The total revenue from the Indian eCommerce market has already touched US $22,138m in the year 2018. This figure is expected to grow at the rate of 19.8% (CAGR 2018-2022), leading to a market volume of US $45,550m by 2022. Online businesses are now offering a wide range of products and services including shopping items, groceries, restaurant orders and more. Nearly 54% of startups enter the Indian market every year since going online can be a profitable venture for many businesses in the country.
Even though there are thousands of opportunities for startups in the e-commerce space, not every online business is likely to find huge success and significant growth in their respective areas of business. After having analyzed the success stories of various marketing organizations, we finally discovered certain core aspects that contributed to the success of most of the e-commerce firms.
Online merchants must ensure that their website is mobile-friendly, content rich and well optimized for higher rankings in search engines. A fully customized and responsive website not only attracts customers but also drives conversions of your web visitors into buyers. If your brand website has been designed precisely for desktop bookings and is not compatible with mobile screens, then chances of losing your web visitors are quite high.
A payment gateway enables the payment process and makes the buyer's experience seamless and secured. Availability of multiple payment and multi-language options offers a great advantage to the buyer and ensures that you do not miss out on selling opportunities. A customer can now make his payment from anywhere and at any time on your website which is integrated with a payment aggregator. A smooth and secure processing of transactions wins the trust of your customer and makes him visit your website again and again for a superior shopping experience.
Showcasing of discounts and promotional offers makes a big difference to customers. The merchant can enhance his business potential by adding value to his offerings through discounts, and attract a large number of customers to his website. Discounts and coupons are consistently used by online businesses and considered as an effective tool for driving sales. For online merchants, coupons induce shoppers to purchase, create brand loyalty, and allow the seller to easily diversify his promotional marketing strategies.
Social media was initially intended for individual users to stay connected with friends and family. As online businesses started realizing the potential of social media, these channels were used to connect with the target audience and promote businesses. Channels such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and others are highly preferred for putting up engaging marketing campaigns, posts, videos, polls, etc. Social media is also a brilliant way to sell products and services directly to the customer and augment the online merchant's revenue stream.
Email marketing is still considered as one of the simplest and most effective ways to promote your business. It enables you to reach out to a larger target audience in a short duration and also makes it easy for your customers to view your merchandise. Email marketing is more focused than the other types of marketing. You can send newsletters, offers, subscriptions, etc. through bulk mailers to specific groups instantly and save on valuable time, efforts and costs which you would otherwise spend on other strategies.
A good entrepreneur always looks out for new and innovative ways of enhancing the potential of his business to make it stand out from the competition. As we have already seen, some of the crucial factors that can contribute towards success in business include a responsive website, secured payment gateway, a strong social media presence, email marketing and promotional offers amongst others. Regardless of the type of business you want to start, using these techniques can help you be successful in your venture.