5 Factors Leading to a Successful eCommerce Business

At regular intervals, retail and eCommerce consultants - Your Retail Coach sheds light on the latest practices and strategies on managing and growing eCommerce businesses ( https://www.yourretailcoach.in/ ). In this communiqué, YRC reaches out to aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners delving into five areas that need close attention to succeed at eCommerce and eCommerce management.

Product USP

A USP or Unique Selling Proposition highlights the unique value of offerings by a business enterprise that sets it apart in a given market. It's a clear and unambiguous advantage that makes a brand stand out in the crowd. A strong and sustainable USP is assertive and focuses on what is valued by customers. Noodles that can be cooked within minutes with no separate ingredients serve as a good example here.

Given the intensified state of competition in eCommerce, it has become extremely challenging for businesses to create strong and sustainable USPs. Businesses must take time to identify how their product idea can emerge as unique. This is a perpetual activity like market research ( https://www.yourretailcoach.in/ecommerce-market-research/ ) or keeping an eye on the changing tastes and preferences of customers.

Is the product idea an outcome of any existing expertise or vantage point or in sight of any existing or emerging market opportunity? For example, if there is expertise in product design, then making innovations in it can help create a USP. When there is a pre-existing vantage point, it serves as a focal point around which the rest of the business plan ( https://www.yourretailcoach.in/retail-business-plan/ ) can be aligned.

Product USP need not entail a complete makeover to appear as unique. It can also be a partial modification. Mobile phone manufacturers do this very often nowadays. But a much stronger example would be online fashion brands that cater to unique age groups with unique interests and motivations.

Branding

With rampant competition in eCommerce, it has become essential for businesses to differentiate from the competition and maintain that distinctiveness. Strong branding not only helps stand out among competitors but also resonates with the values of the target segments. When this branding is maintained, it helps customers trust a brand. And when this trust is built, it becomes easier for customers to choose a brand again and again. When this resonance and trust are sustained, it creates long-term loyalty. Loyal customers also become good brand advocates. But in all these, consistency holds the key.

Developing and maintaining the brand image requires a long-term vision and plan. It touches all areas of business decision-making from the quality of raw materials to the quality of last-mile delivery. This can be simply understood by the level of ease offered by different eCommerce brands with which customers can access their support and service systems. Many companies do not even share their contact numbers or give customers access to live talk to support only if the issue is of a certain level determined by the company itself. This kind of behaviour is a serious blow to customer experience. It affects brands and their branding efforts.

Pricing

Pricing strategy is relative. Different companies adopt different pricing strategies for different product lines. What makes things more complicated for eCommerce is the use of analytics for personalisation. Consumer behaviour is not generic and can no longer be addressed the same way from a pricing perspective. For example, some customers tend to buy quickly when discounts are offered on products on their wishlist. Then there are customers who would wait for big discount seasons for their heavyweight purchases.
A carefully crafted pricing strategy helps strike the right balance between profitability and revenue. This strategy is useful for competitive spaces and is also used by departmental stores.

It would be naïve to assume that minor pricing differences can create big impacts on retail eCommerce. Customers tend to prefer known brands even if they have to pay a few bucks extra. The known brands come with a host of other benefits one of which is trust backed by past shopping experiences.
Pricing significantly lower than the prevailing rates in a given market backfires in most cases. Psychological factors also affect how customers perceive and relate the price of a product and its value. For instance, if the same product is available on two eCommerce platforms at two different prices, the degree of difference comes into play. If this difference is extremely high, the platform that is offering at the lower price may be in a disadvantageous position as customers may perceive it as fishy.

SOP-based Operations Planning

Robust operations planning is critical for eCommerce businesses. Customers have high expectations of eCommerce brands. Thanks to the exemplary standards set by the big brands. Successful eCommerce brands are able to maintain superior operational excellence with the use of SOPs and process automation ( https://www.yourretailcoach.in/e-commerce-sops/ ).

SOP-based eCommerce operations planning ( https://www.yourretailcoach.in/standard-operating-procedures-consulting/ ) helps achieve speed and accuracy in eCommerce inventory management, warehouse/FC management, order fulfilment, digital marketing, customer support, returns and refunds, front-end and back-end IT management, and other support functions like HR and finance. This is true for SOPs because they allow a high level of detailing in operations planning. ECommerce SOPs also constitute the groundwork for process automation and digitisation.

Digital Marketing

Today, a bulk of the world's population uses the internet, social media, and other digital platforms for all sorts of reasons. According to Statista, there are over 5 billion internet users in the world which is more than half of the world's population. It makes acute sense for companies to have a strong digital presence and outreach. The digital world has become a marketplace for companies to come to the notice of potential customers, target them with advertisements, maintain relationships with existing customers, resolve or redirect grievances, etc. So, digital marketing for eCommerce is not just about having a good website or smartphone application or social media handles. Their utilities go far beyond the routine transactional functions.

YourRetailCoach
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Phone: +91-9860-426-700
Email: consult@mindamend.net
Empowering Retail & E-commerce businesses worldwide.

YRC is a Management Consulting Firm with its presence across India & Dubai.

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This release was published on openPR.