last year, 89 million consumers shopped both online and in-store. This year, it’s predicted that 61% of consumers will Black Friday shop online, and online spend will surpass $12 billion. Focusing on digital execution is becoming essential for Black Friday success, no matter your business. As Thanksgiving is right around the corner, now is the time to evaluate your current position and start preparing your digital marketing strategy for not only Black Friday, but the general holiday season. 

Preparing for Black Friday 

Do Your Research 

Research your competitors’ deals. If you’re offering a 20% discount and they’re offering 50%, which would you choose? You want your deals to have real value. Consider increasing the deal amount or adding additional offerings to ensure it will attract consumers. Of course you don’t want to go so low it affects your profit margins, but you want to offer something that will pull shoppers away from the competition. 

Evaluate Site 

When shoppers are already presented with so many different options, they’re not going to wait around for a slow or low performing site. 46% of shoppers have said they’ll never return to a slow website. Going even further, Google reported that for every one second delay in page load time, conversions can fall up to 20%. While there can be many causes of a slow site, these are the most common: 

  1. Heavy Page Image: Optimizing images will allow the pages on your website to receive bytes faster, and this makes your page more efficient with a faster load time.
  2. Large Files: We highly recommend a JavaScript compression or a minimization tool to help decrease your download size.
  3. Plug-Ins: Enabling caching with a plug-in allows pages on your site significantly faster. This saves you copies of pages with the same request, which allows your server load in a much more efficient manner.

It may be beneficial to get a professional digital audit, to ensure your site is performing at its best for Black Friday. 

Make Sure Tracking is in Place 

There are a variety of tracking and attributing tools and strategies. Google Analytics is one of the easiest to implement and includes a URL Builder Tool to assist you in the process. This will allow you to monitor performance beyond just sales numbers. These additional insights will allow you to be even better prepared in the future. 

If you already have analytics tools in place, analyze last year’s data. Have you tweaked your site based on those insights into how your holiday traffic behaves? Analyze what and what didn’t work in the past. Which of your products were most popular? Were most of your visits from email marketing, or did visitors find your site organically? What were they searching for? Use these insights to better plan this year’s strategy. 

Black Friday Digital Marketing Tips 

Start Early 

In a report by AdWords, 61% of holiday shoppers begin searching online for their purchases prior to the weekend of Thanksgiving. Consider creating a Black Friday landing page and letting it run all-year-round. If a shopper is doing early research for the deals they want to take advantage of on Black Friday, yours could be one of the first they see. If you keep that landing page up all year round, it will allow for continuous SEO work. By the time it gets close to Black Friday, and the searches get higher, your page will likely rank much better than those that just released their pages a few weeks prior. 

In addition to a specific Black Friday landing page, include the usual promotions and email blasts. Email marketing is an important aspect of Black Friday, but it needs to be done tactfully. The subject line is one of the most vital aspects, as if it doesn’t grab readers’ attention, it’s likely to remain unopened or marked as spam. Timing is also everything. Schedule your emails based on time zones or peak of online email users. 

Utilize Social Media 

Social media is becoming a great tool for ecommerce. The amount of users that purchase products via social media ads continues to rise. Both paid and non-paid social posts can be effective to create awareness for your sales. Include Black Friday hashtags in your posts so prospects searching for deals will easily find yours. Make sure to include a strong call-to-action in every post as well. Whether it be to visit your site or request more information on the sale. It’s additionally as important to engage with your audience. Don’t leave any comment unanswered. It always looks better when businesses are prompt with responses to questions or concerns. 

Initiate Referral Programs 

Consumers trust other consumers. Recommendations and referrals are some of the strongest forms of advertising. Take advantage of that and consider implementing a Black Friday referral program. Referred customers can actually be a great driver of brand loyalty and striking profitability than any of your other clients. The key is the reward has to be too good to pass up. If it’s not worth it, no consumers will care enough to put in the effort. There are a variety of ways to create enticing rewards without hindering profitability. 

Add a Countdown/Timer 

Shoppers can be indecisive. They often take their time to price shop and compare deals before making a final purchase. A countdown timer can add a little pressure to the situation and may be just the push a shopper needs to make a quick decision. It’s beneficial to include one for every product with the specific date and time the deal ends. Timers can be effective in more places than just product pages. Consider adding them as banners to landing pages, in promotional emails, or even social media pages. 

Personalization 

It’s no secret that serving highly tailored and personalized messages to each potential customer can drastically increase the chances of them converting. In fact, 63% of shoppers expect their purchase history to guide personalized experiences from brands. When it comes to Black Friday here a few ways you can try to make your marketing efforts more personalized: 

  • Include the recipient’s name in email blasts. 
  • Offer different deals to different customers. For example, existing or loyal customers are offered larger discounts or better deals. 
  • Include recommendations on product pages based on users past purchases and buying behavior. 

Black Friday is basically the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start your efforts long before Black Friday. Most of these strategies include detailed planning and targeting to be effective, which usually isn’t something that can be accomplished in a few days. It’s never too early to prepare for Black Friday. 

How We Can Help 

Even the best ecommerce sites can need help with digital marketing, especially around the busy season. At Onimod Global, we’re experts in all areas including SEM, SEO, social, web dev, automation, and analytics. With our expertise and unique cross-channel digital marketing campaign strategies, we can power entire corporate marketing departments, or provide custom solutions for local businesses. We are your 24/7, in-house marketing partner. 

Learn more about what we do, take a look at some of our work, or start your conversation with us today!

The Ultimate Marketing Strategy for Your E-Commerce Company

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Many e-commerce companies cower in fear of its industry leader, Amazon. In just a few short years this online retailer has grown to gather nearly $178 billion in 2017.

Through several key strategic moves such as its recent acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon has been able to successfully eliminate or minimize the impact of its competition. This wild success leaves many within the e-commerce industry to wonder where exactly they fit.

Fortunately, changing consumer purchasing patterns are helping to provide and even bigger market for all online retailers. But how exactly does a small e-commerce company successfully compete in this type of fierce environment?

Niche Market Strategy

Many e-commerce companies have found a solution with a niche marketing strategy. This type of strategy focuses on an unmet or underserved need of consumers. Since the need is not being met appropriately, these niche brands are providing services that do just that!

Many would assume that a company as large as Amazon would have it all, right? Wrong. Brands like Boxed, Brandless, and Dote are all filling in this needs gap, and as a result that have each seen pretty remarkable results.

Boxed

Boxed works to deliver bulk consumer goods without any sort of a membership fee. This company recognized that urban consumers struggle to purchase in bulk because of a lack of transportation.

Many people living in large cities do not own or regularly use a vehicle, instead opting for public transportation. This makes it impossible for such travelers to lug home bags upon bags of products.

Boxed perfectly caters to this need by providing large amounts of bulk goods delivered right to your door in a conveniently short amount of time. By carving out this specialized section of the market, Boxed has been able to enjoy substantial profits after finding ways in which they can reduce damage rates to packages, according to Adweek.

Brandless

The company Brandless has been able to achieve many of the same positive results by implementing its own unique niche marketing strategy. Brandless primarily operates as a company that provides complete honesty and transparency to their customers.

Brandless carries thousands of products that do not have any association with a particular brand. This generic packaging and advertising cuts significant costs and allows consumers to bypass the usual marketing jargon and head straight to the actual product and its contents.

This strategy is effective for two reasons: it saves money and it makes the consumer feel more informed and aware of the products they are purchasing. Such abilities have been incredibly popular with the Millennial generation.

Dote

This company specifically targets young women by creating a “mobile mall” that they can shop through using their phone. This single platform combines apparel from more than 130 retailers, which allows consumers the ability to shop through thousands of different items all at once without having to travel to each individual website.

Dote has succeeded in creating a personal and comprehensive experience for their users, and it is all easily accessible to boot. Consumers have become so enthralled with Dote that according to Adweek, they visit the app an average of 3.9 times a day.

Conclusion

All of these brands have achieved greatness, even in the wake of powerful e-commerce giants like Amazon. The key is to differentiate in any meaningful way that you can. While this may not necessarily be the one and only strategy, it does seem to be quite effective.

For more information on marketing strategy, please visit the Onimod Global news page! Our content creation specialists regularly publish new content relating to current industry events and trends.

4 Effective E-Commerce Strategies to Boost Your Local Business

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In the competitive world of E-commerce business, organizations are always trying to find tricks and strategies to increase online visibility and stand out from the crowd. Implementing effective E-Commerce strategies is becoming an essential factor for local businesses, and this trend will likely continue with the increasing number of online consumers. So the question becomes: How can local businesses utilize E-Commerce strategies to drive traffic and ultimately increase business?” This post will explore some of those E-commerce tactics that will benefit local businesses.

Major focus on website
Many brick & mortar businesses often times struggle when it comes to investing in a professional website with E-commerce capabilities. However, local businesses must realize that they will likely experience far more visits to their website than the actual storefront. It’s also important to point out that most in-store consumers will actually visit a business’s website prior to entering the store. According to a survey in 2016 conducted by Google, it was found that “58 percent of consumers visited a retailer’s website or mobile application before making an in-store purchase.” Moreover, the importance of E-commerce websites for local businesses is huge, and the investment is most likely worth it in the long run.

Don’t ignore 3rd party listings
Having an E-commerce storefront is a great starting point to drive business. However, 3rd party sites such as Amazon, Ebay, Google Shopping, and many others present a massive opportunity for local businesses to further increase online visibility of products. Although 3rd party organizations obviously take a share of your profit margins, the likelihood of selling a larger quantity of products greatly increases. According to the same 2016 Google survey mentioned previously, “37 percent of consumers visited a non-retailer website before an in-store purchase.” Therefore, the importance of having local business listings on 3rd party E-commerce sites should not be overlooked, as the potential for growth is huge.

Don’t hide important information
It’s clear that consumers typically spend time online before the point of purchase, so providing clear information is essential. A study from the Market Track found that “80 percent of consumers compared prices and product reviews online before buying offline.” However, some local businesses are worried that posting prices and reviews online could have a negative effect on sales and traffic. Not posting prices or reviews is seen as a red flag for many online consumers, therefore many shoppers may put your business out of consideration if important information is missing.

Personalization still key
Regardless of other E-commerce factors, personalization is crucial when it comes to driving traffic and increasing long term sales. In today’s digital world, online visitors enjoy personable experiences catered to their interests and needs. Specific examples of personalized marketing strategies can include remarketing ads, email newsletters, and social media interaction. In the end, personalization marketing helps build strong, lasting customer relationships that will in return generate the possibility of brand loyalty.

Contact Us
For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

Optimizing Ecommerce Shopping Carts for Search and the Google Merchant Center

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Many organizations with Ecommerce websites are concerned with how well their products are ranking organically on Google, Bing and Yahoo. That is, without any assistance from paid advertising networks. There is no doubt that these rankings are incredibly important to the organization and their product’s success, but it is not the only factor to consider.

It is all too common to get swept up in organic search rankings and ignore other ecommerce-related platforms like the Google or Bing Merchant Center. The Google and Bing Merchant Centers help organizations by uploading their products and immediately transforming them into Shopping ads. All of these add up to generate more and more exposure for your products. These efforts also combine to create better rankings through Google, which can definitely lead to big results on your sales.

 

Data Feeds

The only way to have your products listed in Google and/or Bing Shopping is to create an XML data feed file. As defined by Google, a feed is, “a file made up of a list of products which use groupings of attributes that define each one of your products in a unique way.” Basically, it is a single file that organizes all of your product listings in a way that allows you to the display your products in the Google Shopping network through the Adwords platform.

 

Creating A Feed

Creation of a data feed is very technical. First, you want to make sure that you are using a feed format that is supported by Google or Bing, such as text (.txt) and XML (.xml). Once you have chosen your preferred format, you will then use the Merchant Center add-on and provided feed template to build out your product listings.

It is still critical to pay close attention to the attributes chosen to describe your products. All of the best guidelines are provided by Google via the Product data specification. These specifications will direct you in finding the most relevant ways to describe your products.

 

Supplemental Data Feeds

There are also supplemental feeds that may be added at this point in the data feed creation process. Supplemental feeds help to provide additional data that can be combined with existing data in the primary feed.

The supplemental feed reinforces the primary feed, and works to ensure that your product listings are displaying all of the most relevant information possible to users searching for products like yours. The more relevant your listing, the more positive attention it will receive from Google.

 

Conclusion

Good organic rankings on Google are important to every business. Ecommerce companies can better their product listings in more than just this one way. It is important to remember that the Google Merchant Center also has an impact on the ranking of Shopping ads and even organic listings.

The more that any organization can integrate themselves and their products and services with Google, the better. By creating and implementing a data feed through the Google or Bing Merchant Center, Ecommerce vendors can give themselves a leg-up on the competition, and help themselves to achieve better rankings and sales through the major search engines.

5 Ways To Improve Your Ecommerce Business

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It’s not much of a surprise, but the ecommerce market is continually on the rise. According to Statista, “from 2010 to 2013, total U.S. retail ecommerce sales increased from $167.3 billion to $263.3 billion. In 2014 that number jumped up to $304.1 billion.” Although this article was published two years ago, the trends tell us that the ecommerce market will continue to boom as many organizations are integrating ecommerce platforms to account for the demand. Listed below are a few ideas that will help improve any organization’s ecommerce business.

Prioritizing SEO:
As the ecommerce market continues to grow, the direct result is more organizations “fighting” for first page search engine results. Therefore, ensuring that your ecommerce site is highly optimized is very important. SEO and ecommerce essentially go hand in hand with one another. Some aspects of SEO to pay attention to are using rich keyword phrases, placing your site on directory listings, having a secure site (SSL installed), and frequently checking up on site speed.

Monitor Competition:
If you’re seeking to gain a competitive advantage in terms of ecommerce, paying close attention to competition is key. This involves researching prices, marketing tactics, and anything else competitors are doing that works. Being competitive with pricing is especially important due to the amount of options that are out there in the ecommerce world for related products. Although high profit margins are extremely important, having insufficient pricing can make or break ecommerce success.

Social Media Engagement:
With millions of users, the potential for finding consumers through social media in today’s market is huge. Many consumers enjoy the engagement that social media has to offer. Spending a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Google Plus can be rewarding in the long run. Creating engaging content, interacting with customers, and even sponsoring some posts are all good starting points to reach possible customers.

Mobile Optimization:
Due to a massive presence of mobile traffic, optimizing your ecommerce site for mobile devices is essential. According to Digital Commerce 360, trends are showing that “mobile devices will play an increasingly important role as worldwide consumer spending via mobile will jump from $204 billion in 2014 to $626 billion in 2018.” This shows the importance of mobile optimization and how if it’s not a priority for your ecommerce business, the chance of becoming irrelevant in the future is likely.

Blogging:
Related to SEO, having a blog and consistently producing content can exponentially increase ecommerce site traffic. Using relevant keywords in posts and frequently sharing on social media platforms are two aspects of effective blogging. Also be sure to add multiple call to action links that will direct readers to landing pages on your site. It’s clear that blogging takes time, yet time is the only drawback of blogging. Search engine algorithms like Google and Bing reward engaging and relevant content, therefore there’s no reason any ecommerce organization should avoid blogging.

Contact Us: For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. Check out our Case Studies and see how our clients like Vipply and Rent Letters are excelling in ecommerce.

Client Spotlight: Vipply LED Bar Shelves

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Vipply is the world’s leading manufacturer of high quality LED light shelves and light shelf tiers. Adding LED light shelves is not only a decorative upgrade to any bar or restaurant, but they have been proven to drastically increase liquor/spirit sales. The display of premium liquors with elegant under-lighting will quickly draw attention to designated bottles. Needing assistance in the digital world to overcome competition, Onimod Global has exceeded Vipply’s expectations of building online brand awareness.

Initial Challenge:
Branding, e-commerce development, data integration, digital marketing launch, ad content, and graphic design all starting from scratch. Brand new to the world, Vipply set out on a mission to dominate the LED shelving industry and needed digital experts to turn on the lights.

Strategy:
SEO, SEM, Social Advertising, E-Commerce Website Development, Customer Behavior Analysis, A/B Testing, Custom Programming, Advanced Segmentation Targeting, Reporting. In other words, the implementation of our Digital Synergy Service.

Results:
Our cross-channel digital marketing expertise, data analysis, precisely targeted digital marketing campaigns make sure the brand and product meets the consumer when and where they need them.

Q1 2015 vs Q1 2016:

  • Sales +1,498%
  • Organic Traffic +468%
  • Ad Impression +1.2M

An explosion of social interaction via custom audiences and campaigns across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Natural rankings and subsequent traffic increases due to organic seo and e-commerce website development. Product listing ads and 3rd party resellers compliment organic sales. And as a result of Onimod’s services, Vipply and its web properties now dominate placements across all major sales channels.

Contact Us: If you’re associated with a business looking for an upgrade in brand awareness or any digital marketing service, Onimod Global has proven to generate immediate and efficient results. If interested fill out a quick form on our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you!

How Your e-Commerce Businesses can get the Most out of Facebook

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Sites like Etsy, Amazon and eBay have made it easier than ever to open an online store and jump on the e-commerce bandwagon. Now advertising on Facebook is essential for success in today’s e-commerce market. For many online merchants, Facebook is more than a tool to drive sales, it’s a platform to market and sell products, build brand identity and interact with customers. But where and when do you start to place your ads? Who are you targeting and how do you succeed in reaching them successfully? Read more