4 Ways to Grow Your E-Commerce Sales in 2019
Whether e-commerce is only part of your business strategy or you run your entire shop online, growing your online sales will boost your bottom line in 2019.
In today’s world, people can buy just about everything they need online. In fact, it is estimated that by 2021, 15.5% of all global retail sales will take place online. Taking steps to boost your e-commerce sales now will help ensure that you’re ready for the continued growth of online shopping.
Here are four ways to boost your online sales this year.
1. Target Your Existing Customers
If you’re struggling with stagnant growth, you probably assume that it’s because you don’t have enough customers. But it’s the customers you do have that matter most. Implementing a customer retention strategy is crucial to winning and keeping customer loyalty.
According to Marketing Charts, loyal customers:
- Have higher conversion rates
- Add more items to their carts
- Generate more revenue each time they visit
Customer acquisition should obviously be part of your overall growth strategy, but it’s important to focus on your existing customers. It’s far more efficient to focus on these customers, as they are already familiar with your brand, they know how to use your products, and they already trust your company.
One way to target your existing customers is to create a customer loyalty program. For every dollar spent, customers can earn rewards. Points can be redeemed for other promotions or discounts.
2. Optimize for Mobile
It is estimated that about 50% of all e-commerce sales will take place on mobile devices by 2020. Right now, mobile is still lagging behind traditional e-commerce as far as conversions go, but that’s mainly because so many sites simply don’t work well on mobile devices.
Issues like poor connectivity can make mobile transactions more challenging, but in many cases, the problem is that businesses simply aren’t targeting mobile customers.
Work on optimizing your e-commerce site for mobile now to better accommodate smartphone shoppers, or work on developing an app for a smoother transaction experience.
3. Find Your Niche
Finding a niche can help grow your e-commerce sales. With a niche business you’re filling a need in an in-demand market, and you’re focusing on just one thing – which makes you an expert.
The first step is to identify your passions and interests, and then identify problems that you may be able to solve.
Let’s say that you wanted to sell nurse scrubs. Instead of trying to cater for everyone, why not cater to male nurses and sell only men’s scrubs. Sure, women still outnumber men in the field, but that’s quickly changing. There’s a high demand for male scrubs, and filling that need could help you corner the market.
When you find the right niche and there’s a true demand for your offerings, your sales will grow.
4. Affiliate Program
An affiliate marketing program can help you grow your sales and drive traffic to your online store. With affiliate programs, you pay commission to affiliates for referrals that result in a sale.
In most cases, affiliates promote products on third-party websites, such as blogs.
Amazon’s affiliate program is one of the oldest on the Internet, and it’s played an integral role in the company’s ability to grow into the behemoth it is today.