Our Ecommerce wishlist for 2019

One Stop Shop

1. Asking website visitors to “spin a wheel”

You get to spin a wheel. I get to spin a wheel. We all get a chance to spin a wheel!

Come on, we all know how these things work, right? After all, when you get to see this “spin a wheel!” offer pop up every other day when you’re visiting different websites, it becomes a bit meh.

Personally, too, I just don’t think that profitable and sustainable Ecommerce brands are built on short-term trends like this that deters from customer experience.

2. Marking all the products in your catalogue as “on sale”

If you went to a brick-and-mortar store and saw that every product was marked down without any mention of a special holiday or anniversary sale, you’d be pretty skeptical, wouldn’t you?

As a customer, you’d be wondering if you’re really getting a discount or if the company’s just inflating the products’ worth and selling them to you at their original price…

Why? Let’s be real here: would a sustainable company actually put all their products on unlimited sale just because they wanted to? This’ll put them in the red -- it’s just not something that translates well to customer experience and brand longevity.

3. Using generic themes because everyone is your target market

If you use a generic theme for your brand’s website because you’d like to sell to “everyone who has disposable income”, you’re making it difficult for yourself to close a sale.

Because your approach is so wide and untargeted, people browsing through your website aren’t compelled enough to get to know you more and eventually trust your company enough to do business with you.

The effective alternative? Identify your target market specifically, then brand your website design and customer service according to their preferences. What’s the age range of your target customer? What jobs do they have? What are their interests? Hobbies? Preferences? What are their desires and pain points? How would they like to be talked to?

Find these out and then tweak your branding, product catalogue, and marketing strategy accordingly.

Here’s the light at the end of the tunnel: yes, we talked about the trends that need to be out. And now that we know what they are, this gives us the opportunity to improve our businesses and aim for the long-term by thinking about the things we can do better. There’s a rainbow after the rain, after all.

Try to do this short exercise with me. Just think of at least one big, successful Ecommerce brand and ask yourself if they’re implementing any of the “trends” I mentioned above. Most likely, they’re not. So why should you?

Listen, Ecommerce sales are expected to surpass $735 USD in the year 2023. People with disposable income are expecting online buying as the new norm. And it’s time for you to ride the Ecommerce wave.

For every branding decision or marketing strategy you’re thinking of implementing, ask yourself: “Will doing this help me build the foundation to build a sustainable and long-term brand for the years to come?”

So there you go, we hopefully finished the post on a positive note that enables you to think strategically for your business. Any comments you’d like to add, or insights you want to share? Let me know in the comments. See you next week! Cheers.