E-commerce Strategy for B2C brands that are facing unprecedented challenges in today’s marketplace. Key areas include technology, competition, and consumer expectations.
Customer loyalty is key to brand success, as one satisfied customer on average brings in three additional customers. We believe that B2C eCommerce brands should prioritize building loyalty by creating an extraordinary customer experience. During COVID-19 lockdowns and reopenings, customers have adopted new shopping habits that resulted in a boost of online spending by $183 billion in 2021, according to estimates. As a result of this shift, consumers have developed higher expectations of their online shopping experiences. In addition, customers are looking for better value, as well as a better online experience due to the current economic uncertainty.
Winning customer loyalty
Consumer expectations are high. According to Retail Dive, shoppers often spend three times more when they’re engaged across multiple shopping channels. While that’s great news for B2C eCommerce brands, a 2022 study by NICE found that 41% of consumers say that they will look to the competition after just two poor digital interactions. That does not leave much room for error.
Provide a seamless shopping experience
A seamless shopping experience means more than stocking enough inventory. B2C eCommerce brands also need an exceptional user interface supported by streamlined, efficient processes.
Other elements to consider:
- Social media integration so customers can make a purchase directly from the social platform of their choice.
- Support for a blend of digital and physical customer interactions.
- An optimized, intuitive shopping platform that welcomes customers and encourages exploration.
- Smooth, efficient check-out processes with secure, flexible payment processes.
Offer personalized recommendations
B2C retailers have an advantage: access to a wealth of buyer data. Successful brands leverage this goldmine to explore ways of providing customers with timely information, money-saving deals, and promotional opportunities. They use what they have gleaned to make loyal customers feel special with targeted promotions and messaging that acknowledges their contribution to the brand’s success.
Create stronger relationships
Customer relationships are built on conversations. Consumers want assurance that a brand listens to them and expect a response. While encouraging ratings and reviews can build excitement and engagement, it can also help a business identify successful products and learn when customer concerns may indicate an issue.
Effective eCommerce strategy
In addition to a great website, we believe brands should take an omnichannel approach to create awareness, build trust, and establish a loyal customer base. By using targeted marketing techniques such as social media advertising, email marketing, and influencer marketing, businesses can connect with customers and create personalized experiences that drive engagement and sales.
Leverage Social media
When they are active on social media platforms and take advantage of advanced targeting capabilities, retailers can reach potential customers based on their interests, behaviors, and demographics, driving more relevant traffic to their website and improving customer loyalty.
Partner with influencers
Partnering with the right social media influencers can bring even more benefits. Influencers lend credibility and help brands build trust with their followers, and can drive engagement, sales, and loyalty.
Targeted email marketing
Email marketing remains a powerful tool for customer retention because it allows brands to nurture relationships even when consumers are not actively shopping. Neal Schaffer writes that marketing emails remain highly effective: people who buy as a result of email spend 138% more than people who don’t receive those emails. Furthermore, personalized emails used as part of a targeted email marketing campaign can yield conversion rates around 6x higher than non-personalized emails.
Tools for success in B2C eCommerce
Core to building consumer loyalty are the tools and technologies focused on providing a stellar customer experience: a platform that offers a clean, intuitive checkout experience, is optimized for mobile devices and responsive design, and makes the most of customer data with intelligent personalization.
Optimize platforms and shopping carts
The checkout process starts the moment a customer decides they’ve filled their cart with everything they wanted and are ready to place their order. They feel a sense of urgency: they have already spent time browsing through products and descriptions to choose exactly what they want. Now they want the process to wrap up as quickly as possible. If they find checking out difficult or confusing, or they don’t feel safe, they can easily abandon the process.
Savvy B2C eCommerce brands encourage customers to return with:
- A simplified, streamlined checkout process and a straightforward, intuitive user interface.
- A sense of safety, communicating with security logos and trust marks.
- Social proof like star ratings
- Reviews that increase conversion while strengthening a brand.
- Convenient payment options that offer a variety of payment methods, including a digital wallet.
- Easy-to-find contact information to reassure customers who may be concerned about post-purchase issues.
Mobile-first and responsive design
Per Broadband Search, as of 2021, 55% of users accessed the internet via a mobile device. While most consumers seem to prefer to browse and buy on their laptops, a good number will still complete the transaction using their mobile phones. Brands must be prepared with clean, consistent user interfaces, fast load times, and intuitive processes.
Implement artificial intelligence and machine learning for personalization
AI is a new and largely unproven technology for many B2C eCommerce businesses. However, it is well worth exploring. AI-powered algorithms can analyze large amounts of customer data to identify patterns and preferences, enabling brands to provide highly tailored product recommendations, content, and experiences. Additionally, AI can improve operational efficiency by automating customer service, reducing costs, and freeing up resources to focus on higher-level activities.
Grow and keep up with the demand
A fast-growing leader in consumer packaged goods, Popcornopolis needed to keep up with the increasing demand. They asked Technology Experts to modernize their website shopping experience, a project that spanned the gamut from designing a new customer experience to the technical details supporting mobile and website design.
Thanks to in-depth interviews, we learned that Popcornopolis customers know what they want. We developed flexible buying options and restructured product categories to create a customer experience that makes it easy to find the snacks they crave. Product detail pages give viewers all the information they need to make a purchase without having to scroll.
We also designed a Create Your Own section to give them the freedom to customize an assortment of favorite flavors. The smooth step-by-step approach makes it fun to mix and match, and builds excitement for the box that will arrive at their doorstep.
This isn’t everything we did, of course; you can learn more about the project here.
Looking ahead at eCommerce strategy
The B2C eCommerce market has grown steadily since its inception. A 2023 article by WeDevs predicts that:
- Worldwide, B2C eCommerce sales are expected to grow 10.4% in 2023.
- The U.S. eCommerce market will reach over $1.1 trillion in sales in 2023, with 16.4% of retail purchases expected to take place online.
- By 2040, around 95% of all purchases are expected to be via eCommerce.
Mobile commerce will grow from more than $431.4 billion in sales in 2022 to 511.8 billion in 2023, 604.5 billion in 2024, and 710.42 billion in 2025.
This growth means that competition for consumers will increase; therefore, customer loyalty will be more important than ever. Future success for B2C eCommerce brands will involve staying on top of trends and taking full advantage of available technologies.
We dedicate ourselves to changing the way brands connect with audiences in a digital world. Contact Technology Experts directly to outperform competitors with a market-leading eCommerce web product, and ongoing maintenance and enhancements.