What works and what doesn't work e-commerce? Vendors' patents for winning customers

Positioning. Facebook promotion. Advertising campaigns. Price promotions. Online auctions. Price comparison engines. Interesting graphic design. Writing a blog. Collaborating with influencers... There are so many ways to attract customers to an e-store that you don't know where to start. Here are the methods that sellers on the Shoper platform think are the most effective.

The Internet has changed a lot in our lives, but it has not turned the rules of doing business upside down - this is the conclusion of the opinions of several hundred online store owners surveyed for the Shoper 2018 report "Multi Challenges." When asked what they think has the greatest impact on sales, they most often (49 percent of responses) pointed to systematic enrichment of the offer and high level customer service. That is, the essence of commerce for thousands of years.

However, the rest of the vendors' answers already deal with actions typical of the 21st century and the specifics of online commerce. In an interesting way, they show that the e-commerce industry agrees on which methods work and which do not.

- The report shows that only 4 percent of retailers do not conduct any activities to attract customers to their store. The vast majority use a whole range of them - from Facebook promotion to participation in trade shows. Behind the owners' belief in the effectiveness of some methods is analysis using professional tools, often it is simply intuition. However, their experience-backed preferences already give some guidance to beginners on how to develop e-business, says Dominik Cisoń, Customer Success Specialist at Shoper.

What works

Nearly half (46th stores) consider online advertising to be sales effective. Slightly fewer (41 percent) add social media activities. These answers are complementary. Indeed, another question asked in the survey shows that stores are most likely to run online campaigns on the largest social media - Facebook and Instagram, although Google Adwords is also popular. Store owners also point to running attractive pricing gaining recommendations from satisfied customers and image building as methods that bring sales success.

- Among the vendors who are able to use social media to gain customers, it is worth noting the store of Natalia Knopek, who uses her channels built around her Simplife.pl blog about yoga and healthy living in an unobtrusive way to promote her new jewelry store. Also feeling good on social media is the store of Lata Kita with high-quality dog treats, which creates graphic creations for Facebook that are attractive and consistent with the brand. However, a customer is only really won after the first purchase. This art has been mastered by, among others, the store Simple Composition, which sends very nice and thoughtful transactional emails, leaving the buyer with a good impression. I also regularly buy from the store Men's Island, which includes samples of its cosmetics as part of building a relationship with the customer. The staff is very friendly and cultured and, for example, allows orders to be linked to the Lavender Farma store," notes Dominik Cisoń.

What doesn't work

The majority of sellers (57 percent) say that their store's offerings are also available on Allegro. On the other hand, only one in five believes that presence on auction portals translates into increased sales. Only one in ten respondents sees a correlation between the presence of their e-store on price comparison sites and an increase in sales. The same is true of investing in a better layout. Only 15 percent of store owners believe that an attractive storefront improves their sales performance, but 41 percent nevertheless worked to improve it in 2018, and one in four plans to improve the layout this year.

- The experience of sellers shows that there are aspects of running an e-business that are worth taking care of in order to make a mark on the market, such as appearing in online auctions or impressing with an original store design. However, you shouldn't spend too much time on them, because the sales result does something else," comments Dominik Cisoń. - Also interesting is the belief that marketing innovations, i.e. blogging and working with influencers, do not work. This may be due to improper use of these tools. Contrary to popular belief, an influencer is not a celebrity hired for advertising who will bring a crowd of customers to the store. And a company's blog shouldn't be writing what's new with the company, but used like an SEO tool. Half of the retailers who say they will do SEO should consider blogging after all, suggests an expert at Shoper.

In addition to positioning (55 percent of stores want to invest in it), the largest number of retailers (59 percent) want to focus on introducing new brands and products this year, while 23 percent want to make the visual side of the store more attractive.

Other methods of action, including quite innovative ones like introducing new payment methods, launching a chatbot, or using the Shoper Campaigns service, each received a few-something percent of votes. This shows that the owners know that the offer is the most important thing, but they are not afraid to try new ways of development.