What is E-commerce?
The first-ever online sale took place on August 11, 1994, when a man sold a CD to his friend through his website NetMarket, an American retail platform. Since then online purchases and transactions have evolved. Global retail e-commerce sales have been estimated to reach $27 trillion by 2020.
The selling or buying of services or goods using the internet, and the transfer of data and money to execute these transactions is known as e-commerce, internet commerce, or electronic commerce.
Users have moved from brick and mortar to eCommerce shop.
The four main types of ecommerce models are Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer to Business (C2B), and Consumer to Consumer (C2C). Ecommerce can take different forms such as wholesale, crowdfunding, physical products, services, retail, dropshipping, subscription, and digital products.
What Is Ecommerce Branding?
Branding cannot be seen, it can only be felt. Branding is business combined with 3 E’s, namely, engagement, expectation, and emotion. It involves a business’s communications, products, and web presence. Great branding is the foremost competitive advantage one’s business can have. Creating an engaging online brand is important for e-commerce owners. Branding is a KPI which if done right can help one in surpassing all goals.
Does the Name of Your E-commerce Business Matter?
The success of your e-commerce branding has to do a lot with the name of your ecommerce brand. As stated by Statista, worldwide B2C e-commerce sales amounted to more than $1.2 trillion US dollars in 2013. Developing a competitive name for your ecommerce business can help you bag a place in the world of e-commerce.
Follow these tips to arrive at the right name for your e-commerce business:
Ensure that the name explains who you are.
Make sure that the name transmits your business’s message well.
Let the name speak to your target audience.
Try to dig deeper into your competitors’ business names.
Building an e-commerce brand is important for business growth. E-commerce branding rests on the following criteria's
Values
They inform everything an organization does and how it does.
Visuals: They are the visible symbols that are part of your organization. The visuals parts of
brand identity are:
TYPOGRAPHY: It refers to the style and the appearance of the written word. The common fonts are sans serif fonts, display fonts, handwritten fonts, serif fonts, and script fonts. Fonts influence people’s behavior and perception.
COLOR: Brand recognition can be increased up to 80% by the proper use of colour. Colors evoke an emotional response. Common branding colours are pink, blue, red, green, and black.
LOGO: Logo is the face of your brand. There are seven common logos. A logo serves as a visual mnemonic cue.
The Wordmark and the Letter mark are the common types, for example, that of NASA or Coca Cola. The logo of Apple is an example of the Abstract mark and the Pictorial mark.
Adidas is an example of the Combination logo. There are also the Emblem logo and the Mascot logo.
E-commerce branding strategy lets you control and directs your customers’ expectations.
Building a brand online is an ongoing process. Brand identity develops a relationship
between the seller and the customer through positive emotions. The Harvard Business Review stated that 64% of people cite shared values as being the chief reason they have a relationship with a brand.
Some of the established e-commerce brands believe that:
Ephemeral content (content available only for 24 hours) creates a buzz and should be posted on your webpage often.
Humans are fond of seeing social proof before buying. User-generated content can be posted on social platforms.
Ensure better customer experience if you desire better sales.
What and how to build an ecommerce strategy for your brand?
E-commerce branding strategy would standardize your brand and help customers identify it and connect with it.
Get to know your potential customers /buyers: Clients are the basis of any successful branding strategy. our branding elements will revolve around them. Surveys, Google Analytics, and your competition can be used as guides to find out the details of your clients. This way the clients’ needs can be anticipated and met. In order to succeed in targeting the audience, you must know who they are, where they are, what their struggles are, and which search-related terms they use. For example, Sephora focuses on mobile apps to distribute gift cards and coupons as they have a mobile-oriented audience.
Serve your customers better: This can be done by categorizing your customer list, checking customer data, and responding to customer queries. Due to their excellent customer service, Nordstrom has been flourishing for 119 years.
Lay out the main benefits of your brand: Focus on differentiating your products by showing what makes your brand unique. You can differentiate by focusing on a particular target market, by creating a catchy tagline, and showcasing a unique product feature.
Maintain the same product/service quality throughout and be loyal: Amazon has become an e-commerce giant by being customer-centric and being consistent.
Formulate a unique brand value proposition: It is important that you try to adjust to the pre-existing market as the e-commerce space is extremely competitive. Try to determine your brand positioning for long-term success.
Establish your vision, your brand promise, your mission, and your values: Your vision will inspire you to focus on your company’s future. The biggest e-commerce brands have vision statements like Apple (to make great products), Nike (to remain the most authentic, connected, and distinctive brand), and Amazon (to be the Earth’s most customer-centric company). Your brand promise is a statement of your objectives. Your mission is your purpose for existing. Your values share the reason behind your policies.
Create the name of your brand: Avoid selecting your brand name in a rush as the right brand name will attract clients and keep them.
Establish your visuals and styles as well as focus on product quality: This can be done by selecting the apt colour palette, logo, photography, and typography. Consumers avoid mediocre products. Focus on a particular product of high quality. For example, Chubbies started by selling only retro shorts for men.
Create content that suits your eCommerce business niche: Content forms the basis of any e-commerce ecosystem. Pay attention to the following content types in eCommerce website: Videos, Comparison of content, Podcasts, Infographics and product images.
Learn and speak the language of your target customers: Speaking the language of your customers helps you to emotionally connect with them. For example, Not On The High Street, a UK gifts company uses warm conversational expressions.
Let your customers know the real you by sharing your story: Established e-commerce brands have personal stories to share. The story can be conveyed through a press release, “about us” page, and packaging.
Advertise your brand on social platforms: Building an e-commerce brand requires advertising that can be done on social media platforms. For example, Velvet Caviar, a fashion brand, has chosen Instagram to showcase their products.
eCommerce marketing via email marketing: Emails are an integral part of eCommerce marketing. Most users find you in search engines and buying a product from your eCommerce store. Emails become the mode of communication of your selling products. Giving a personalized message and updating them with the status of your product delivery or what is pending your shopping cart. This gives your brand credibility by being useful to them.
Your ecommerce marketing strategy for your ecommerce sites need to have a clear cut content to convince your online shopping users to buy your products.
Hence blog posts are essential for example a tutorial on a product this helps to increase confidence and conversion rate of your niche product.
Secondly the shopping experience is so so important needless to say, a single hindrance for your buyer on your online store will make or break your business.
Remove hurdles like difficult sign ups, Cash on delivery, give right hierarchy of products and filters.
Above all, reflect, refine, and seek suggestions. Your e-commerce brand is an entity that needs to be set apart from other online brands. It is something more beyond just your logo and products. Remember a well-formulated brand creates, memories, expectations, relationships, and stories.