E-COMMERCE MERCHANDISING

Jaydeep Desai

WHY E-COMMERCE IMPORTANT

In today's competitive business world, having an online presence is more important than ever. This is particularly true if businesses wish to grow, extend their sales, and reach customers they might not have reached before. Ecommerce sites enables businesses of all sizes to reach their target range of customers without being physically present.

Since the rise of the Internet in the mid to late 1990s, companies have listed their products and services for sale online. People have caught on, and many enjoy the benefits and ease of being able to browse for products on e-commerce marketplaces from the comfort of their own homes. In effect, ecommerce marketing has become more important than ever for businesses to stay afloat. In fact, businesses can lose customers or revenue by not maintaining an online presence

ONLINE SALES GROWTH (YOY)(Past ,Present & Forecast)

WHY CONSUMER PREFER SHOPPING ONLINE

FACTS ON WHY ONLINE SHOPPING IS GROWING

Throughout the world online buying has grown exponentially. The money spend online is projected to increase by about $10 billion within the next five years.

IBIS World research forecasts an 8.6% per year increase in online revenues over the next five years.

In the U.S., Forrester Research shows that $257.7 billion online sales are expected by 2014. A compounded growth of 10% is forecast for the next five years.

In Western Europe sales are expected to reach 14 billion euros ($155.7 billion), a growth of 11% percent annually.

Apparel, computers and consumer electronics will continue to be dominant purchases; these three areas make up 40% of the current online sales which won't change in the near future.

On average, retailers that have both a physical (store) and online presence have reported an average of 23% growth. Online only retailers (including catalogue sales) however have seen only 9% yearly growth. Online shoppers are beginning to think that the best deals are available online (71%) and that they get better prices there (66%).

SIMPLE STRATEGY FOR GETTING THE CUSTOMER TO YOUR PRODUCTS

BROWSE

SHOP

BUY

PURCHASE FUNNEL

Promote Online Presence.

Create Customer Confidence.

Enhance Product Visibility.

Keep Registration Short & Optional.

Rationalize Checkout Process.

ECOMMERCE BUYING EXPERIENCE

Ecommerce is often considered completely separately from offline retail due to the logistics of both channels. However, if you have worked in the offline retail world as I have, you will know that many selling strategies that work offline to increase sales and increase average transaction values can work online

LINE OF SIGHT MERCHANDISING TECHNIQUES

GIFT MARKETING.

CHANGE YOUR ‘YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE’ PRODUCTS.

DONT FORGET ABOUT ADVERTISING AT ELECTRONIC POINT OF SALE PAGE.

LINE OF SIGHT MERCHANDISING TECHNIQUES

In many offline retail stores, the layout of the shop floor is governed by the line of sight from the entrance of the store. Line of sight is the natural or common focus points for a consumers eye to be drawn to as they enter a shop. It is within these focal points that stores will place their top selling and highest turnover categories for the season to help increase sales on these items.

This line of sight merchandising theory can achieved online using a number of simple options: Promote top selling categories using banners or carousels on entry pages . Change your navigation structure to ensure that most popular categories feature

prominently on top level navigation automatically by monitoring top selling categories and changing the navigation to reflect this.

GIFT MARKETING

In offline retail we have known for years that people tend to shop with budgets in mind, particularly when shopping for kids in an effort to ensure that everyone is equal. Think about the gifts sections in apparels which begin to pop up dripping with gifts and stocking fillers.

With this in mind, consider introducing not only a Gifting Category, This will ensure that the e-commerce shoppers who are on a mission to get in, get gifts and get out very quickly with fixed mindset of purchase on a particular product on there preferred ecommerce store on targeted category during the festive season.

CHANGE YOUR ‘YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE’ PRODUCTS

Most good ecommerce site platforms provide site owners with the option of including related or recommended products along the side or on the bottom of product pages users are viewing.

This is loosely based on an offline merchandising technique that is often used to increase average transaction values (ATV). In offline retail you will often notice that matching accessories or complementary items are placed.

This technique increases in importance. To maximise on opportunities here, ensure that you review your “you might also like” options across your site. For example if you sell a Laptop ensure that some of your recommended products on that page are Laptop Accessories or Hard Drives. Or if you don’t have a match to complete the look, think about pushing your stocking filler type gifts for your Ecommerce shoppers.

“CUSTOMER WHO BOUGHT THIS ITEM ALSO BOUGHT’’

DONT FORGET ABOUT ADVERTISING AT ELECTRONIC POINT OF SALE PAGE

Ideal way to promote sales at the check out If your website provides a quick view/ quick add to cart option, placing the list of product which may also interest you can be listed on the check out page similar to the products or a product which can also be needful with that products may interest the customer to buy and additional set of products from the ecommerce stores and this options at checkout review could help you increase your ATV (Average Trading Value)

Tescos are achieving the ‘last minute purchase’ at checkout both offline and online( Example in the next slide)

CHECK OUT PURCHASE

FUTURE OF ONLINE SHOPPING

IN-STORE PICKUP.

PICKUP DEPOTS.

MOBILE APPS.

LESS FLASH MORE FUNCTIONS.

VIDEOS.

SOCIAL NETWORKING.

DAILY DEALS & FLASH SALES.

DEAL AGGREGATORS.

RETAIL BASED SOCIAL NETWORKS..

E-COMMERCE WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES

KEEP IT SIMPLE. HAVE QUALITY PICTURES OF YOUR PRODUCTS. USE MORE THAN ONE IMAGE FOR EACH PRODUCT. GIVE DETAILS ABOUT THE PRODUCT. MAKE YOUR ADD TO CART PAGE LOOK GOOD. HAVE A NEWSLETTER. MAKE YOUR URLS SEARCH-ENGINE FRIENDLY. INCLUDE POPULAR SEARCHES URLS IN YOUR GOOGLE SITEMAP. HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF PAYMENT OPTIONS. LET THE USERS COMPARE PRODUCTS. HAVE A SIMPLE SHIPPING FORM. OFFER SHIPMENT TRACKING. GIVE THE USER SOME RECOMMENDATIONS.

THANK YOU