5 steps to a successful e-commerce strategy in 2022

How do you create a winning e-commerce strategy in this age of exploding e-commerce? To make your e-shop stand out from the thousands of new e-commerce websites being created every day, you’ll need a solid and sustainable online sales strategy. But what are the main steps?

In this article we will present you the 5 steps to create a winning e-commerce strategy in 2022:

• Well planned online sales strategy
• Build a strong online presence
• Attracting customers via different channels
• Optimize conversion
• Build customer loyalty

Before these steps, a short summary of the current situation.

In 2020, the share of online trade-in global trade was still quite moderate (16%). But if a lack of confidence in online sales websites could dissuade some users from buying online. Indeed, the Coronavirus pandemic has reshuffled the cards: online trade has become practically unavoidable.

There are disparities between the continents in terms of e-commerce. For example, North America is still far behind markets such as Asia or Latin America in terms of e-commerce growth in 2019 (25% in Asia, 20% world average, nearly 15% in North America). The same applies to Western Europe, which is still lagging behind Eastern Europe.

But between the ever-increasing share of Amazon and the multitude of new sales sites. How can you make your place and be profitable in e-commerce in 2022? Here are the steps we advise you to follow to create a solid e-commerce strategy.

Step 1: Plan your e-commerce strategy

As with developing an SEO strategy, the first step in creating an e-commerce marketing strategy is to plan. As well as direct your future efforts to where they will pay off the most.

Choose the right niche industry

If you haven’t yet defined the product you want to market online, a good e-commerce strategy starts with choosing the right industry. Looking at the current hot companies will give you an initial idea. Of which sectors are likely to become popular in the next few years. For example, sectors in which online commerce is not yet king. Such as personal care, food, or lifestyle, are expected to experience strong growth.

Here are the criteria to consider when choosing the industry in which to deploy your e-commerce strategy:

• Must meet current needs. For example security, health/wellness, entertainment, …
• Must be based on sustainable trends. Such as web and e-commerce, sustainability and eco-responsibility, local, …
• Must be built on a solid business model. That is to say: recurrent turnover, diversified sources of income, fragmentation of turnover,…

Identify and understand your target audience

Another criterion to take into account before launching is to know your target well. And to identify the stages of their online purchasing process. For this analysis, you will need to carry out a keyword study.

Keyword research will give you an overview of how your customers search for information on the Internet and more specifically on search engines. This analysis will allow you to position the content of your e-commerce site as an answer to these needs and questions. Using tools such as SEMRush or Google Keyword Planner, you should be able to highlight the key phrases used by your target audience throughout the buying process.

In addition to a keyword study, you can use the Sparktoro tool which will allow you to highlight the main hashtags and interests (social networks, blogs, etc.) of Internet users around a key expression.

Step 2: Build your online presence

Once your target market is clearly defined, you need to start building an online ecosystem that is conducive to selling.

Identify what is valuable to your target

With the proliferation of new sales sites and platforms, defining a unique and strong value proposition is essential.

What will make someone buy your product over another?

For our e-commerce experts, the first step is to focus on your consumer, identifying their fears and needs in order to deliver a message and experience that provides them with the right solutions.

Have a look at this article it will show you how.

Testing your product

Anyone can create an e-commerce site quickly. But to create a sustainable business, you need to offer a perfectly targeted product. For this, nothing beats a good test phase.

Thanks to an organic survey on social networks, you will be able to orientate your product to precisely address the customer’s needs and formulate his value proposition according to the responses you received.

Finally, we advise you to use less expensive platforms and not to launch directly into an elaborate website, but rather to test tools to see how the target reacts.

Choosing the right platforms

There are two main families of e-commerce platforms:

If you want to have complete freedom over your website, it is advisable to start with an “open source” model set up and optimized by your technical team. If you are less keen on customization or have more limited resources. A SaaS platform such as Shopify or WooCommerce will be very suitable. Particularly for the support services available (forums, help centers, numerous articles, and tutorials on the web).

And don’t forget, your e-commerce website does not live alone, it needs a complete ecosystem to be visible: local pages, online reviews, social networks, comparison sites…

Should you sell on Amazon and/or on your website?

To answer this question, you need to assess the size of your community and the maturity of your brand. At the beginning of a business, Amazon can be interesting to build a community. But the more your e-commerce marketing strategy develops, the less the desire to be dependent on Amazon will be felt. Moreover, Amazon is a giant and it will crush your SEO the day you don’t want to be present on the marketplace.

Today the eyewear category is not very well penetrated on the web which means that Amazon can generate new visibility (60% of products start on Amazon). It can be a direction you could take.
But again, beware of selling your products on Amazon which can lead to saturation of the product itself. To better understand this reluctance, we invite you to read the article on marketplaces and the phenomenon of cannibalization.

Optimize the technical structure of your website

A good e-commerce strategy requires you to regularly check and optimize certain technical aspects of your website. These aspects have a direct influence on your website’s ability to attract prospects organically and convert them.

Here are the main criteria to take into account when optimizing the technical aspects of your e-commerce strategy:

• Loading speed. This is the visitor’s first impression. Moreover, the longer the loading time, the higher the bounce rate. How can it be improved? By compressing images, lightening the code or choosing a high-performance hosting service.

• Security. You should have a trustworthy url (https), have a hacker-proof website and secure confidential data. How do you do this? By regularly updating the CMS and the different plug-ins, by choosing a secure hosting and by making regular backups.

• UX and navigation. Embodies the brand image, must allow access to all content in 3 clicks and maximises conversions. How do you do it? Build an optimised architecture, develop a coherent design (graphic charter, logo, visuals) and create clear and visible CTAs.

• Responsive design. Mobile in 2022 should represent 70% of e-commerce purchases. In addition, mobile compatibility is a major referencing criterion for Google. How can you do it? Choose responsive design, adjust the structure of the site and focus on local referencing.

Equip yourself with good working tools

Once your web architecture has been optimized, you will also need to equip yourself with tools. Among these tools, you will find some essential ones such as Google Analytics, to analyze the behavior of your users. Or MailChimp or Hubspot to follow the customer relationship and propose promotion and loyalty programs.

Step 3: Attracting customers via different channels

There are many channels to attract customers to your products online. Social media, Google advertising, search engine optimization… the trick is to know how to use them together and at the right time.

If you are in the start-up phase of your e-commerce strategy, you will probably be dependent on advertising to attract your first customers. Once you have launched and optimized your campaigns, you can then take the time to develop your natural referencing. SEO will, in the long run, allow you to position your products in front of users who are actively searching for them.

Rely on SEO to develop a sustainable acquisition channel

Organic traffic is still very important to develop sales on e-commerce sites. It now represents 40% of all traffic to an e-commerce site in North America.

However, SEO is still underused everywhere else in the world, but why? A question we have answered in this article.

Build an e-commerce SEO strategy

The referencing of your website allows you to gain visibility with potential customers. While this requires a certain amount of investment and patience, working on your SEO and adopting a content strategy are effective ways of attracting prospects without having to do any marketing. These levers are part of inbound marketing, which consists of bringing the customer to you. Rather than going out to find them.

In contrast, inbound marketing is a method that consists of attracting potential customers without having to “force” them. How do you do this? By offering attractive, interesting, and informative content that meets their expectations. For you, it is not only the possibility of gaining prospects without having to go looking for them. But also to improve your brand image and position yourself as an expert. All this is for a controlled budget because implementing a content strategy is much less expensive than the resources needed for outbound marketing.

Find 3 levers to invest in, in this article.

Social commerce at the heart of your strategy

Social commerce is becoming increasingly important for e-commerce sites, especially in Asia. In China, ⅓ of WeChat (Chinese WhatsApp) users make their e-commerce purchases directly on the social platform. In North America, the share of online retailers using social commerce is still limited compared to the Asian continent.

But with the arrival of Facebook Shops, which will soon allow integrated purchases from social networks, this trend is set to intensify in the USA and Canada.

In North America, launching on Instagram and Facebook’s e-commerce platforms works very well with support on Messenger. There is a strong demand for this way of shopping so it is important to invest in this channel. Moreover, e-commerce platforms connected to social networks allow a close relationship with the community.

Creating an emotional attachment to your brand

Today, the main target of e-commerce strategies is embodied by “Millenials” (people born after 1982 who represent ⅓ of the purchasing power in the USA and Europe). This target consumes via the web and pays particular attention to your brand values.

We advise you to make your brand shine through different criteria such as:

• A clear and differentiated positioning
• A solid multi-channel marketing strategy
• Quality content distributed across the board
• A “responsible” positioning and operations with a strong social impact

Step 4: Optimize conversion

The conversion rate between a purchase in a physical shop and an online purchase is very different. Indeed, 55% of consumers who go to a shop make a purchase, whereas only 1 to 3% of Internet users convert to a website. This difference can be explained by the lack of human contact on the web.

To compensate for this gap, you need to humanize the presentation of your products as much as possible, for example by integrating a video chat with an expert on your site. In order to explain the specificities of the products and answer the consumer’s questions.

Step 5: Build customer loyalty

Soliciting your customers over time to maintain a strong relationship is one of the keys to the profitability of your e-commerce strategy. A customer who is committed to your cause can serve several purposes:

He can re-consume more easily (and therefore at a lower cost) than a new customer. They can become ambassadors for your brand

For an effective loyalty strategy, we advise you to value your customers as much as possible and to keep listening to them. Either by contacting them virtually, through email strategies for example. Or by encouraging them to come to the shop. The aim is to create a lasting relationship based on trust.

Read our article about the digitalization of customer relationships to know more.

Implement accurate monitoring of key indicators

Once all these actions have been implemented, you will need data to evaluate their performance and adjust your e-commerce strategy. Tools such as Google Data Studio will allow you to centralize key data on visualization charts.

Finally

E-commerce is a booming industry. Amplified by recent social and health upheavals. E-commerce will gradually become an indispensable channel for many industries. With competition expected to increase, having a comprehensive and sustainable e-commerce strategy is a priority. These five key steps should give you a clearer picture!

And if you need help in developing your e-commerce marketing strategy, give us a call! Or leave us a comment

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