In our previous post, we shared some insights about how e-commerce trends have changed during the first year of the pandemic.
Consumers are not only continuing to shop online, but they’re also now likely to embrace digital discounts and e-coupons. In fact, savvy shoppers are seeking out the best prices before committing (perhaps due to doubts about pricing instability).
All together, these trends make a lot of sense. But they also give us insights about the future.
Today, we wanted to discuss how our own clients can make the most of those insights.
Here are our recommendations, in broad strokes:
1) Move your advertisements online — especially if they contain coupons, deals, and discounts. People are much more likely to clip digital coupons and take advantage of online deals. If they can do this with a click or two, you’re both demonstrating that you understand their preferences and making it as easy as possible for them to embrace their top choice.
That’s true even if you don’t do a majority of your sales online; you can still make your coupons available online for in-person purchases, and people will be happy to take advantage of them.
And it’s great news for many businesses, because it’s often cost-saving to send promotions out digitally instead of via physical mail. In fact, 42% of shoppers are unlikely to respond to at-home mailers, and 41% of shoppers are not likely to respond to in-store flyers, per the report.
2) Take advantage of preferences as part of upselling opportunities. For example, the fact that people want to do more online shopping means that they’re willing to spend a little more for home delivery, for same-day deliveries, and for standard shipping. So if you feel like you’ve been unable to capitalize on this transition to e-commerce because of the markups that would come along with it, understand that many shoppers are willing to pay the difference.
Similarly, when they do visit stores, which is less frequent, shoppers try to make their visits count. Therefore, they might buy more but try to spend less per item. If you can find ways to capitalize on their in-store purchases (selling more units in a single visit, or putting things they might need in one place to make the convenience factor higher during that lone visit), the added income per shopper can help offset the cost of shipping to the at-home buyers, which overall increases profits. Once again, it’s all about shifting perspectives to the big-picture strategy.
3) Promote your value, not just your prices. You might not always be able to match the lowest prices of your competitors. (But if you can be competitive, definitely make those comparisons visible!) However, you should demonstrate the value of your products and brand. Maybe your store is the local, friendly choice that makes shopping convenient. Maybe you offer loyalty points and rewards. Maybe your quality is far superior, or you believe in paying your staff a fair wage (which means your items will cost a few extra cents). Maybe your prices have been unchanged for several years, so customers don’t have to fear fluctuations.
Don’t be afraid to own up to those angles and make it clear to the customers. They’re smart enough to see the big picture and embrace the overall best value and greatest convenience.
For customized recommendations for embracing the latest e-commerce trends, contact us!