7 smart ways to leverage eCommerce once the lockdown is over
Focus on mobile commerce
Optimize for smart devices
Fixate on Visual commerce
Provide an Omnichannel shopping experience
Adopt dynamic pricing
Introduce smart payment options
Use Virtual Reality & Artificial Intelligence
With the impetuous oncoming of the pandemic, most businesses had to work remotely which eventually led to many of them shutting down temporarily. eCommerce in India as well as in the world took a blow as well. People now had drawn a line between their wants and their needs. While online sales seemed to reduce as only essential items were being sold, there was a bright side to it all as well. People were hesitant to go outside and shop and hence, local supermarkets and shopping malls started coming up with their online portals for the purchase of basic commodities. Local businesses now saw the scope of online business.
While it's quite unattainable to roll out the full impact of this pandemic on the eCommerce industry, it can however be said quite sure that the scenario of eCommerce in India will change post-pandemic. The short term changes and the impact of the pandemic will definitely be seen in long term changes. Some simple expectations and predictions can be there might be a surge in online shopping for everyday commodities with small grocery shops starting to deliver goods at one’s doorstep. There will be an increase in eCommerce platforms selling goods related to safety and hygiene. We might even get to see the digital transformation of our local grocery shops.
These are some of the changes that can be seen in the online market post-lockdown. Although the growth of eCommerce can be predicted, business persons have to adapt and optimize their businesses to the new normal accordingly to be a part of the competition. They need to constantly adjust their eCommerce models as the scene shifts post covid-19. Nevertheless, eCommerce has always been an ever-changing industry. Several trends show up every year to increase competition in the market. eCommerce in India will need to adapt to the upcoming trends as a result of this pandemic to flourish.
Here are 7 ways one can continue to do eCommerce in India after the pandemic is over.
1. Focus on Mobile Commerce
During the lockdown, online shopping has been able to gain customer's trust and now most of us just feel more comfortable using our mobile devices to shop online even for our basic commodities.
So, if you want your customers to have a seamless experience on your eCommerce platform in the current change of shopping habits, you need to make sure that your website is actually mobile-friendly. There's a high chance that online shoppers will discontinue shopping from you if the website doesn't work well on their mobile devices.
You can simply examine if your website is mobile-friendly or not by using Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Enter the URL of your website and it will show how mobile-friendly your eCommerce platform is.
You can also create a progressive web app or mobile apps for your online store, provided you have the budget. PWAs are known to load faster than websites and can show previously browsed pages even without the internet.
Regularly check your mobile site manually and keep a track of any problems that you face.
These points will help you prepare your eCommerce platform for mobile devices.
2. "Alexa, Buy Me Something from Whole-Foods"
Smart devices are being adopted rapidly as people are starting to rely on voice assistant devices such as Alexa (Amazon Echo) and Google Assistant (Google Home). This phenomenon has given birth to voice-commerce because of the convenience this technology provides. And since both Google and Amazon are inputting regional languages in their virtual assistant devices, voice commerce is going to only grow much bigger from here. Therefore, it is essential to optimize your eCommerce platform for voice searches. You can prepare your eCommerce platform for voice search by optimizing your content for easy navigation on your mobile apps and website through voice commands so that it increases the chances of showing up in voice searches.
3. Fixate on Visual Commerce
Using high-quality images on your eCommerce platform can attract your customers to engage and convert. It is an enticing way to use the power of visual commerce to influence shoppers into purchasing from you. High quality and aesthetically pleasing images of your products will surely catch their eyes and draw them towards your eCommerce business.
You can leverage visual commerce by
Creating 360-degree images or videos of your best selling products.
Allowing customers to simply search for products using images by investing in a visual search tool
Improving the quality of your product images and creating video shopping ads.
These will help you to draw maximum traffic to your eCommerce website or app and increase your sales.
4. Provide an Omnichannel Shopping Experience
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, 73% of the respondents said they use multiple channels when shopping online. With the rise in the espousal of mobile devices, the number of Omnichannel customers will continue to increase. Although providing an omnichannel experience isn’t easy for small retailers, if one has the capital and resources available, they should definitely go for it. Omnichannel retailing provides shoppers a smooth and ideal experience across devices and channels. For offering a seamless Omnichannel experience, you as an eCommerce business person need to
Create mobile apps or web apps and hence optimize your website for mobile devices.
Use analytics tools and personalize your customer's eCommerce experience at every possible step.
Offer options for various purchase methods to cater to your customer's needs.
5. Adopt Dynamic Pricing
Dynamic pricing refers to the pricing strategy where businesses set flexible prices for their products or services depending on the current demands of the market. Dynamic pricing grants eCommerce businesses to attract more customers and stay competitive in the market. eCommerce business owners can choose to use dynamic pricing software that will provide you real-time insights into the current market demands and your competitors' prices to help you determine the best prices for your products.
6. Introduce Smart Payment Options
Customers mostly choose a specific place to shop from because of the many options it provides, payment options being one of them. You need to make sure that your eCommerce platform does provide all the possible payment options that customers are comfortable with and also the new upcoming ones. Cryptocurrencies may be an addition in upcoming years.
7. Implement AI and AR
More online stores will start using Augmented Reality to provide a rich customer experience in the wake of the pandemic aftermath. Since online shoppers can't physically inspect or try on the product they are interested in, augmented reality helps them overcome this obstacle by letting them envision how the product will look on them. Many eCommerce platforms have already implemented such AR and AI technologies in their stores. The implementation of such technologies in your eCommerce platform will most likely help you with your conversions and decrease the return rate. AI and AR improve customer experience and cut costs but also has some cons like they lack creativity and may have loopholes in the program. With the evolving technology e-commerce stores should think about integrating such augmented technologies while keeping a space for future changes and updates as they grow.
EXTRA TIP:
Use Facebook/Insta Dynamic Product Ads for your eCommerce.
- Insert FB pixel into your eCommerce website,
- Get your product catalog ready on FB,
- Use retargeting.
The growth of eCommerce in 2021 will only get bigger and bigger. With this pandemic in our lives, we all have experienced the resourcefulness of the eCommerce market. This pandemic has shown shop owners the scopes of eCommerce in India and how it will prevail post-pandemic. Businesses looking forward to starting up eCommerce in the post-pandemic world must prepare themselves to adopt the new challenges and latest trends to grow their eCommerce business and outdo their competitors. Give these 7 ways to do eCommerce in India a thought before you start off to dominate the eCommerce market as the pandemic recedes.