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10 E-Commerce Trends You Need To Know In 2023

Categories E-Commerce, E-Commerce Optimization, EntrepreneurshipLeave a Comment on 10 E-Commerce Trends You Need To Know In 2023

E-commerce has been on the rise for years, and the trend is expected to continue in 2023. As more and more consumers turn to the internet to shop, businesses are adapting to meet the demands of the digital marketplace. Here are a few e-commerce trends to watch for in 2023.

1. Increased focus on mobile optimization

With more and more people using their smartphones to browse and shop online on a global basis, businesses will need to ensure that their websites and apps are optimized for mobile devices. This means that websites will need to be designed with a mobile-first approach, and apps will need to be designed with a user-friendly interface, even in developing markets where the focus has been higher on desktop historically.

2. Personalization

In 2023, businesses will increasingly use data to personalize the shopping experience for customers. This can include things like personalized product recommendations, targeted persona marketing, and customized pricing. By using data to personalize the shopping experience, businesses can increase customer engagement and loyalty.

3. Social commerce

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are becoming more and more popular as a way to shop – within the platforms. In 2023, businesses will look to capitalize on this trend by using social media platforms to sell their products directly to consumers. This can include things like “shoppable posts” on Instagram and TikTok, which allow users to buy products directly from the app.

4. Same-day delivery:

As e-commerce continues to grow, consumers will demand faster delivery times. In 2023, we can expect to see more businesses offering same-day delivery as a way to meet this demand. This will require businesses to invest in logistics and delivery infrastructure, such as warehouses and delivery networks in close proximity to the users.

5. Augmented reality:

Augmented reality (AR) technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, and businesses will look to use it to enhance the shopping experience in 2023. This can include things like virtual try-on for clothing and makeup, as well as virtual tours of real estate properties.

6. Voice commerce:

With the increasing popularity of voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, voice commerce is expected to become more prevalent in 2023. This will allow consumers to make purchases using just their voice, making shopping more convenient and hands-free.

7. Subscription-based models:

Subscription-based models have been growing in popularity in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue in 2023. This can include things like subscription boxes, where customers receive a monthly box of curated products, as well as subscription-based streaming services.

8. Artificial Intelligence:

As AI technology gets more sophisticated, businesses will use it to improve the customer experience by personalizing product recommendations and automating customer service.

9. Larger branding investments:

Since performance marketing has become very complex and expensive compared to just a few years ago, there will now be a much larger focus on brand building, as companies need to be able to convert more expensive online traffic, more efficiently and effectively. Building and growing a D2C brand from scratch through pure ‘cheap’ performance marketing that allows you to get a large reach is no longer an options – and people have also become too fed up with simple D2C brands that doesn’t have a deeper brand narrative that goes beyond the standard price / quality narrative.

10. Customer retention:

Since it has becoming expensive to acquire new customers due to the increased marketing costs, and all the other targeting and tracking challenges, which have become more profound in the past years, it is now more important than ever that the customer lifetime value of your customers are to increase. Becoming profitable on the first order is quite complex nowadays, so it will become important for companies to figure out how they can increase the retention rate of their customers, thereby also increasing the customer lifetime value. This usually happens by facilitating repeat purchases of the same products, or by having a larger assortment, or more categories, that customers can purchase on a continuous basis.

Overall, the e-commerce industry is expected to continue to grow in 2023, and businesses will need to adapt to meet the demands of the digital marketplace. This will include things like mobile optimization, personalization, social commerce, same-day delivery, augmented reality, voice commerce, subscription-based models, AI integration, more branding focus and further investments in customer retention. As technology and consumer behavior continue to evolve, businesses will need to be agile and stay ahead of the curve in order to remain competitive.

How To Build A Startup: 10 Entrepreneurial Learnings to Consider

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Building a company from scratch can be highly exciting and terrifying at the same time. The path of entrepreneurship is unique for everyone, and the journey from creation to success varies from individual to individual. However, based on all the entrepreneurial brand launches we’ve had at Blazar Capital (a Copenhagen based D2C brand incubator), and based on my own entrepreneurial journey with co-creating Blazar Capital a well as other brands, there are some determinants that I believe are of utmost importance in order to increase the probability of creating a successful business – regardless of whether you are a first time, second time or third time entrepreneur. This article does therefore serve to go through how to build a startup from scratch based on reallife entrepreneural learnings.

1 – Passion is everything

Being passionate about what you are doing determines whether you will succeed or not in your entrepreneurial endeavors. Period. For most, entrepreneurship is not a sprint, and it’s not ‘just’ a marathon – it is an extreme sport. This means that if you don’t have the necessary passion, drive and energy towards the project you’re pursuing, the probability of your energy dissolving and you burning out will just become larger the further you get into the project. There’s no such thing as an easy path to entrepreneurial success, and I’ve rarely met any entrepreneurs who haven’t faced major challenges and struggles along the way during some stages of their journey. This is where resilience, persistency, and relentlessness come into the picture – something which isn’t easy to uphold if a genuine passion for the project isn’t present. However, there must be a balance between your passion and the business opportunity you seek to capitalize on. Even if the passion is there, one must ask themselves whether entrepreneurship is the right thing to pursue in the first place, and whether the business idea itself is objectively justified by the business opportunity itself. If you don’t have the passion to dedicate everything to your project, then it might not be worth exploring much regarding how to build a startup in the first place.

2 – Focus on the team

When commencing your entrepreneurial journey, it is essential that you have the right team and partners around you. If you are looking to build a startup together with others, it is important that you carefully select the right partners from the beginning. There’s no doubt that it is always a good idea to find one or more co-founders who have a complementary skillset to yours, rather than co-founders who possess a similar or closely related skillset. You have to remember that building a business from scratch requires a lot of interdisciplinary workstreams to be pursued, and in most cases, you won’t have the skills and/or experience to do everything by yourself – especially not when the company starts to develop and grow in size. Hence, a team that complement each other’s knowledge, skills and experience is important. And don’t forget, although entrepreneurship can be emotional and challenging, it is also one of the most engaging and fun endeavors you can experience – so make sure that you have people around that you’ll have a great and memorable time with, both during and after working hours.

3 – Establish an execution culture

Continuous execution is paramount for building momentum in a startup – especially in the early phases of the journey. In order to build an effective and efficient organization from a cultural perspective, you must combine a continuous strong sense of urgency in the daily execution with a concurrent ability to prioritize adequately and give the important workstreams and decisions the right attention needed to derive the desired outcomes. Having a holistic overview of all activities in the business, while prioritizing and executing based on an ‘impact-first’ principle will make you operate more effective and efficiently. Perfection is, in my opinion, the true enemy of execution. So even though several workstreams and areas of focus need to be done in a ‘thought through manner’, where deep thinking and execution must go hand in hand, operating based on the 80/20 pareto principle is still of value in the early stages of a startup to ensure that the ball keeps rolling. Everything does not necessarily have to be 100% spot-on in a startup before you can execute the next important workstream or project.

4 – Understand your playing field

Believing that you have a good idea, while having a strong passion for that idea is as mentioned in point one of utmost importance; however, understanding the business opportunity itself is in my opinion of equal importance. Jumping into the life of entrepreneurship is a big step, so before taking the leap, make sure that you have conducted a comprehensive market analysis in relation to your idea, so you are sure that your idea and concept has a ‘reason to be’. If you are jumping into a market where there is little to no demand for your product or service, or where creating the marketing itself will be a highly comprehensive journey, then it might be healthy for you to take a step back to reflect and re-think the project you’re about to pursue. What might have been a good idea during a brainstorming session or a eureka moment during your sleep might not be that fruitful of an idea after all once you understand the opportunity more objectively and quantitatively.

In my opinion, it is ideal to ensure that your idea is organized around a product or service that operate in a large and growing market, where you can position yourself as a unique alternative to your competitors. You can get an understanding of your market by reading different industry and market reports online, talking to industry experts, or talking to some of your potential customers. Moreover, I believe that you have a strong advantage if your product or service solves a problem and has a high repeat purchase rate, regardless of which industry you operate in, and regardless of whether your idea is product or service-based.

5 – Establish a thought through business model

Make sure to establish a strong business model and strategy that you believe will create value for your customers based on your initial market analysis. Regardless of which type of company you are building, you must ensure that your business model is competitive and that you have a clear positioning relative to your competitors. Establishing a company has technically never been easer from a development point of view, but never been harder from a competitive point of view – so although you might have a smooth process in terms of going from nothing to something, and although you might have a clear plan of execution ready, the positioning and business model of your brand will be essential to gain a competitive advantage relative to other players in the industry.

6 – Create a clear sales and marketing strategy – and test

Establishing a comprehensive sales and marketing strategy helps you get a more clear picture of what it is you want to communicate to your potential customers and how you want to do it. It is always a good idea to test out many different marketing channels and sales strategies in the early stages of your business to understand where you get the highest return on your investments. Of course, the extent to which you can test different marketing strategies in the early phases of your journey depends on the capital that’s available in the business. Try different channels both online and offline, and pursue a data-driven approach to get an understanding of where the performance is the highest based on your core metrics that you define in advance of your tests.

Some channels that can be tested out as part of your marketing strategy could be search engine optimization, pay per click marketing, programmatic display marketing, social media marketing (organic and paid, referral marketing, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, influencer marketing and ambassadorships, public relations, offline marketing (based on an out of home approach), and the like.

7 – Find the right investor for both capital, network and knowledge

If your objective is to establish a business, where external capital will be a core lever for your prospective growth, then it is highly recommended to spend a significant time on finding the right investor – not just from a capital allocation point of view, but also from a knowledge and competencies point of view. Make sure that the investors that you involve in your business are able to support and advise in core aspects of your business, and always work towards not selling off equity too cheap throughout the journey – keeping in mind the right balance between when to commence the fundraising process and when capital will run out. Pushing the fundraising process to the very last minute to maximize the share value can also back-fire as you might end up against a wall when time is running out. The longer you can bootstrap the business, the more value you can create over time to raise capital from the ‘right’ investor.

If you raise too much capital too quickly, you risk giving up a large share of your company’s equity at a too early stage – which hence might reduce your control of the business. The lost control can potentially be to the point where you no longer feel it’s your business any longer. This will most likely impact your motivation negatively, thereby affecting the performance in a down spiraling trajectory. So in general: Avoid raising capital too early, at too low valuation and from investors who you don’t believe fit in the organizations. I’ve met many founders who made such mistakes in the past, and it can really tend to impact the motivation negatively, which is unhealthy in an entrepreneurial journey considering how hard and long such journey already is.

8 – Spend money as if you were one financing round earlier on your journey

Even though you might be raising a large amount of capital during some stages of your entrepreneurial journey, it is important not to burn more than what is necessary. It can be tempting – and easy – to simply start increasing your marketing spend, your branding budget, your product development budget, hiring more employees, etc. in order to see the topline grow on the short term. However, doing this on the basis of a large continuous burn is simply just not sustainable, and neither is it acknowledged to the same extent to what we saw in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using capital based on the mindset that you are one round earlier that what might be the case in reality is therefore something that I highly recommend. So if you have raised a Series A, operate as if you had raised a seed round. If you have just raised a Series B, operate as if you had just raised a Series A. Deploy capital thoughtfully, in all avenues of the business.

9 – Drive your organization as if the time is running out

The time you have to drive and scale your organization is precious, which is why building a performance driven culture – in my opinion – is very valuable if you want to out-run your competitors. Developing a culture where people are working efficiently and almost are feeling as though “time is running out” can have a fruitful impact on the performance of the business. Of course, this is not meant in a way where people in the organization should feel as if they are under pressure – it is meant in a way where everyone in the organization run as fast as they can because they genuinely want to win the game. All value adding customer-facing initiatives which drive growth should always be deployed as quickly as possible after the employee(s) responsible for the change are comfortable with it being released – there’s no need to postpone such initiatives as it will just delay the launch of the next value-adding project. Of course, there will always be schedules in place, campaign plans to be followed, operational structures to considered, etc., but the mentality should always be that value-adding initiatives cannot get released too early.

10 – Build the right safety net before taking the entrepreneurial jump

This point is for the first time entrepreneurs. For the ones who are considering how to tackle there career from university and onwards. It’s a point that will not be applicable for all, but something which I personally found important: Build an academic and professional safety net before taking the entrepreneurial jump.

Of course, neither education nor experience is a prerequisite for becoming a highly successful entrepreneur. We all know about the university dropouts who anyhow became billionaires and changed the world in one way or another. However, I do believe that having an education and some professional experience gives you a strong advantage when jumping into the life of an entrepreneur. This is due to the following reasons:

  1. You will be better equipped to establish and grow a startup due to the knowledge you bring from your education and/or your previous professional experience (assuming your experience has been relevant in regards to your entrepreneurial endeavor);
  2. You will have more “ice in your stomach” as you will always have a safety net to fall back on in case your business fails (the worst case scenario suddenly isn’t that abad); and
  3. You will be a “safer” choice for investors, business partners, and the like to work with, increasing your chances of success a bit further compared to if your academic and professional backpack were to be empty (this is of course mostly valid

Moreover, I believe that the future of entrepreneurship to a large extent will become academic. Many of the highly demanded industries in which entrepreneurs are trying to build businesses are very complex – and hence require that you have a strong technical and professional background. That is regardless of whether you are building a business within E-commerce, DeepTech, FinTech, Analytics, MarTech, or the like. The academic experience will not necessarily have to come from universities – we see more and more talented individuals who’ve built their knowledge through available content on the internet, online courses, coaches, mentors and the like.

Native Advertising: A Guide On How To Integrate It Into Your Sales Funnel

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The Foundation

Native advertising has been around for a long time, and essentially one might consider something like Facebook or Twitter Ads native to their platforms as well – because the advertisement is placed among the organic content in the users feed – and thus native to the platform.

However, in Online Marketing Lingo we refer to Native Advertisement as, for instance, an “recommended for you” post at the bottom of a news article. Unlike display or banner ads – native ads don’t really look like ads, but rather like articles that are part of the editorial flow. This part is crucial for understanding the strategy behind running native ads. The key to a successful native advertisement is that it must be non-disruptive to what the user is trying to do on the platform, i.e consume high-quality content.

Understanding The Mindset of The User

Nobody goes to MSN or CNN to get bombarded with ads from a million different companies promoting their latest sale. Rather, they are looking to read and engage with interesting and value-adding articles

Therefore, that is exactly what you want to provide them with.

The Native Advertising Funnel

It comes without saying that after the user clicks on your advertisement, you will have to redirect them to an advertorial of yours – and NOT your brand page. Again, the users of these platforms are not interested in seeing your fancy branded landing page.

Now that we have cleared that, let’s move on to touch upon the strategies you can use on your advertorial.

Endorsements & Reviews

Every brand can scream and shout loudly about how great their brand and product is. However, in the mind of the consumer – everybody (without a strong brand) looks approximately the same, because they shout more or less the same things.

Therefore, instead of screaming about how great your product is, let others do the talking instead through endorsements and testimonials. This will enable the user, i.e your ideal customers, to trust your brand more – because other people have given it good reviews and endorsed it. For customer testimonials, you can showcase your reviews and score from review sites such as Trustpilot, Feefo, or Yotpo.

Calling Out The Problems and Needs of Your Audience

If your product or service solves a specific problem for your customers – be sure to call it out, both in the advertorial but also in the headline of your native ad if possible.

An example of this can be seen in the image beneath. The problem which Santander solves for their audience here is finding the money for home improvement projects – and the way they do it is to guide and teach their audience how they can get the best financing options.

Compare Your Product to Other Products in The Same Category, and Show Your Weaknesses

Showing where your product features fall short compared to the competition is not necessarily a bad thing to do in an advertorial. Instead, it will increase the trustworthiness of the advertorial (and publisher) as it shows that the advertorial is not biased and is trying to give a real and fair comparison to the user.

Likewise, you may include a section called “What our editorial team thinks about these products” as a way to give “expert-testimonials” about different products and where their respective strength and weaknesses are.

It goes without saying that both expert testimonials and rankings in product comparisons must stem from actual organic articles and real expert testimonials.

The Important Aspects of The Native Ad Itself

Before you twist, turn, and tweak your advertorial, you must first consider what the best approach is for getting users to actually visit the advertorial in the first place.

Here, you must have a strong focus on the copywriting in your ad and make sure that both the headline and the caption is “newsworthy”. Otherwise, what will end up happening, is that close to nobody will visit your advertorial in the first place.
Therefore, just as journalists spend a lot of time trying to come up with the best possible headline to capture eyeballs and get people to click, so shall you when making your ad.

Likewise, as there exists no such thing as a silver bullet in marketing – one shall keep testing different variations of creatives, headlines, descriptions, etc – until the best possible combination have been found. Luckily the advertising platforms provide A/B testing tools to help you in this process.

Remember, once again, that the placement of your ad is together with countless other articles and news, and thus your ad must blend in with the content of the platform.

For an overview of other types of marketing channels, I recommend that you visit the following page.

The Case for Incorporating More Marketplaces in Your Marketing Mix in 2022

Categories Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, General Marketing, InternationalizationLeave a Comment on The Case for Incorporating More Marketplaces in Your Marketing Mix in 2022

If there is one thing the last couple of years in Digital Marketing has taught us, it is that relying solely on one or two marketing channels, is a bad (and potentially disastrous) business strategy.

Therefore, one must not sit and wait until CPC and CPM prices on marketing channels reach the sky, but rather consistently and vigorously test and explore alternatives to the already established marketing channels. Otherwise, what will eventually happen is that your margins will become their margins, due to the very nature of the auction-based systems.

The purpose of this post is to introduce you to a variety of marketplaces that can be incorporated into your marketing mix to both fuel growth and make your business less dependent on the big advertisement players in e-commerce (Facebook, Google, Amazon).

The Case for Online Marketplaces – in General

First and foremost, let’s take a look at why being present on online marketplaces (Amazon included) can be highly beneficial for your brand in the first place.

  • 47% of digital purchases worldwide happened via online marketplace platforms. (Statista)
  • 14% of consumers would prefer to shop at an online marketplace for a first-time purchase. (Statista)
  • 37% would prefer to make repeat purchase at an online marketplace. (Statista

Now that shall be enough to convince any e-commerce owner or marketeer that taking a closer look at online marketplaces may not be a bad idea.

4 Online Marketplaces to Look Into Today (Amazon excluded)

ASOS

With distribution in over 235 countries and over 1650 brands listed on the platform, ASOS is very interesting marketplace to look into for fast-fashion brands. The median price of all brands on ASOS is USD $26, making it lucrative for brands those audience is looking for fast-fashion. The top categories on ASOS is jumpsuits, accesories, and shorts

Zalando

Another lucrative marketplace in the fashion space is the most visited marketplace in Europe with an average of 380 million visitors per month, namely Zalando. Although they are “only” distributing to 17 countries, the median price is relatively higher than on ASOS, at USD $48. The top categories on Zalando are shoes, dresses, and jumpsuits

Zalora

If you are looking for a stronger presence in the East, Zalora might just the marketplace you are looking for. It is the biggest marketplace in Southeast Asia and serve an average of 2 million customers month. They offer a wide range of categories from sportswear, fast fashion, to ethnicwear. The median price is at the same level of ASOS, at USD $26

Ebay

Moving a bit out of the fashion category, there is the second largest marketplace in the world, namely Ebay. The platform was initially focused on auctions and peer-to-peer selling, before transitioning to a model of online shopping similar to Amazon. The best-selling categories on Ebay is mobile phones & accesories, video games, health & beauty, and home & garden – so there is definately an opportunity to grab for brands in categories other than fashion here.

On a final note, there are many more marketplaces out here, and there is surely one or multiple marketplaces which your brand can benefit from – even though your product might serve a very niche category. As with everything else, remember to do your own research on the marketplaces and make sure that you are choosing the ones which are right for your business.

10 Largest International Online Marketplaces For Selling Your Products Globally

Categories Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, General Marketing, InternationalizationLeave a Comment on 10 Largest International Online Marketplaces For Selling Your Products Globally

Before the COVID-19 epidemic, internet marketplaces were already thriving, and they’ve only accelerated their growth since. According to a recent survey, 62.5% of global online spending occurred on international marketplaces like Amazon and eBay last year.

If you want to sell items online internationally, you have never had a better time. From personal skincare and cosmetics to apparel, interior design and electronics, there is a market for virtually everything you might want to offer online through marketplaces.

In this publication, we’ll look at some of the greatest international marketplaces to sell your items as well as how you can make the most of your efforts.

Are you unsure where to begin your search for the best global ecommerce marketplace? Let’s take a look at some of the industry’s major players. Even if none of them are suitable for you, you’ll have a point of reference to build on.

1. Amazon

Amazon is the most well-known E-Commerce marketplace in the United States, pulling in more than $125 billion in revenue during the last quarter of 2020. Amazon provides a large delivery range for selling internationally by having an amazing shipping infrastructure that sends to over 100 countries across the world. The marketplace also has various local stores, allowing you to target consumers in specific markets through a more localized approach. They do, as an example, have a website for Japan (www.amazon.co.jp), for France (www.amazon.fr) and for Mexico (www.amazon.com.mx), meaning that using the standard .com isn’t necessarily the only way to go.

Amazon provides a variety of tools to assist sellers. You may fulfill orders yourself or choose Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and have Amazon handle all product storage, packing, and shipping for you. You also have international sales management tools, such as tax collection.

2. eBay

While Amazon is the most well-known online shopping site, eBay is the second largest internal marketplace in the United States. While it lacks the same number of followers as Amazon, if you’re selling niche items that are meant to appeal to consumers who frequent eBay as their preferred market, this might be useful. The demographics on which eBay thrives include people

One of the benefits of selling on eBay is that fees are lower than those charged by other global marketplaces, making the platform ideal for businesses on a tight budget. On average, eBay’s fees amount to 10% to 15% of your total sales volume.

3. Cdiscount

Cdiscount is a rapidly expanding France-based online market that now has ten million active users. Vendors may use it to establish a shop with no start-up costs and no sales restrictions. In addition, you can list new and used items in various categories, with no limit on the number of goods in your catalog.

Cdiscount provides on-demand fulfillment where you deliver the items to their warehouses when a new purchase is made. The company then sends the order through its logistics system in 24 hours. Cdiscount is a fantastic choice for internet retailers looking to expand into France because of all this.

4. Zalando

Zalando is a German ecommerce firm with operations in 23 different nations throughout Europe. Fashion is the most popular area for Zalando’s online marketplaces, which offer a diverse range of items in many categories.

Zalando also has a professional, multilingual support staff to assist with seller registration. Shop setup and product listing are straightforward and quick with their help. Merchants may use Zalando Fulfillment Services (ZFS) to tap into Zalando’s global connections, expertise, and markets. ZFS is composed of comprehensive warehouse locations across Europe and has logistics and operations partners in various European countries.

5. Rakuten

Rakuten is an e-commerce company that sells to over a billion clients worldwide and operates in more than two dozen nations. As a result, it has earned the moniker “the Amazon of Japan.” Rakuten has a number of features that set it apart from other foreign marketplaces.

R-mail – Rakuten’s proprietary e-mail tool – helps sellers create and maintain relationships with buyers globally so that they can become loyal customers over time. The site offers a help center with an ecommerce consultant who can assist you in your seller’s journey. The marketplace also has a cashback program called Super Points that may help boost customer loyalty on the site.

6. T-Mall

T-Mall, a subsidiary of the E-Commerce website Taobao, was founded in 2008 under the Alibaba Group. Its primary target market is B2C (Business to Consumer). T-Mall’s goal is bold and prudent, as the platform allows both Chinese and non-Chinese firms to sell their items in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. T-Mall distinguishes out from the competition thanks to its rigorous standards for quality and reputation.

When we consider the rankings of China’s top websites based on traffic volume, it is apparent that T-Mall leads the pack, even compared to China’s most popular search engine, Baidu. Chinese consumers spend an average of 7 minutes per day using the app, which is more than twice as long as they spend on JD.com, which is one of T-Mall’s major competitors in China.

7. Flipkart

Flipkart is a prominent ecommerce business in India that made $4.6 billion in revenue in October 2021. The site began as an online bookstore before expanding into other product categories like apparel, furniture, grocery, and travel.

Flipkart offers a number of reasons to sell on its market. It has a simple user interface and charges nothing to set up a merchant profile. When you list an item, you may reach out to over 200 million users. You won’t have to worry about how you’re going to deliver items to your clients when you sell on Flipkart. Flipkart’s fulfillment network of 10,000 delivery agents and 200+ pick-up locations guarantees quick delivery of your items while also allowing you to protect yourself from losses through its Seller Protection coverage.

8. Mercado Libre

The most popular ecommerce platform in Latin America is Mercado Libre. Mercado Libre receives over 650 million monthly visits, with Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico accounting for 80% of those visits, according to a Web Retailer study.

Mercado Libre is an all-around internet store that features a wide range of items. It enables merchants to sell products in more than 150 categories, including fashion, electronics, sports goods, house and garden, and smartphones and accessories. It is possible for foreign companies to take payments in US dollars and provide services in local currency. Accepted members of Mercado Libre’s Global Selling program can receive these benefits and more by listing and collecting payments in US dollars.

9. Lazada

Lazada is a major online marketplace in Southeast Asia that was established in 2012. It is available in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

As the leader in the E-Commerce ecosystem in Southeast Asia, Lazada has 155,000 merchants and 3,000 brands serving more than 550 million consumers through its marketplace platform. With more than 300 million SKUs available, Lazada has the most comprehensive selection of goods in numerous categories including consumer electronics, household items, toys, fashion, sports equipment, and food.

10. Blibli

Blibli is one of the most popular online marketplaces in Indonesia, with thousands of items available to purchasers from across 15 different categories. Because to its emphasis on selling genuine, branded items, it’s recognized for being a reliable vendor.

Blibli has a worldwide seller program to assist international vendors expand their operations in Indonesia. You may list products for free, but you must have a valid business registration and bank account to join the program. As an international seller, you can ship your items to Blibli’s fulfillment center, which delivers throughout Indonesia and provides 24 hour local-language customer service support.

Buy Now, Pay Later: 6 Reasons Why Your Website Needs It Right Away

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As your online store get bigger and bigger, you’ll definitely want to explore new and different strategies to attract more consumers and subsequently increase the top line. Adding additional payment methods – in particular alternative payment methods (APM’s) at your website is one way to do it. The introduction of buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment methods to the market has shown its value in the last couple of years, and if you own a business where your average order value (AOV) is around the $100 mark or more, then this is absolutely something that you should be considering.

What is buy now, pay later?

Buy now, pay later allows your customers to make purchases right away while paying over time through instalments, allowing you as a business to get paid upfront and in full without taking the risk of potential defaults. It’s a fantastic approach to make high-ticket consumer products and services more affordable while also increasing your overall cart value and pleasing existing and new consumers with greater financial flexibility. The immense benefit that the payment method is providing makes have made more and more business adopt it in the past years.

But how does BNPL exactly work, and how can it benefit your business? In this article, I’ll go through everything you need to know about the payment type, and what you should be aware of prior to adopting it to your business.

How does buy now, pay later work and which providers can you choose?

The name says it all. Buy now, pay later services are a credit payment structure that gives consumers greater financial control and purchasing power by being allowed to pay over time through instalments. You as a business are essentially allowing consumers to purchase your products or services today and make payments in stages, which gives them more freedom to shop your site as less capital has to be provided up front. BNPL payments are usually divided into four to six interest-free instalments, but the payback time really differs from provider to provider, from industry to industry, and the like.

To start accepting BNPL on your E-Commerce site, you must pick between a number of different BNPL providers, such as Affirm, SplitIt, Afterpay, Klarna and ViaBill. Depending on where you are located, you may select from a variety of alternatives, and in case you are targeting customers in multiple countries, you might even want to add several different BNPL providers to your website. Shoppers can then pick the provider that works best for them, finish the transaction, and start making payments over time. Your business will always get the full payment upfront, minus the fees that the payment providers requires.

The 6 reasons for why you should add BNPL to your online store

1. Large opportunity to drive more revenue

Adding BNPL to your store will most likely allow you to tap into a new audience base, that might not have been as likely to purchase from you in the past in case your products or services are in the more expensive side of the cost spectrum. This is especially seen in the furniture and home decor industry, consumer electronics, high-end fashion, and the like. When consumers are allowed to split their payments, they’re more likely to make larger purchases. A $2,000 item is far more appealing when it can be divided and paid in ten $200 instalments.

2. Increased average order value (AOV) and conversion rate (CR)

Numerous studies have assessed and concluded that BNPL increases the average order value, and in particular the conversion rate, on higher value items. Buy now, pay later is a clever technique to split the total sum of your clients’ purchases. When consumers fill up their carts, the total may mount up to be quite significant. Knowing they have the option of dividing their bill interest free encourages them to keep shopping, increase the basket size, and completing the purchase.

3. Minimum risk for you

From the standpoint of the business adopting the payment method, one of the most worrisome aspects regarding completing online purchases before receiving payment is what would happen if the consumer did not pay – i.e., defaulted. Because you’ll always receive the full payment up front with BNPL, this danger is minimized. BNPL pays you straight and takes care of non-paying clients. Most BNPL providers even cover the risk of fraud and chargebacks, so the risk is really minimal. Of course, since the BNPL provider takes up the full risk, this will also be reflected in the fee that they will charge in order for you to be able to apply their service.

4. More flexibility at checkout

Consumers are generally becoming more demanding when it comes to having more payment options available on a website. Combining BNPL with other payment alternatives gives shoppers greater financial freedom and may also increase the possibility for repeat purchases and hence als the life time value (LTV) of your customers. They’ll appreciate the option to select, and you’ll gain customer acquisitions and loyalty in return over time.

BNPL’s popularity is on the rise, with more and more online businesses adding it as a convenient payment option. As your competitors implement this popular payment method and include BNPL on their websites, you don’t want to be left in the dust. This may result in missed sales opportunities and reduced consumers loyalty. For more information about payment methods in general, you can read this article about ‘The 6 Most Common Online Payment Options’ and for information about local payment methods across multiple countries, I’ve also created the following article: ‘Local E-Commerce Payment Methods To Consider When Internationalizing’.

Additional marketing value is also something that should be considered. Some providers will add your products to their online network once you connect their BNPL to your store, allowing visitors of their website to get introduced to your brand. Klarna as an example have their own shopping universe, where your products could be featured as well.

6. Increased trust

As mentioned in one of my other articles about trust badges, payment methods added to a website do also create value as a trust badge. When consumers see trustworthy, reputable payment method being available on a website, this will also increase the general consumer trust towards a brand. Considering how much the demand for BNPL solutions have increased in the past years, and how large some of the providers have become (e.g., Klarna, Afterpay, and the like) these providers will only increase the trust towards your site further.

The 5 most effective types of e-commerce offers and promotions

Categories Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, E-Commerce Optimization, General MarketingLeave a Comment on The 5 most effective types of e-commerce offers and promotions

Running promotions and offering deals from time to time is very common within the consumer space, and is sometimes a necessity in order for your business to succeed in case your brand pull isn’t large enough for the business to run without any types of deals or promotions. The most popular and highly successful deal and promotion types will therefore be outlined in this article, so that you know what to consider when pursuing certain campaigns throughout the year. Please note, what we cover here are the deal / promotions types and structures, and not the campaign theme’s themselves. For information about which types of campaigns you can run throughout the year and combined with some of the offer types that are outlined in this article, I suggest that you read the following article: ‘The Complete E-Commerce Marketing Calendar for 2022‘.

Percentage discount

A percentage discount is flexible; you may give a specific percentage value off of a particular product or the entire purchase. You can grab your consumers attention by using smaller percentage discount values (such as 10% off or more), while bigger discounts (think +50% off or more) are ideal for large sales seasons like Black Friday or to simply liquidating slow moving unsold items.

If you sell goods on your Shopify store, I recommend choosing between giving a percentage or dollar discount for each item. Use a percentage price reduction if the item you’re discounting originally costs less than $200. If it costs more than $200, use a dollar discount instead. This approach helps customers see the most value for their money.

Dollar value discount

Offering a dollar-value reduction, such as $10 off, may make customers feel like they’re receiving “free money” rather than simply saving it through a percentage discount. There is no doubt that adding strong discount values to your site can increase the conversion rate and the overall revenue value quite substantially.

You can either make the offer permanent or contingent on how much a customer spends, for example, by offering $10 off orders over $100 and $25 off orders over $150 at the same time. The latter approach may help you increase the average order value by encouraging consumers to put more items in their carts to receive a bigger discount.

It’s important to remember that such strong percentage or dollar value discount campaigns can reduce your margins significantly, and your brand is also at the risk of being diluted if the discount values are too large, and/or if the frequency of your discounted campaigns are too high.

Buy One, Get One – BOGO

The acronym BOGO stands for “buy one, get one.” A BOGO discount might be expressed as “Buy one, get one 50% off,” whereas another option is “Buy two shirts at full price and receive the third for $10.” This deal format encourages customers to buy additional items and spend more than they had initially intended.

Free gift with purchase

Another excellent approach to increase sales is to provide a free gift with purchase. For brands which are hesitant when it comes to offering discounts, this is an excellent way of increasing conversions by framing the “discount” as a gift with purchase – it is essentially the same as a BOGO campaign, just framed differently. Offering items as gifts is also a great method to sell unsold inventory. This present can be a mystery or something that is transparent when purchasing; however, according to studies published in the University of Miami, offering a mystery gift with purchase has the potential to boost the conversion rate even further compared to if the gift is presented upfront, in certain industries.

I recommend including a free present when a purchase minimum is met. This encourages consumers to add more products to their cart, thereby increasing the average order value of the purchase. Furthermore, the Journal of Marketing discovered that individuals who received a product for free discussed it 20% more than those who paid for it — this is essentially also free word of mouth advertising!

Free shipping

Free delivery can be one of the most successful kinds of deals, and something that I would almost always recommend to do – as a fixed strategy. One of the primary reasons customers abandon their carts before finishing checkout is because of high shipping fees. While many shops always provide a free shipping option, offering limited-time discounts on shipping charges as a special promotion for those who don’t may be a smart idea. You may as an example always have free delivery if a certain threshold is met, and the from time to time have free delivery on all orders, if the conversion rate is to be boosted further from time to time.

An interesting fact is that customers are more likely to accept a free shipping incentive than a $10 total purchase discount, even if the cost of delivery is less. Even if shipping charges are lower than $10, customers may find a free shipping deal more appealing, and if the free shipping is dependent on a certain order value, you may use this as an instrument to increase the average order value. Making sure you have the appropriate ecommerce fulfilment approach in place so that the experience of the free shipping is smooth for the customer. A bad shipping experience can often result in bad reviews, and ultimately also in the customer not returning even though the products expectations are met.

The Complete E-Commerce Marketing Calendar for 2022

Categories Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, General MarketingLeave a Comment on The Complete E-Commerce Marketing Calendar for 2022

This is a comprehensive list of holidays and retail marketing events that can be used in your campaign planning for the year of 2022. The breadth of events in the list below is quite significant, as it serves to cover a wide array of areas, industries, seasons, and geographies.

If you own an e-commerce company, you know how essential it is to have a promotional calendar in place in order for your website to be fully up to date and seasonally relevant, and for your marketing activities to be effective – thereby increasing the chances to achieve your sales objectives. The most successful businesses plan their sales and marketing activities far ahead of time. As you know, failing to plan is planning to fail!

This is exactly why I’ve compiled the most comprehensive month-by-month retail shopping event calendar that’s available – the holidays and events are based on national holidays, discounting seasons, awareness creation possibilities, a potential CSR focus, and the like.

All sales dates for Amazon sellers and E-Commerce store owners are included. So you’ll know exactly when and how to charm your consumers and boost your income in 2022.

January

January is one of the most popular months for online shoppers and sellers alike, as consumers search for ways to spend their Christmas money and use gift cards. Post-holiday sales entice savvy buyers looking for products at a good price. And this might be a fantastic way to get your brand in front of new consumers.

Also, most of us spend money on our new year’s resolutions. Veganuary and Dry January are excellent opportunities to promote your goods to customers who are looking to reach their new health objectives. Health supplements, beauty products, and the like also tend to perform very well in the month of January, and it is in fact the largest month of the year for many brands within these industries.

If your business has a presence in Japan, then Fukubukuro (a lucky bag campaign) also makes very much sense to explore, as the excitement on such lucky bags is quite significant.

Key dates in January 2022:

  • 1st January – New Year’s Day
  • 1st of January – Fukubukuro (Japan)
  • 1st – 31st January – Dry January
  • 1st – 31st January – Veganuary
  • 2nd of January – National Science Fiction Day
  • 6th January – National Shortbread Day
  • 16th January – Religious Freedom Day
  • 17th January – Blue Monday
  • 17th January – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • 21st January – National Hugging Day
  • 24th January – National Peanut Butter Day
  • 25th January – Burns Night
  • 26th January – Australia Day
  • 27th January – Chocolate Cake Day

February

February is a month where most January resolutions usually have been given up on, and the winter depression is likewise starting to peak in many geographies. It is, however, a month for lovers, footballers, and sweet tooths alike. From World Nutella Day to Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day – the opportunities are many. This month, you have the freedom to let your imagination run wild and take advantage of sales incentives on your best sellers to increase your income. However, there are also other more charitable events than can be used to promote your CSR initiatives, and can allow you to simply just give back to society: World Cancer Day, Random Act of Kindness Day, and the like are here some examples than can be considered.

Key dates in February 2022:

  • 1st February – Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger)
  • 1st – 28th February – Black History Month (United States and Canada)
  • 1st – 28th February – LGBT History Month (United Kingdom)
  • 4th February – World Cancer Awareness Day
  • 5th February – World Nutella Day
  • 6th February – Yorkshire Pudding Day
  • 9th February – National Pizza Day
  • 13th February – Super Bowl Sunday
  • 14th February – Valentine’s Day
  • 15th February – Singles Awareness Day
  • 17th February – Random Act of Kindness Day
  • 20th February – Love Your Pet Day
  • 21st February – Presidents’ Day (United States)

March

Many people are looking forward to the first days with temperatures above 20 degrees, which many hope will be followed by more pleasant weather. So, why not use this happy mood to send out some emails on International Women’s Day or Mother’s Day to remind your customers of your store and encourage them to buy presents for their loved ones? You may also use Saint Patrick’s Day to your advantage by including (green) color in your advertisements. March is also the month where many brands in especially fashion and accessories launch their Spring/Summer 2022 (SS22) collections. What else is there to do if that isn’t a broad opportunity to mix things up?

Key dates in March 2022:

  • 1st March – Shrove Tuesday
  • 1st March – St David’s Day
  • 1st March – Pancake Day
  • 2nd March – Ash Wednesday
  • 3rd March – World Book Day
  • 3rd March – World Wildlife Day
  • 8th March – International Women’s Day
  • 10th March – Popcorn Lovers Day
  • 13th March – BAFTA’s
  • 17th March – St Patrick’s Day
  • 20th March – First Day of Spring
  • 21st March – World Poetry Day
  • 23rd March – World Puppy Day
  • 25th March – International Waffle Day
  • 27th March – Mother’s Day (United Kingdom)
  • 27th March – BST starts

April

After a quarter (Jan-Mar) with a wide array of large campaigns ranging from Chinese New Year to Valentines Day and the launch of SS22, April is a month with various smaller holidays that can be used as campaign opportunities. April Fool’s Day is a great chance for you and your brand(s) to demonstrate how inexpensive your goods might be. If that isn’t your thing, you may focus on selling Easter presents to customers in the week before Easter Sunday instead. Earth Day is also a great opportunity to promote your sustainable initiatives at a great extent – many brands are even using April to celebrate ‘Earth Month’.

Key dates in April 2022:

  • 1st April – April Fool’s Day
  • 1st April – Diversity Month
  • 3rd April – Ramadan Begins
  • 7th April – World Health Day
  • 10th April – Siblings Day
  • 11th April – National Pet Day
  • 15th April – Good Friday
  • 17th April – Easter Sunday
  • 18th April – Easter Monday
  • 19th April – Bicycle Day
  • 21st April – National Tea Day
  • 22nd April – Earth Day
  • 23rd April – St George’s Day
  • 23rd April – World Book Day
  • 28th April – National Superhero Day
  • 29th April – 5th May – Golden Week (Japan)

May

With temperatures hitting the 20-degree mark on a regular basis, why not rejoice the return of summer sentiments with World Cocktail Day, which has been long awaited? Alternatively, if drinking isn’t your thing, you may send your customers back to the kitchen with shopping products around National Biscuit Day or World Baking Day. If your brand is based in the United States or Canada, then Mother’s Day is also a great option.

Key dates in May 2022:

  • 1st May – End of Ramadan
  • 1st May – Mental Health Awareness Month
  • 1st May – Labour Day (United Kingdom)
  • 1st May – World Laughter Day
  • 2nd May – Early May Bank Holiday (United Kingdom)
  • 4th May – Star Wars Day
  • 5th May – Cinqo De Mayo
  • 7th May – National Fitness Day
  • 8th May – Mothers Day (United States, Canada and Australia)
  • 11th May – National Eat What You Want Day
  • 13th May – World Cocktail Day
  • 16th May – International Day of Light
  • 17th May – World Baking Day
  • 20th May – World Bee Day
  • 25th May – World Wine Day
  • 29th May – National Biscuit Day
  • 30th May – Memorial Day
  • 31st May – Spring Bank Holiday

June

June is the month when our retail marketing calendar gets busier. Father’s Day, World Environment Day, National Beer Day, and the beginning of summer are all significant dates to remember during this period. If you’re ready to participate in a month-long campaign, why not sponsor your local LGBTQ pride community to help promote your business?

Key dates in June 2022:

  • 1st June – Global Day of Parents
  • 1st June – 30th – LGBTQ Pride Month
  • 2nd June – Spring Bank Holiday
  • 3rd June – Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday
  • 3rd June – National Donut Day
  • 5th June – World Environment Day
  • 11th June – World Gin Day
  • 14th June – Flag Day (United States)
  • 15th June – National Beer Day (United Kingdom)
  • 19th June – Father’s Day
  • 20th June – Juneteenth (United States)
  • 21st June – International Day of Yoga
  • 21st June – Summer Solstice
  • 21st June – Beginning of Summer
  • 21st June – World Music Day
  • 22nd – 26th June – Glastonbury Festival
  • 25th June – Midsummer’s Day
  • 27th June – Wimbledon Starts (ends 10th July)

July

July may appear to be a relatively quiet month if your products aren’t seasonal towards this period (i.e., sunglasses, bathing shorts, BBQ equipment, etc.); however, you should take advantage of it to replenish your stock and develop marketing strategies for the following school season. You may still engage your consumers in July by utilizing World Chocolate Day or the start of the school holidays as a hook for sales campaigns.

Key dates in July 2022:

  • 1st July – Canada Day
  • 2nd Jule – Made in the United States Day
  • 4th July – American Independence Day
  • 6th July – International Kissing Day
  • 7th July – World Chocolate Day
  • 11th – 12th July – Amazon Prime Day (Estimated based on 2021)
  • 14th July – Bastille Day (France)
  • 17th July – World Emoji Day
  • 25th July – School Holidays (differs per school)
  • 26th July – Back to School (ends early September)
  • 30th July – Islamic New Year
  • 30th July – International Day of Friendship
  • 31st July – National Avocado Day

August

It’s all too easy to be caught up in the holiday spirit while your consumers are travelling and enjoying their days and weeks off. Thankfully, although people are travelling the world thin, the consumers are still active on the internet and browsing through products across most industries. However, you may need to become more precise about who you want to communicate with and target, as the campaign opportunities in August are limited, the consumer budgets tights (due to holiday spendings) and people still being distracted in the spirit of holidays.

Key dates in August 2022:

  • 1st August – Summer Bank Holiday (Scotland)
  • 1st August – Black Business Month
  • 5th August – International Beer Day
  • 8th August – International Cat Day
  • 9th August – Book Lovers Day
  • 19th August – World Photography Day
  • 19th August – World Humanitarian Day
  • 21st August – World Senior Citizens’ Day
  • 25th August – National Burger Day
  • 26th August – International Dog Day
  • 29th August – Summer Bank Holiday

September

With most consumers returning from vacations, their children must return to school. That’s the ideal time to give your customers some special offers and price cuts. If you’re in the food business (or have a marketing team that’s creative), World Guacamole Day adds a little spice to things, or if you have products that compliments students, then launching a back to school campaign also makes very much sense. September is also the month where various fashion and accessory brands drop their Autumn / Winter 2022 (AW22) collections.

Key dates in September 2022:

  • 1st September – Autumn Begins
  • 1st September – Self Improvement Month
  • 1st September – Friendship Month
  • 5th September – Back to School (differs per school)
  • 5th September – Labour Day (United States)
  • 6th September – Read a Book Day
  • 11th September – Grandparents’ Day
  • 12th September – National Chocolate Milkshake Day
  • 16th September – World Guacamole Day
  • 17th September – Octoberfest Begins
  • 27th September – World Tourism Day
  • 30th September – International Podcast Day

October

October has a number of interesting ecommerce sales dates, including Diwali in India and Halloween where you can offer exciting offers such as mystery discounts. International Coffee Day is also an option to tie coffee samples to your deliveries if you want to raise the energy levels of your customers. You may also use this method with your vegetarian consumer base during World Vegetarian Day.

Pumpkin Day and Halloween are confirmed methods to run special sales and deals on seasonal items at the end of the month.

Key dates in October 2022:

  • 1st – 31st October – Black History Month (United Kingdom)
  • 1st – 31st October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month
  • 1st – 31st October – Go Sober for October (Stopober)
  • 1st October – International Coffee Day
  • 1st October – World Vegetarian Day
  • 4th October – World Animal Day
  • 10th October – World Mental Health Day
  • 10th October – Columbus Day (United States)
  • 10th October – Indigenous Peoples’ Day (United States)
  • 10th October – Canadian Thanksgiving
  • 16th October – World Food Day
  • 22nd October – National Nut Day
  • 24th October – Diwali
  • 25th October – World Pasta Day
  • 26th October – National Pumpkin Day
  • 29th October – National Cat Day
  • 30th October – BST ends
  • 31st October – Halloween

November

November is for many businesses the busiest, most thrilling, and anxiety-facilitating month of the year. There’s nothing else in the year that brings as much activity, excitement, or tension as Singles Day in China, or Black Friday in most parts of the world. Make sure your inventory levels and sales plans are well planned and ready for execution. The week leading up to Black Friday is just as hectic as Black Friday itself. Make sure your most popular items are marked down and advertised effectively, and ensure to stretch your campaign all the way to Cyber Monday, even if you don’t sell technology. Those occasions aren’t designed to give small discounts, but rather an opportunity for consumers to make some of the best bargains during the year. Since margins can be quite squeezed when discounting heavily, it is recommended that you organise your discounts around a ‘gift with purchase’ element, or through a ‘buy one, get one’ (BOGO) structure. For more about different offer / promotional types you can consider during discounting seasons, I suggest you read through the following article: ‘The 5 most effective types of e-commerce offers and promotions‘.

Key dates in November 2022:

  • 1st – 30th November – Movember (Men’s Health Awareness Month)
  • 1st November – World Vegan Day
  • 5th November – Guy Fawkes Night
  • 8th November – United States Mid-Term Elections
  • 11th November – Remembrance Day
  • 11th November – Singles Day (Mainly China, but starting to become global. Also known as 11:11)
  • 13th November – Remembrance Sunday
  • 13th November – World Kindness Day
  • 19th November – International Men’s Day
  • 21st November – FIFA World Cup Begins
  • 24th November – Thanksgiving (United States)
  • 25th November – Black Friday
  • 25th November – Small Business Saturday
  • 28th November – Cyber Monday
  • 29th November – Giving Tuesday
  • 30th November – St Andrew’s Day

December

You’ve hopefully hit your sales targets by now after a hectic month of Black Friday and potentially even Singles Day. And if you haven’t, don’t be concerned. Demand is still extremely high, as everyone searches for Christmas presents for their family members. Make sure you advertise and discount your most giftable items with a clear lead-time guarantee so that your consumers are aware of when they can expect their purchase to arrive prior to Christmas.

Key dates in December 2022:

  • 1st December – Holiday Seasons Gears Up
  • 3rd December – Make A Gift Day
  • 4th December – National Cookie Day
  • 12th December – Green Monday
  • 14th December – Christmas Jumper Day
  • 14th December – National Free Shipping Day (United States)
  • 17th December – Super Saturday
  • 18th – 26th December – Hanukkah
  • 21st December – Winter Solstice
  • 24th December – Christmas Eve
  • 25th December – Christmas Day
  • 26th December – Boxing Day (United Kingdom)
  • 26th December – Kwanzaa
  • 28th December – Bank Holiday
  • 31st December – New Year’s Eve

How To Make Ads That Stop the Scroll On Facebook and Instagram

Categories Digital Marketing, General Marketing, Paid Social Media MarketingLeave a Comment on How To Make Ads That Stop the Scroll On Facebook and Instagram

One of your main priorities as an advertiser is to prevent people from scrolling past whatever you want to show them. There is obviously no chance that individuals will engage with your marketing materials through likes, comments, shares, and so on, unless people actually stop to take a look at what it is you have to tell them. Your creative material, your copywriting, and your purpose is here key to ensure make a relevant audience stop op and engage.

Consider it for a moment. People are undoubtedly browsing Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc., while they walk down the street or while engaging in other activities. Out attention span has become worse than that of a goldfish.. So, how can we as marketers grab people’s’ attention when their attention spans have become so extremely limited?

Here are 8 strategies that have worked well for me in order to make your advertising perform.

1. Using a Variety of Colours

On every feed, a wide range of colors will stand out. Although your brand might be minimalist by nature, or very limited in general when it comes to colours and the overall visual expression, there’s most often a way to fit a range of colours into the advertising without making it off-brand. Having standard, medium quality marketing material with no edge will most likely not make your audience stop nowadays.

2. High Contrast Photos

You may boost the contrast of any photo by 20-30% to instantly attract more attention to your ads. This strategy goes hand in hand with the more extreme colour selection in the content you create. The main point is really to make your material stand out compared to the average content out there.

3. Strong product focus

If you are differentiating your brand by having a selection of products that truly stand out, then make sure to showcase those products very clearly in your advertising. Combine it with some interesting colour varieties that fit into your brand, and make sure it’s of high contrast, then you will most likely make more people stop and actually engage with the content. Think of Apple. They tresure their design position more than anything, which is why the small nitty gritty details of all their products are shows very clearly in all their advertising material. When they promote their Apple Watch as an example, they might use some lifestyle images where they showcase it on people doing sports, etc., but their main content that they advertise will always be very high quality, close-up product shots – often composed through renderings, and showcased through video content.

4. Use of Spacing

If you want your items to be noticed, make sure there is adequate spacing around them, almost putting your products on a “pedestal”. Apple are once again world-class when it comes to portraying products in this way, and so are brands like Bang & Olufsen and Nike. If you think about it, the content they usually push – especially the product focused content – is never busy in its nature.

5. Power in The First 2 Seconds

When using video material in once advertising, it is of utmost important that the first 2-3 seconds (and even the first second) are super captivating and eye catching. Again, peoples attention span is very limited, so the more intriguing the first second of your video is, the larger the chance that you will make a user stop in his / her feed. If you have a master ad, or a couple of videos that you know are of good quality, then it is very worthwhile to make various versions of those videos, where you simply change the first 1-3 seconds from video to video, allowing you to make a proper A/B split test on which beginnings work the best.

6. Thumbnail

This point goes hand in hand with the aforementioned point. The thumbnail of a video is essentially what you see before the first second of the video is activated. Facebook videos are powerful, but some argue that the thumbnail is even more important. So make sure that you together with the first seconds of your video material also test out different thumbnails to evaluate if some perform better than others.

7. Symmetry

We humans are accustomed to viewing things in a vertical and horizontal perspective. Playing with the angles of photographs and aspects of your advertising may pique people’s interest in your material. Make sure that whatever you portray is aesthetically pleasing to look at – and this does also go very much hand in hand with point 4.

8. Happy Individuals

According to several studies, smiling individuals boost the appeal of your products / services considerably. We are naturally drawn to people who are happy, so take advantage of this fact in your marketing campaigns. I’ve personally not tested this at a great extent, but it’s indeed worthwhile to give it a shot.

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the like are highly visual platforms! With the aforementioned ideas, you can with a higher likelihood promote your products or services successfully. These suggestion can for many seem basic, but they should ensure that people will stop scrolling on their feed and click on your ads. You need to make your brand stick out in the abundance of content which is available on all social platforms nowadays, and the aforementioned 8 points can help you realise that.

The Benefits of Shopify – 11 Reasons Why You Should Choose This Platform

Categories E-Commerce, E-Commerce Optimization, EntrepreneurshipLeave a Comment on The Benefits of Shopify – 11 Reasons Why You Should Choose This Platform

It’s not an easy choice when it comes to selecting an e-commerce platform, especially if you want it to be cost-effective while also having outstanding assistance and the ability to be scalable for the future. As of 2021, there are numerous E-Commerce platforms available on the market, including Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop, WIX and WooCommerce – each of which have their pros and cons. Shopify, however, is in my opinion the absolut best platform to go for when starting from scratch, and here’s why.

1. Extremely Quick/Easy to Set Up and Utilize

Shopify makes it simple to set up an e-commerce store without the issues that comes with having your own servers or development expenses that come with self-hosted platforms like Magento. The admin interface is simple and user-friendly, and it’s quite easy to understand, meaning that even if you don’t have experience with operating an e-commerce platform, then you will most surely learn it quite quickly by using Shopify.

2. No Tech Worries Whatsoever – Focus on What Matters!

Some great news! To establish a basic Shopify store, you don’t need any technical expertise; Shopify does everything for you. Not only is this convenient, but it’s likely that Shopify’s hosting will be faster and more secure than what you could achieve on your own, as well as easily accommodating any spikes in traffic. The Shopify app updates are also handled by the platform. So you can concentrate on on building your brand and promoting your products / services without having to worry about technical difficulties.

3. Reliable and Secure Platform

If you run an E-Commerce business, you’ll be handling delicate consumer information such as credit card numbers and impatient customers. This implies your website must be quick, safe, and always accessible. One of the biggest benefits of using a hosted solution is the degree to which it is reliable. The hosting for your store will be handled by Shopify. It will maintain and upgrade your site and shopping cart to ensure that they are accessible at all times, and that pages load quickly.

Shopify includes a secure connection with SSL certificates, which can be used to encrypt all data and send it via a secure link. Shopify also takes care of PCI compliance for you (needed when dealing with credit cards).

4. Accurate Marketing Tracking

For many, this might not seem as an obvious variable when considering which E-Commerce platform to go with, but it is in fact a variable that is of utmost importance. Having accurate tracking when it comes to ones marketing activities across various platforms (e.g., Facebook advertising, PPC, etc.) is extremely important in order to navigate your business in the right direction, and Shopify does allow you to plug in most of your marketing platform seamlessly, ensuring that the tracking is properly in place from the beginning. When using more open source based platforms like Magento, or when building a store from scratch, there are much greater risks associated with getting the integrations done inadequately, resulting in your tracking being off, which ultimately results in you operating blindfolded. I am personally aware of two major E-Commerce brands, which purposefully switched to Shopify mainly due to the need for more accurate and reliable tracking.

5. Mobile Optimized From The Beginning

Today, mobile visits to websites are more common than desktop visits. It is critical, not optional, to have a mobile optimized website. Shopify understands this. All of Shopify’s themes are mobile responsive and the platform includes a free built-in mobile commerce shopping cart, ensuring that your store looks great on all devices and your consumers can shop without any hassles.

There are also free iPhone and Android applications that allow you to manage your store on the move if desired.

6. Customizable

There are +150 Shopify themes to pick from in the Shopify Theme Store (both free and paid), as well as hundreds more on sites like ThemeForest. Each theme is also fully modifiable, allowing you to create a stunning and distinctive online store that complements your company’s image.

7. App’s For Almost Everything

The app store for Shopify is a gold mine of capabilities that you may use to enhance your business. You can add customer feedback, loyalty programs, purchase wishlists, receive detailed statistics, print labels and packing slips, connect with accounting software, shipping systems, and social media sites, among other things. Over 1,500 apps are available, so whatever you want to accomplish is most likely already covered. Many of them are free, but over half of them are priced.

8. Various SEO & Marketing Tools Available

It’s great to have a well performing, good looking online store, but if no one visits you’ll be closing up your business soon. Shopify has some of the most advanced Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tools available, which will assist your website rank higher in search results and allow customers to find you organically. You’ll be able to use a variety of marketing and data tools to tell where your customers are coming from, allowing you to adjust your marketing accordingly.

The Shopify app store currently includes a number of marketing resources, including social media integration, product reviews, and email marketing. Shopify offers you the option to develop discount codes by default. Gift certificates are available at the next level up. Social media icons are included in all themes. If you’re concerned about the amount of time it takes to manage digital marketing, Shopify Kit is also available to assist. It serves as a virtual employee, suggesting and executing marketing activities based on your items, audience, and store performance.
For more information about SEO tools that you should consider to use, i suggest you go through the following article: ‘Best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools For E-Commerce‘

9. Standard Abandoned Cart Recovery Flow

What if a customer adds something to their basket but then leaves without making a purchase? According to statistics, over two-thirds of potential clients will do this. Shopify offers an abandoned checkout cart recovery solution that automatically monitors and notifies these possible customers to encourage them to make a purchase; it’s an easy way to increase sales.

10. Various Payment gateways

Shopify has partnerships with numerous payment processors, but it also includes its own Stripe-powered system. If you choose this option, you will not be charged any transaction fees and will receive lower credit card processing costs. It also doesn’t need a merchant account to use. For more about payment options, please go to the following page: ‘The 6 Most Common Online Payment Options‘

11. Customer Support 24/7

Customers are another key advantage of using Shopify. Customer support at both Shopify and WordPress is fantastic. They’re accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and response time is quick, so your company is never alone. You can reach out to them by phone, email or online chat. There are also a number of community discussion boards, as well as extensive documentation in the Shopify Help Center and a host of professional Shopify University courses.