Brick and mortar businesses are gradually making way for a new kind of store: e-commerce shops. Currently, there are 12 – 24 million e-commerce sites on the internet. And the numbers are bound to increase. The Covid-19 pandemic that led to a halting of many in-person activities further highlighted the need for e-commerce stores.
Considering the number of e-commerce stores on the internet, making yours stand out is not an easy task. But it’s not impossible either. Let’s run through some quick tips to help your store stand out from the pack.
Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Your USP refers to what sets you apart from your competitors. Even if you are selling the same products as others, find a way to make yours stand out. It could be through packaging, customer service, or simple tweaks to your products.
Whatever you do, make sure your product and service are things customers want to die for. Before you launch your store, conduct extensive research to understand how the market you’re entering operates. This practice will help you find gaps in the market that you can exploit.
Branding
What would make someone buy an iPhone compared to other phones? The short answer is branding. Your brand is how well you share your story and your values.
Your company’s name and logo should reflect your brand voice. In the same vein, the way you package your products speaks volumes of your values. And there are creative ways to make your packaging attractive. For instance, Deepking Label allows you to customize packaging for your e-commerce products.
Beyond packaging, branding has a lot to do with how you make your customers feel. Do they feel valued each time they interact with you? Are you thoughtful when rendering services to them?
Website
Every e-commerce shop rises and falls on User Experience (UX). What your users experience on your site will determine whether or not they make a purchase. If your website is agonizingly slow, forget about making sales. Similarly, if your site is disorganized and unresponsive, you won’t make any headway selling your products.
From your domain name to aesthetics, spare no expense in building a quality and secure website. A good e-commerce site should be visually appealing, safe, and easy to navigate. And you don’t have to do it yourself: you can hire experts who have years of experience in building such sites.
Philanthropy
Have you ever heard of Toms Shoes? If you haven’t, you should look them up. The company popularised the model of giving back a pair of shoes per each purchase, and so far, they have given over 95 million shoes to deprived communities.
True, profit is the main aim of most businesses. However, nothing drives brand loyalty like when customers know they are helping a good cause with each purchase. Here are a few ways to inject philanthropy into your e-commerce business:
- Give a percentage of your profit to charities
- Create an option for donations at checkout
- Give discounts to people who support charities
- Sell products from charities
- Donate some of your products to a charity
- Do a charity drive
In Conclusion
You can’t afford to have your e-commerce business be ordinary. If you want to be a player in the big leagues, you’ll have to take some steps, and in this article, we’ve listed some of the best ones. This list is by no means exhaustive. There are many other ways to be an outstanding e-commerce business. If you know any, share them below.
