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According to the "Polish Online Shops Report" published by us a few days ago, 76 percent of e-tailers reported an increase in sales in the past year.
According to the "Polish Online Shops Report" published by us a few days ago, 76 percent of e-tailers reported an increase in sales in the past year.
According to e-owners, marketing efforts (16 percent of those asked) and a better offer than a year ago (15 percent) are primarily responsible for this growth. From the answers comes a conclusion that has been and will continue to be the most important trend in customer acquisition - listening to customer needs. This means that both promotional activities and the products offered should be analyzed all the time on an ongoing basis in terms of whether they meet the customer's needs, whether they are present where the customer is, and whether the customer can easily and conveniently access them.
If marketing, what kind of marketing?
A natural course of action for an e-retailer is to bet on its online visibility - primarily positioning and AdWords advertising. A quarter of those interviewed in our report admitted that they attract new customers precisely through SEO (14 percent) and AdWords advertising (11 percent). Working with stores on a daily basis, we know how important their search engine presence and first orders are, which is why we carry out advertising activities as part of our e-commerce platform - for those just established, we even offer the first month of AdWords campaigns at a subscription price.
Be among customers
The most popular activity to attract customers is an active presence on social media, according to almost one in five e-tailers surveyed. Stores maintain their channels primarily on Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube. Only a fraction (0.5 percent) have Snapchat. The social media channel is now one of the main channels for sales and promotion, but it is important to remember that the choice of the right social network should depend on the age, interests and lifestyle of a store's customers. Moreover, in social media communication, stores should emphasize the activity and voice of the audience, providing them with access to their channels and being present in fans' channels, including through user-generated content, such as fan posts featuring products.
Look for customers abroad!
The number of Poles buying online is growing steadily, and if a store, wants to grow, it must start thinking seriously about customers from abroad. According to our report,one in ten stores plans to expand beyond its home market this year. We are watching this trend with special attention, as it represents an opportunity to scale the entire Polish e-commerce market. Cross-border sales are fostered by Europe's implementation of unified regulations on distance selling. Standards are being introduced in the area of online payments, such as through the PSD2 directive, and in delivery logistics, such as setting fixed shipping costs and affordable return policies. Another trend supporting cross-border trade is the strengthening of Asian sites on the European market. With their help, Poles can not only buy more and more easily from China, but also sell to markets there.
Show your good side
Reaching the customer and attracting him to the store's website is only half the way to the goal, only the finalization of the transaction can mean real success. The main tools in the battle for the customer's trust, without which he will not entrust the store with his data and money, are appearance, security and convenience. This is confirmed by the most important changes made in stores that have increased sales - the retailers we surveyed cite first and foremost the introduction of an SSL certificate (22 percent), the launch of fast payments (22 percent), and the change of graphics to RWD (16 percent).
Clear and aesthetically pleasing pages that adapt to mobile and tablet screens are a requirement, without which stores will be abandoned. It is worth remembering that users of the Google Chrome browser have recently been informed whether the connection to the server of the website they are visiting is secure. Fast online payments are a fundamental trend in the streamlining of online shopping, and fortunately more and more stores are introducing them - the number of stores using the Shoper Payment system has doubled in the past year alone. It is also the most popular payment method among customers of stores using the Shoper platform - one in three transactions is paid this way.
The growing importance of automating customer communication must also be mentioned here. The more stages of order processing are subject to automation, the more customers the store can efficiently serve, without neglecting their needs. An appreciated trend, therefore, is the use of bots in communication with the customer, providing information about products and order status. In Poland, Shoper was the first store platform to introduce integration of the store with Facebook Messenger; the world's e-commerce leader, Shopify, also uses a similar solution.
Responding to the needs of customers, it is necessary to take into account various aspects of the operation of the e-store - communication, the offer, the very way the store operates. Due to emerging trends and buyers' expectations, a good solution is to base the store on a flexible model, such as the SaaS model. It allows you to build a strong brand, scale your business and at the same time adapt to the dynamically changing realities of the market today.
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