Tips for Surviving Economic Hard Times

It’s no secret that the worldwide economy is in a bit of a down cycle. No one knows this better than eCommerce businesses, as sales growth slows, and prices are forced to drop. To stay afloat and generate healthy profits during these difficult times, eCommerce businesses must take several strategic steps. In this blog post, we’ll outline the key elements of a successful eCommerce business during fears of recession. So, whether you’re already running an eCommerce business or just thinking about starting one, read on for essential advice!

What Is a Recession?

A recession is a period of economic decline in the United States or other developed countries. The National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession as “a significant reduction in real GDP, after inflation has been taken into account, spanning two consecutive quarters.”

There are several effects on businesses during a recession. First and foremost, sales tend to be lower than usual because consumers have less money to spend. This could lead to job loss or reduced income for employees. In addition, advertising budgets may be cut back due to decreased revenue, which can affect website traffic and overall brand visibility. Finally, suppliers may reduce production or raise prices due to reduced demand from customers.

eCommerce Holiday Sales 2022

When the economy turns down, it can be difficult to sustain a successful eCommerce business. Digital Commerce 360 estimates that there will be a 4% rise in holiday shopping in 2022, even though 63% of online retailers expect fewer sales.

Some things to keep in mind for holiday sales in 2022:

– Set realistic expectations. Don’t expect your sale quantity to triple just because it’s the holidays. According to Digital Commerce 360, almost 40% of customers stated they would comparison shop more since they anticipate prices to be high, and 35% claimed those high costs would cause them to buy less for the holidays.

– Reconsider your pricing strategy. Try shifting some of your prices upwards by 10% or 20% and see how the sales respond. You may also want to consider offering discounts on larger orders or special deals for customers who purchase frequently during difficult times.

– Discounts. Offer discounts and incentives to encourage people to purchase more than just what they need or want at first glance. This will show them that your company is committed to helping them through this tough period and may lead them to become long-term customers down the line.

Steps eCommerce business should take during an economic downturn.

No business is immune to recession, which is why it’s important to have a business strategy that is flexible and able to adjust as the economy changes. Here are five key steps ecommerce business owners should take during an economic downturn:

Optimize finances

When it comes to financial optimization, there are a few key things that need to be in place. The first step is setting a strict budget and sticking to it as closely as possible. This will help you identify where your money can go without compromising the quality of your services or products. Furthermore, it’s important to monitor KPIs regularly and make changes when necessary so you don’t get stuck in a rut. By doing this, you’ll be able to track progress and see if your efforts are bearing fruit – which will give you confidence going forward with further optimizations. Eliminating unnecessary overhead also plays an important role – by streamlining processes and cutting back on spending wherever possible, businesses can save significant amounts of money each year!

Evaluate supply chain

Evaluating your supply chain is a critical step in ensuring optimal efficiency, stock availability, and reducing risk. By assessing inventory levels, you can determine which items are over or under-supplied. Automating inventory management processes will help to improve accuracy and reduce the chances of errors. Additionally, it will also save time and effort on your part.

Invest in best-selling products

There’s no doubt that product sales are a major factor in business success. However, ensuring you’re investing in the best-selling products is key to making sure your business thrives and continues expanding. By using social media and staying up to date on trends, you can ensure that your customers have constant access to the products they love. Furthermore, it is important to keep a close eye on what people are talking about online so that you know what type of product to offer next. This way, you’ll be able to stay ahead of the competition and maintain customer loyalty – something that will make all the difference for your business in future times

Find new revenue streams

There are many ways businesses can find new revenue streams. One way is to evaluate your best-selling products and offer them in bundles, or as add-on options for customers who purchase a product separately. Additionally, consider developing strategies such as subscription boxes or offering exclusive sales and products to VIP members only. By doing this, you can tap into new market segments that may not have been explored before – making sure your business stays ahead of the curve!

Increase customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is the key to success when it comes to business. By ensuring that your website is easy to navigate and incorporating customer-requested polls into product development, you can increase customer satisfaction and keep them loyal through downturns. Additionally, by offering deals or incentives during economic downturns, you can help incentivize customers to make purchases.

A very important thing that you can do to increase customer loyalty and keep them coming back is make sure your brand is constantly communicating with customers in a timely manner. Respond quickly to feedback, comments, and questions – even if you don’t have the answer right away. This shows that you’re concerned about your customers and want to ensure they have an enjoyable shopping experience.

Improve conversion rate

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to conversion rate optimization, as the best way to improve conversion rate depends on your specific business and marketing goals. However, some tips that may be helpful include:

– Make sure your site is easy to navigate and use. This includes making sure your website’s design is user-friendly and appealing. Make use of attractive fonts, colors, and graphics, and make sure all elements are consistent with each other throughout the site.

– Use focused and relevant content. Make sure that all the content that you publish is relevant to your audience and helps them achieve their goals. The more specific and tailored this content, the better!

– You can also offer BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) or split payments as ways of payment, which will make shopping on your site even more convenient for customers.

– Offer valuable incentives – Whether it’s free shipping or exclusive discounts on products/services offered through your business website, offering incentives can help customers take an actionable step forward toward purchase.

For more information on conversion rate optimization see our blog here.

Conclusion

During a downturn in economic stability, it can be tough for ecommerce businesses to stay afloat. However, staying flexible and adaptive is key to their success. Ecommerce businesses must be able to pivot and change their strategies as the market changes. They must also stay focused on their core business goals, and make sure that they are offering a valuable product or service that customers want and need. By staying nimble, ecommerce businesses can weather a downturn with ease.


 

UI/UX in ecommerce web design and development

UI/UX web design and development is the process of designing a website so that it is easy to use and visually appealing. The user interface or user experience (UI/UX) of a website refers to the graphics, layout, design, functionality, and performance of the website. It is important for a website to be user-friendly because customers will spend more time on a website if it is easy to use. However, making a website look good and responsive is not the only concern – consider usability also. For example, if a search engine can easily index your website and find the information users are looking for, then you’re doing well! A group of scientists from Northumbria University found that 46% of consumers in the study made their decisions regarding the credibility of websites based on visual appeal and aesthetics.

What is the difference between UI and UX?

User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are two important aspects of web design. UI is the look and feel of a website, while UX deals with how users interact with it. UI is more concerned with the visual elements of a website – things like graphics, layout, colors, etc. UX, on the other hand, focuses on how well users understand and use the site’s features. It considers such factors as ease of navigation, finding what you’re looking for quickly, and making sure information is presented in an understandable way. Both are important but they work in different ways to help users achieve their goals. UI helps people find what they’re looking for easily by providing clear visuals; meanwhile, UX makes sure that information is easy to understand so that users can get the most out of it. Taken together these two elements create a user-friendly website that will help your business thrive.

Why is UI/UX important in eCommerce web design and development?

UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) is important for two primary reasons in web design and development: first, it improves the user experience and second, it increases conversion rates. By making your website more user-friendly and easier to navigate, you’ll likely attract more customers who are looking for a positive online shopping experience. Properly designing and implementing user flows will ensure that users can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily – boosting conversion rates even further! So, make sure to design and implement user interfaces and user experiences that are both elegant and effective, and you’ll be on your way to a successful eCommerce website design and development project.

Better user experience leads to increased conversion rates

Creating a good user experience is essential for ensuring high conversion rates. This is because it helps customers find what they are looking for much faster, leading to increased sales. In addition to making navigation easy and effective, creating appealing visuals can also help increase conversions by drawing users in. However, good user experience isn’t just about looks – it’s also important to keep things simple so that even novices can navigate your website easily. If all these elements are put together correctly then you’re guaranteed success in increasing your eCommerce website’s conversion rate!

Enhances brand reputation

A well-designed and user-friendly website is one of the best ways to enhance your brand reputation. It helps customers feel like they are part of your company while making it easy for them to find what they’re looking for. Furthermore, a great website ensures that all relevant information is easily accessible and looks great on any device. It’s important to keep the overall look and feel consistent so that users have a positive experience from start to finish when visiting your site.

Increases loyalty and customer base

Customer satisfaction is key when it comes to building a successful website. By effectively communicating with your customers, you can increase loyalty and boost your customer base. Plus, if the experience on your site is great – from design to navigation – people are more likely to return often and recommend you to their friends. Ensuring that all user inputs are easy to understand also helps keep visitors coming back for more. It’s important not just to focus on design but also on usability to make sure your visitors have a great time while they’re here!

Trends for UI/UX in eCommerce web design and development in 2023

The focus on usability and user experience in ecommerce web design and development will continue in 2023. This means that designers will need to focus on how users interact with the website. This includes designing for different devices, such as smartphones and tablets, as well as desktop browsers. Additionally, designers will need to consider how users search for information on the web. By doing so, they can create a website that is easy to use and efficient for customers.

Web-accessibility

Web accessibility is becoming a bigger trend in web design and development. In 2023, it will be more important than ever to make your website accessible to everyone. This means that products and pages should be easy to understand and use, no matter what your disability is. For customers with disabilities, making your website fully accessible will mean they don’t have to struggle with navigation or finding the information they are looking for. In turn, this will help you attract a wider range of customers – both disabled and non-disabled alike. So, if you’re not already taking web accessibility seriously, start now!

Inclusivity

Inclusivity is important in web design for several reasons. First, it’s a fundamental principle of human rights and social justice. All people deserve to be treated fairly and equally, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability. Secondarily, inclusive web design leads to more satisfied customers because it makes the shopping experience more pleasant for everyone involved. Finally – and perhaps most importantly – inclusion boosts brand loyalty and SEO rankings because it sends a positive message about your company’s values and mission statement to potential consumers.

Advanced Personalization

Interactive tendencies are the trend that many ecommerce websites will rely on in 2023. Customization is the key to success in today’s digital world. People want information that truly reflects their interests. Make the design more customer-centric to succeed. This means designing each piece of content, images, and interactions with the individual user in mind. This way, customers will feel like they’re getting a personal experience rather than simply consuming information on a mass scale. It’s essential that businesses understand this concept if they want to remain competitive in an ever-changing market landscape.

Geolocation & Browser-Based Content

When creating and publishing web content, it is important to consider how your users will interact with it. For example, if you are targeting browser-based content such as articles or blog posts, make sure that the design is compatible with all browsers. In addition to designing for compatibility across browsers and devices, ensure that your website’s overall design aesthetics are visually appealing and engaging. This way, more people will be inclined to explore what you have to offer – leading to better conversion rates!

Minimalism

Minimalism is a design trend that’s currently in vogue. It’s a simple, sleek approach that focuses on using minimal elements to create an effective and professional look. As ecommerce websites become more sophisticated, users are looking for designs that are user-friendly and easy to navigate. In addition, they want a design that can be customized according to their specific needs. By keeping the focus on making all elements easily accessible and stylish at the same time, minimalism achieves these goals quite effortlessly. This trend also incorporates the effective use of white space which helps achieve an airy and spacious feel overall.

White Space

When it comes to web design, the use of white space has been and will be important. This refers to using empty areas of a page layout or graphic design for aesthetic purposes and not for functionality. White space can be used in various ways to create an airy, lightweight design – from using margins and padding as well as typography to creating spaces between elements on a page. By adopting a minimalistic approach, you’ll be able to better utilize white space and achieve the desired effect. Keep your designs user-friendly by making sure all elements are intuitively placed so customers don’t have too much trouble completing their purchases or navigating through your website. In doing so, you’ll ensure that users enjoy navigating your site and return again and again!

Color

Gradient and ombre colors are popular options for web design because they create a sense of rhythm and harmony. They also add personality to websites, making them more engaging and compelling to users.

Gradient colors work best when the background color transitions gradually from one color to another. This creates a smooth look that is easier on the eyes. Ombre colors work best when the main foreground or background color changes gradually, but not abruptly. This allows the eye to flow smoothly between different colors without being jarred or confused.

Together, these effects can help make your website visually appealing and easy on the eyes. Use them wisely to achieve optimal results!

Chat Bots

Chatbots are quickly becoming one of the most popular methods for ecommerce businesses to interact with their customers. They allow businesses to create a more personal experience, by effectively automating customer service tasks. Plus, chatbot interactions can be automated and scheduled to increase efficiency and decrease response time.

So, why is chatbot usage increasing among ecommerce websites? There are several reasons. First, they reduce the workload for human operators who can focus on higher-value activities such as product development or marketing campaigns instead. Second, chatbots provide a more engaging user interface that can help convert leads into customers faster than traditional forms of online interaction. Third, they offer an exponentially growing amount of data that business owners can use to improve their overall strategy and operations.

Smart Video

Video is a great way to connect with customers and build relationships. By using video content wisely, businesses can create a positive experience for both the viewer and the business itself. Here are some tips on how to make your videos smart and engaging: 1. Make sure that your videos look good on all devices – desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. 2. Use graphics and animation to draw the user in – it will help keep them interested in what you have to say. 3. Use clear navigation so viewers don’t get lost or frustrated while watching your video. Always provide links back to relevant pages on your website so viewers can learn more about what you’re selling or promoting easily! 4. Use video as an opportunity to teach your customers about products or services in a fun, informative way- this could lead to increased traffic into your store!

Dark Mode

In 2023, dark mode will be a trend in web design and development. The dark mode is becoming more and more popular on social media platforms. Meta, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit all have dark modes available now. Here are some key reasons why:

– Dark mode is easier on the eyes. By making the background lighter than the text, you can reduce eye strain and fatigue.

– Dark mode reduces screen glare in bright environments. Screen glare causes headaches and other symptoms when looking at screens for extended periods of time.

– Dark modes are less distracting than light modes. When it’s difficult to keep your focus on a screen because it’s too bright or busy, using a darker color palette makes it easier to focus on what you’re reading or watching.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital information on top of the physical world. It is used to create navigable 3D environments, interactive objects, and even live video streams.

Shopify found that brands using AR saw retail conversion rates increase by around 250%, as customers are more likely to make purchase decisions when they can see the product in a realistic environment.

AR and VR can help retailers market their products beyond their normal customer base. Online communities devoted to particular genres such as cooking or fashion often use AR or VR extensively for product demonstrations.

As augmented reality becomes more mainstream, businesses all over the world will reap the benefits. By integrating it into your marketing strategy, you can reach new potential buyers who would otherwise never consider your brand.

Conclusion

UI/UX is a critical element of web design and development, as it helps to create a user interface that is easy to use and visually appealing. By understanding and incorporating UI/UX into your design and development processes, you can create a website that is both functional and user-friendly.

To learn more about the AI trend, read our blog here.

Optimizing User Journey – eCommerce Conversion Optimization

This article is part of a series of articles from atmosol on eCommerce conversion optimization. This article focuses on optimizing the user journey. Today’s eCommerce users are pampered by the excellent user experience provided by leading retailers and will shop elsewhere if your site can’t compete at the same level. Let’s look at some user journey optimizations that can be considered to improve conversion

Improve Product Discovery

Users find a product they are looking for in different ways depending on how and where they landed up on your site. Making sure they can find what they are looking for at each of these landing pages is crucial to reduce bounce rates and improve conversion. Let’s look at a few different ways users find products

Home page Merchandising

Images and products on the home page are what a user who lands on the home page sees first and hence is the best location to promote products that customers are most likely to buy if they are simply browsing and haven’t made up their mind about what to buy. Personalization of the home page can significantly improve click rates on these products since the customers see products that are to their taste. The home page can also be the right place to surface products that you want customers to see, like new product launches or more profitable products.

Merchandizing is hard to get right even in physical stores and is best optimized through A/B testing of different combinations to measure click-through and conversion.

Search and its role in eCommerce Conversion Optimization

If a user lands on the home page of a store looking for something specific, there’s a high chance they will use the search functionality to search for the product. If search is able to return results that customers are looking for and want to buy, it eases one step of the user’s journey on the website. While this seems easy enough and is supported by most platforms, there are some nuances that a store owner should be aware of

Catalog content

Any search tool is only as good as the content in your catalog since the search engine us essentially using the content to find and display products. When creating your product catalog, it helps to have different synonyms added to your product catalog so products are displayed when users search for the same product in using different words.

Spelling Errors

Many modern search engines are able to handle spelling errors, but if you are using one that doesn’t handle spelling errors, it helps to add common misspellings to your catalog. Whatever the method, stores should stive hard not to show the dreaded “No products found” message which almost always drives customers off the site.

Autocomplete

Autocomplete enables users to quickly search for products in your catalog and avoids spelling errors by prompting them the correct spelling. It also enables stores to surface content that might further refine a user’s search. For example, a user searching for “outdoor table” might see an option for “outdoor table with umbrella” and if that’s what the user really wanted, it guides the user to the right search results and eliminates undesired results.

Natural language processing

Another important aspect of a search engine to consider is its ability to understand natural language especially in searches like “Phone case” vs. “Phone with case” where understanding the conjunctions and language constructs becomes important to understand what the customer is looking for

Personalization

Search result personalization is a relatively new concept where results are personalized to a user’s previous interactions as well as things like trending searches. When implemented correctly, this gives the users a feeling of easy discovery.

Filters

While filters are not necessarily part of search, a good set of filters make up for deficiencies in search capability by enabling the user to further refine the search for the exact product manually. Displaying the right set of filters can sometimes be hard especially for stores selling multiple categories of products that require different sets of filters. Planning early for filters and having the right attributes in products for filters can make this task easier.

Direct Links

Users can also land up directly on a category page or a product page when clicking through from marketing links on the internet. When users land on a page this way, it’s important to make sure that your marketing links all lead to pages with relevant results and not to your home page or a generic page. For example, if a user is searching for “Green T-Shirt” and you land the user on a page with all T-shirts, there’s a high likelihood that the user will leave the page not wanting to sift through everything.

Improve Product Page

Product detail pages (or PDP in short) is another page that can make or break conversions. Once the customer has located a product, this is the page where the decision to add it to the cart is made. Following are few optimization guidelines

High Quality Images

Product images are the first things that customers look at when opening a product detail page. Having great images keeps the customer on the page and interact further with the page until a decision to add the product to cart is made. Having crisp, large product images and videos with the ability to zoom, pan, rotate, etc. is one of the best investments a store can make to increase conversion.

Technologies like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (AR/VR) can provide even better visualizations for higher value products to give the customers more confidence in what they are buying.

How Sales Copy helps in eCommerce Coversion Optimization

Well-written sales copy can evoke the right emotion and nudge the customer towards making the decision to add to cart. Best of brands create a brand voice ahead of time and create content using that voice to appeal to their ideal customer persona. Considering the tone and language of your content and how it represents your brand will enable you to appeal better to your target customers.

Complete Information

While the sale copy evokes the right emotions, product pages that lack enough information about the product often don’t convert well, especially for certain product categories. For example, furniture stores have to consistently display dimensions, weight, etc. in order for customers to make the right decision.

Call to Action

Having “Add to Cart” displayed prominently at eye level is known to increase conversion rate. Although a single button is ideal in terms of reducing clutter, some stores like Amazon have benefited from having another “Buy Now” option that speeds the checkout process. A/B testing can determine what works best for your store.

Psychological Triggers

Psychological research has identified several triggers that can nudge customers closer to wanting a product. Following are a few that have been used successfully by many eCommerce retailers​

Trust

Increased trust can be achieved by including things like social proof, customer reviews, secure and transaction badges. This has the effect of reducing friction by eliminating the question of trustworthiness from the customers’ mind and is especially important for brands that don’t have significant name recognition.

Urgency

Urgency is known to impact purchase decisions and can be triggered through limited time offers.

Scarcity

Scarcity refers to text like “Only 2 available” that signifies that a product might sell out if the customer doesn’t buy now

Improve Checkout

Making checkout as frictionless as possible while addressing any final concerns in the customers’ mind reduces abandoned carts where the customers decides not to buy after adding items to cart. Following are a few aspects to consider

Payments

Payment issues cause a significant amount of cart abandonment because a customer is unable to make a payment.

Payment Methods

Enabling as many payment methods as possible will ensure that customers are able to pay using their method of choice. Following are some common payment methods that can be enabled on a site. When picking a payment gateway, stores should make sure they are able to support all or most of these methods

  1. Credit Cards/Debit Cards: The most preferred method to complete an online purchase.
  2. Prepaid Cards: An alternative for credit/debit cards.
  3. Bank Transfer: Although this method is not used much, it’s sometimes useful when the product value is higher.
  4. E-wallets: When platforms provide you with their own payment solutions (PayPal, Cash App, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo etc.)
  5. Digital currencies: Cryptocurrencies are slowly being accepted on many platforms since they allow international payments with ease and reduced documentation.

Fraud Prevention

Fraud prevention sometimes clashes with ease of payment and makes payment harder and sometimes rejects payments that are not fraudulent. Stores must determine the right balance between fraud detection and ease of payment. Fraud detection services like that are used by a large amount of customers are able to use aggregated data from all the stores they serve to better detect fraud with minimal false positives. Stores should consider if such a service is right for them

Trust

Although we discussed trust on the product page, it is more important to display trust badges to assure the customer that payments made through the platform are safe at the checkout stage.

Return Policies

Customer friendly return policies that are prominently displayed further assures the customer that they can buy without the fear of being stuck with a product they don’t want. Free and easy returns cost your store money, but in almost all but the lowest value products, it’s usually a net positive. As in all the aspects of conversion optimization, stores can experiment with a few policies to see if there is an opportunity to reduce cost without affecting conversion.

Checkout our previous blog about heatmaps and how they impact conversion optimization.

Clutch’s Leading B2B eCommerce Developers in Arizona

The online shopping experience has been superb and incredible in the past decade. Now, buying things online is easy and reliable. As this trend continues, established companies are forced to adapt and provide ecommerce services and new e-commerce businesses are popping up left to right every day! If you are interested in learning more about e-commerce in your business, the atmosol team is here to help. Founded in 2005, our team is confident that we can help you with your next project.

We’ve been included in the 2022 list of Clutch leaders in Arizona. To be specific, we were named as one of the leading e-commerce development companies locally! This award says a lot about our work and the quality of services we provide.

Clutch, for those of you who don’t know, is an established platform in the heart of Washington, DC, committed to helping small, mid-market and enterprise businesses identify and connect with the service providers they need to achieve their goals.

Here is our CEO, Ram Mohan to officially receive this award:

“We are happy to be an Award winning company and one of the Top B2B Companies on Clutch. It not only confirms our dedication to the work we do but also motivates us to achieve more!”

All about Direct to Consumer (D2C) eCommerce Strategy

The Complete Guide To D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) eCommerce

D2C, or Direct-To-Consumer, is a model where a company that manufactures products at its own facility also packages and sells them directly to the customer through its own channels, channels like an e-commerce store, social media handles, and physical stores.

Sounds a lot like B2C, where businesses sell directly to customers as well, so what differentiates D2C from B2C? The difference lies in who manufactures the products. While both models involve brands selling to customers directly, D2C brands are those that have also manufactured the products themselves.

A B2C business is any brand that sells to customers, period. They don’t necessarily have to have manufactured the product themselves, for example, retailers who also sell products directly to customers but source them from third-party vendors and manufacturers.

Essentially, all D2C brands are B2C because they sell directly to customers, but not all B2C brands are D2C because they don’t all manufacture their own products.
Understanding this difference is vital for brands in deciding which model to adopt.

Why Do Brands Adopt D2C?

1. It allows brands to deliver a unique experience, which supports growth

In the conventional retail model, the products begin with the manufacturer, move to the wholesaler, distributor, retailer, and then to the customer. In most cases, the manufacturer gets little to no recognition and completely relies on the retailer for sales and growth.

In the D2C model, all the middlemen – the wholesaler, distributor, and retailer are eliminated, allowing the manufacturer to sell directly to the customer.

The disconnect between the manufacturer and consumers is bridged, giving the manufacturer control over their brand, the customer experience, marketing campaigns, sales processes, and so on. It allows the manufacturer to actually create a brand and navigate it in the direction they want, and when done right, it helps the manufacturer grow faster.

2. To collect valuable data and feedback

Because D2C brands have a direct connection with their end-users, they now have access to vital data that can help them create a customer data platform to improve products and services. Without middlemen, D2C brands eliminate the chance of feedback being Chinese whispers and get valuable information straight from the users of their products.

Good data platform can help with:

  1. Consumer preferences – what products customers like and what they don’t like, what products will sell better as bundles, what pricing models are favored, and so on.
  2. Upsells/Cross-Sells – D2C brands can upsell and cross-sell products in their inventory directly through their channels and base these promotions on customer data. Here are more ways to increase your average order value and customer lifetime value.
  3. Feedback and product improvement – Through feedback, brands can improve their products and services to better serve customers.

3. It fosters loyalty and retention

Nurturing brand loyalty is extremely valuable. It costs five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an old one and the success rate of selling to an existing loyal customer is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling products to a newly acquired customer is just 5-20%. (Source)

Loyalty, however, is driven by experiences. In the conventional retail model, product manufacturers are just the suppliers while the retailer delivers the customer experience. Fostering loyalty lies in the hands of the retailer, and in most cases, the loyalty is directed to the retailer and not the manufacturer. This does not help the manufacturer in any way. Once the customer is loyal to the retailer, they will continue to shop with them even if they change manufacturers. This can clearly be risky for manufacturers.

In the D2C model, manufacturers reclaim control of the customer experience. They can create strategies to foster loyalty and increase customer retention and ensure they have a loyal customer base for their products.

4. Better profitability Avenues

Product prices inflate as they move through the tracks from manufacturer to retailer. Each member (wholesaler, distributor, and retailer) adds a markup to the price and sells it to the next member. Customers buy it at the final price marked by the retailer.

In the D2C model, since the middlemen are cut out, the asking price for a product drops drastically. This creates an opportunity for manufacturers to increase the selling price and, thus, margins while staying below the retailers asking price. This enables the brand to earn more while customers pay lesser than they would, a win-win.

Is Direct to Consumer (D2C) a Good Fit for Your Business?

We made D2C seem like it’s all rainbows and butterflies, but the retailer B2C model exists and still thrives for a reason. Not all manufacturers can incorporate the D2C model and survive. There are some aspects you should first look into before considering which model will be best for you.

1. Is there an opportunity for D2C?

The first question you have to answer is if there is an opportunity – an opportunity for sales and an opportunity for growth. Some areas to look into when considering this question:

Existing customer base – What is the current market like? Does your product (or products) have an existing customer base, either created through a retailer or generated through premarketing? When you go D2C, will there be demand from day one, or will you have to generate awareness first?

Understanding the current demand will give you an idea of how quickly your D2C brand will be profitable, and how much money you need to survive until it begins generating profits.

Marketing scope – Marketing will generate awareness and consequently, sales. The scope for marketing will be determined by – first, the products and second, the budget. Certain brands and products do not suit certain marketing channels. You hardly see retailers promoting clothes on a professional platform like LinkedIn. Your products and value propositioning will determine which platforms are open to you.

The second factor will be the budget. Depending on how much money you can divert into marketing, some platforms and strategies will be unavailable to you. After analyzing 1 and 2 together, do you see marketing potential?

Other modes of promoting – Is there scope for promoting the brand and products in other ways? For example, adding inserts in shipments to give buyers discount codes or upsell/cross-sell information

While the earlier marketing analysis was geared more toward acquiring new customers, these promotions are geared toward customer retention and repeat orders.  Together, they form the pillars for sales and growth.

2. Are the costs viable?

Once you evaluate the opportunity on paper, you need to ask if you have the funds available to incorporate a D2C model. There are a lot of costs like distribution and marketing that are eliminated when you sell through a retailer. In the D2C model, you are responsible not just for manufacturing, but storage, packaging, and distribution as well.

a. 3PL Warehouse vs. In-House Logistics – Will you manage order fulfillment in-house or through a 3rd party logistics provider (3PL)?

Inhouse fulfillment gives you complete control over logistics. You also have control over the customer experience.

When you go the 3PL route, you save on upfront costs (for a warehouse, for example) and also on day-to-day operations. You also get access to their expertise in logistics and resources from day one.

You should decide based on your budget and estimated order volumes. If order volumes are projected to be high right from the start, or if you predict erratic order volumes, you are better off partnering with a 3PL logistics provider.

b. Warehouse vs. Distribution Center – A warehouse is used to store products; a distribution center stores products and offers additional value-added services like packaging, loading, tagging, and so on. A distribution center, basically, performs all the processes needed to fulfill an order.

Your choice between the two will depend on whether you are choosing to fulfill distribution in-house or through 3PLs.

c. Earning potential – You already know the cost of goods sold, or how much you spend to manufacture each unit of the product. Once you plan out marketing and logistics, you will also know the costs for operations. The question now is if the D2C model is sustainable for your brand.

This will come down to the potential earnings, which will depend on:

  • Average order value
  • Average items per order
  • Average shipping cost

Potential earnings will be the order value x items per order – shipping cost.

d. Alternatives to improve profitability

Lastly, you should account for future possibilities for profitability. Different processes or modules that you can incorporate to increase profits for the same product volumes. For example:

Subscriptions – Can you create a subscription model that customers will accept? Subscriptions are great to nurture loyalty and retention and also create a continuous earning stream.

Bundles – Can you bundle products and create different pricing plans to include all ranges of customers – those who want to buy single products and pay a lesser amount per transaction and also those who are willing to pay higher amounts per transaction for high-value products or bundled products

3. The hurdles to implementing D2C (Direct to Consumer eCommerce)

a. Retail partner objections – When you move to the D2C model, you become a direct competitor for retailers selling similar products. Are you going to face backlash from retailers currently selling your products or similar products? Will you be able to weather the competition and position your brand as unique from theirs?

b. Different product offerings/bundles – As you become a direct competitor to retailers, will their product offerings, pricing plans, or product bundles take business away from you? It’s a prudent approach to research your competition and pit their services against your own. For you to survive as a D2C brand, you will have to deliver better pricing deals than the competition.

c. Can you differentiate your brand from the competition – You will need a USP to differentiate your brand from the competition. While not every product or service can be unique, you can introduce a distinction in other areas like operations, pricing, or support.

Conclusion about Direct to Consumer eCommerce (D2C)

D2C sales in the US rose from $76 billion in the year 2019 to $111.5 billion in the year 2020. Sales were forecasted to increase to $129 billion in the year 2021. The D2C market is growing quickly, as more manufacturers begin to see the immense benefits of building a brand.

If you are considering starting a D2C business or moving from a retail-oriented business to D2C, this article will hopefully serve as a guide to you.

eCommerce Business Trends 2023 Predictions [DATA & GRAPHS]

eCommerce Trends 2020

2020 is a year that will go down in history as one of the worst for humankind, yet arguably the best ever for ecommerce business. While brick and mortar stores were struggling to remain open due to the pandemic, e-commerce sales soared to achieve astronomical growth due to the inherently non-contact nature of e-commerce. How much did it grow? See below for a graph of e-commerce penetration in the US market

Essentially, from around 15% people who used e-commrece in 2019, a whopping 34% started using it during the pandemic. Interestingly, in the absence of the pandemic, it would have taken 10 years to reach this level of penetration. Every industry saw significant growth in their e-commerce business. Here’s a graph of industry-wise growth of e-commerce sourced from BigCommerce based on US census bureau and some key takeaways.

Groceries eCommerce Soars

Unmissable on the graph is how Food & Beverage eCommerce or groceries is a tower much taller than the others. Obviously groceries are the most basic need, but it’s not only that. Groceries have really been lagging behind other segments for several years. The trend has been clearly towards omni-channel commerce as indicated by all major grocery retailers adopting delivery and pickup even before the pandemic. However, customers still seemed to want to pick their produce or walk the aisles or just liked the diversion. As a result grocery eCommerce has really lagged other segments and this is another reason for the huge growth

eCommerce Growth In 2020 Q2 & Downtrend

Q2 saw the most growth year on year. As the pandemic hit in late Q1 to early Q2, most people lacked enough information to make informed decisions about whether to step out. As a result, eCommerce soared, but started to drop off as more information became available and some consumers weighed the risks and decided it’s not too dangerous to at least partially step out.

Industries Bucking The Downtrend

Automotive & parts and home furnishings to an extent has continued to grow against the trend in Q3 and Q4. Home furnishing might have continued to grow as consumers continued to spend more time at home and update their homes to make it more comfortable. Motor vehicles and parts are also continuing to grow even though miles driven by people have come down with a large percentage of people working from home. Also, auto parts growth is not as significant as other segments. This points to customers who are handy with their vehicles beginning to do some work on it as they spend less time commuting and find themselves more at home and with more time on hand

eCommerce Trends 2021

So, 2020 was a stellar year for eCommerce, but as vaccines become available and the pandemic wears off, how do we expect the consumers to react. To understand, we collected some data from various sources. Here are a few results

The Channel Shift Is Here To Stay

In a survey of consumers by Global Web Index, 48% of consumers said they will shop online more. Euromonitor International, a market research firm estimates that 17% of all retail sales will be online in 2021. This number will grow to 21% in 2025. Retail is getting ready for this boom too. 75% of surveyed retailers expect that the huge shift that happened in 2020 will cause a permanent channel shift from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce.

eCommerce Competition Heats Up

In the same Euromonitor survey mentioned earlier, 72% of retail professionals said COVID-19 accelerated their digitization plans by 1-2 years. 21% said it accelerated by at least 3 years. Evidently, larger businesses are investing a lot more in improving their e-commerce experience. Research by Deloitte found that the top 20% of businesses gained almost 400 billion in revenue whereas the bottom 20% lost almost as much during the pandemic. Not all of it is due to eCommerce, but at least some part can be attributed to eCommerce or ease of purchase in general

Marketplaces Dominate eCommerce

Marketplaces are increasingly becoming the customers’ preferred channel of purchase. Half of all global eCommerce happens on a marketplace and more than 63% of product searches online in the US start at Amazon. This makes marketplaces a great place for businesses to find customers and start e-commerce without much investment. However, the commissions and fees add up quickly and can make the business less profitable. Also, marketplaces own the customer and makes it harder to see customer journeys or gather other insights about customers. There’s very limited ability to customize the product details too. As a result, your brand loses a chunk of it’s value as compared to a new entrant .

How Businesses Can Adapt

As is evident from 2021 trends, there are some opportunities to be exploited and some hurdles to be overcome in 2021 and beyond. We’ve put together a list as a actions that businesses can take as a starting point with a focus on small to medium businesses.

The Obvious Need For A Good eCommerce Story

Given the trends, it’s obvious that retailers either without an e-commerce store or with a sub-optimal store will miss out and miss out rather heavily. Having an e-commerce store is no longer an option, but something customers expect and demand. While it might seem like a daunting task for smaller businesses, anyone can accomplish this with small steps and little outside help where possible. Start by taking your inventory to online marketplaces like Amazon, which costs very little to get up and running. Even with the commissions and fees, it’s new customers in the door. Once the store start getting some customers online, setup an eCommerce store on a platform like Shopify. Then start including material in your packaging inviting your customers to visit your online store. Give them an incentive like a free gift, discount coupon or loyalty points to do so. As business grows further, other platforms can also be evaluated if further customization and control is desired.

A store that is not converting or has a sub-optimal user experience is most likely a waste of precious resources spent maintaining it. With the number of slick and easy to use stores increasing every day, any store owner has to either learn about eCommerce conversion and user experience or invest in an expert eCommerce consultant. The investment will be worth the ROI as data from Deloitte shows that customers are more and more willing to try new stores and websites. 75% of customers tried a new store or website during the pandemic and 60% of them will continue to use those brands in addition to their previously favorite brands. With the advent of easy and free returns online, we think customers will continue try new things online. Having a well structure online store will put the business in a good position to gain new business from adventurous consumers.

Invest In End To End Experience

Following the topic of sub-optimal experience, eCommerce customers today are spoiled by the seamless experiences that marketplaces provide. They expect not just a good shopping experience, but a great post-checkout experience as well. It can be hard to compete with marketplaces on your own in things like quick and easy shipping and returns. However, there are options available to outsource some of this experience to third party logistics providers (3PLs). These 3PLs can give you the scale of strategically located fulfillment centers and match the experience of marketplaces or at least make the difference small enough to not be a turn off.

Brand Loyalty Is Worth Fighting For

As more and more product searches start on marketplaces and brand loyalty diminishes, retailers have to really personalize their service and provide a human touch to improve brand loyalty. This can be high-tech like AI-powered content personalization or old fashioned memorable customer service experience. Brands can also increase customer loyalty through loyalty programs and discounts on subscriptions. Consumers can also be influenced to buy from a certain brand by aligning with their values. Research by IBM says six in 10 consumers are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. Nearly eight in 10 respondents indicate sustainability is important for them. And for those who say it is very/extremely important, over 70 percent would pay a premium of 35 percent, on average, for brands that are sustainable and environmentally responsible. So, there’s one value a business can align with the build loyalty.

How atmosol Can Help

atmosol is a boutique eCommerce consulting company that has been helping clients emerge stronger in the e-commerce world for over 16 years. Our strength is understanding our customers’ business and using our experience and knowledge of latest trends to come up with unique ideas that help boost online sales, conversion, and retention. To this end, we take up strategy, implementation, marketing and literally Everything Ecommerce®. loyalty through loyalty programs and discounts on subscriptions. Consumers can also be influenced to buy from a certain brand by aligning with their values. Research by IBM says six in 10 consumers are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. Nearly eight in 10 respondents indicate sustainability is important for them. And for those who say it is very/extremely important, over 70 percent would pay a premium of 35 percent, on average, for brands that are sustainable and environmentally responsible. So, there’s one value a business can align with the build loyalty.

4 Tips to select the right ecommerce agency

In today’s world, everything is found on the web. From Walmart coupons to the new iPhone, you can find anything you will ever need; Online! To sell your wares online, you need an E-commerce store and the best eCommerce agency. Well, how do you choose the right company for your venture?

What are your Goals?

Before you decide to choose an agency for your business, you need to determine what your goals are for an E-commerce store.

Features

What to you want your E-commerce store to do? How should it look? How should it serve your customers? Do you need any add-ons? Do you need access to the backend of the website? Answer these questions before you make a list of your goals. 

Essentially, from around 15% people who used e-commerce in 2019, a whopping 34% started using it during the pandemic. Interestingly, in the absence of the pandemic, it would have taken 10 years to reach this level of penetration. Every industry saw significant growth in their e-commerce business. Here’s a graph of industry-wise growth of e-commerce sourced from BigCommerce based on US census bureau and some key takeaways.

Making A List

Using the answers to the questions from the section above, list out your goals in order, from 1 to 10 or more.

Looking For The Perfect Agency

With your E-commerce goals in hand, start looking for E-commerce agencies either on the web, using a phone directory, asking your friends and so on. Get in touch with them either using their website contact form, calling them over phone, or by sending them an email.

Choosing the Agency

Now you have a list of prospective E-commerce companies to choose from. But how do you pick one from your list?

What to look for?

Pick an agency that has extensive experience working in E-commerce, values customer satisfaction, is clear and transparent on their interactions with you, prioritizes your revenue and returns, has nominal service charges, focuses on the right metrics, and has a team of professionals you need for your future E-commerce store.

Experience in E-commerce

The most important thing when choosing the right E-commerce development company for your business is to evaluate a company’s experience in E-commerce. You need to know how many years do they have in the field, the number of clients have they worked with and the number of E-commerce websites have they set up.

Ask all these questions on your first meeting with the agency.

Customers First!

The customer always comes first! Which of your shortlisted E-commerce agencies truly believe that? Find out by checking out their reviews on Google.

Communication

Which E-commerce agencies of your shortlist interact with you the best? Are they transparent with their policies? Do they explain their services in a clear & comprehensive way?

If yes, you can believe that they are some of the best E-commerce agencies in business!

Prioritizes Revenue & Returns

Creating an online store is an investment in your marketing strategy with an E-commerce company. So, it is important that you get a steady stream of revenue and returns from your investment. It is vital to make sure that your shortlist agency talks about the returns you will make after your partnership with them.

Pricing

How much does an E-commerce company charge for their services? Is it too less or too much for your business? If it is either, you should look at the next option in your list.

Preferably, as a business owner, you should compare the quality of services every company you find and compare them to the prices they charge.

The Right Metrics & KPIs

Does the agency talk about metrics, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that is relevant to your business and still meets your expectations? These are necessary to track the progress and growth of your online store.

Metrics & KPIs to Look Out For

Impressions: How often your ad is shown.

Reach: The total number of people who see your content.​

Engagement: How users interact with your ads.

Click-through-rate: The ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement.

Cost per acquisition (CPA): The cost to acquire one paying customer on a campaign. 

Organic acquisition traffic: Users who visit the website without responding to an ad, usually done by Google search.

Shopping cart abandonment: When a potential customer starts checkout out an online order but drops out before completing the purchase.

Micro & macro conversion rates: Micro conversions are action, or a set of actions, which indicates that a user is progressing to a valuable action on your website.  A macro conversion is the primary conversion method on a website. For example, a completed sale on an eCommerce site or a completed lead generation form. 

Average order value (AOV): Measures the average amount of money spent each time a customer places an order on your website. 

Sales conversion rate: the percentage of users you make a purchase.

Customer retention rate: the percentage of customers that continue to do business with a company over a given period of time.

Customer lifetime value (CLV): the value a customer contributes to your business over their entire lifetime at your company. 

Talk to agencies who talk about these metrics as they know the business of eCommerce inside and out. 

The Team

Does the company you are looking for have the resources necessary for your project? An E-commerce store needs web developers and web designers to build the website, UI/UX designers and writers to ensure that its customer centric, and digital marketers to promote the store to your audience.

Find out if the agency has enough people to work on your project and still deliver on a specific deadline.

Working with an eCommerce Agency

After finalizing your shortlist of E-commerce agencies, you would like to work with, you need to see if they are entities you can trust to work with. Make your list even smaller with the criteria below.

  • Which of your shortlist have a clean record of operating in your city or state? Do they have any legal entanglements?
  • Ask the company to showcase a portfolio of the companies they have worked with, and the work they did with each client.
  • Does your shortlisted eCommerce agency have experience working in your sector? How many companies have they worked with? Find out the names of the companies and ask for testimonials issued by these companies.
  • Every E-commerce company needs to have certified professionals in specific skills required for E-commerce.

Some Credentials To Look Out For Are:

  • E-commerce platform certifications with Magento or BigCommerce.
  • Microsoft Developer Certification
  • Adobe Certified Expert
  • Career Foundry UX Design Certificate
  • Google Ads Certification
  • Google Analytics IQ Certification

E-commerce Development Process Ensure that your shortlisted E-commerce company has a clear, comprehensive, and well-planned E-commerce development process. It lists all the work the agency does, the information they require from you, and a detailed account of each step of the partnership they will have with you. Are they a Partner? Is your shortlisted agency looking for a partnership with you to ensure mutual success? Do they want to see your business reach new heights and conquer milestones? If yes, they are one of a kind and the best choice for your E-commerce needs.

How many companies should I talk to?

Talk to how many ever E-commerce agencies you think you might need, but make sure that you choose the best company that is the perfect fit for your business.

Now you are ready to pick an eCommerce agency that is perfect for your business, and ready to reach new audiences everywhere in the world using the power of the internet!

0% Financing and deferred payments for your eCommerce project

Need a new Online store? Not Enough cash for upfront payment? Looking for flexibility? As a young, growing business, it is difficult to ensure a regular stream of cash inflows from product sales. Yet you need to keep your business running without a hitch. The team at atmosol understands this, so we have come up with a 0% financing and deferred payment model for our clients. We created this program so that your business keeps growing and reaching new milestones, no matter what the hurdles might be.

Customized & Tailor-made Options, for Your Business

At atmosol, we understand that every company is different, and there is not a one size fits all option for any venture.

Flexible Payment Plans

The team at atmosol understands that running a business can be tough, so flexibility is no longer an option but a necessity. This ensures that your E-commerce stores keep running smoothly without the hassle of month-end payment deadlines.

0% Financing

0% Financing also known as interest-free financing helps you to have a seamless partnership with atmosol. This ensures that your business is not hampered by worries about any extra charges post deliverables or hidden costs embedded in your payment plan.

Deferred Payments

If your business runs into any unexpected charges during your partnership with atmosol, we got your back with our one-of-a-kind deferred payments feature. This enables you to transform your existing bill into small, easy-to-pay, monthly installments. It further ensures that you can continue with your business operations without worrying about your payments to atmosol.

atmosol Partners With Balboa Capital

To make this happen we partnered with Balboa Capital, one of America’s most distinguished financing companies.

About Balboa Capital

Balboa Capital was launched as an equipment leasing company in 1988 by Patrick Byrne and Shawn Giffin. It is named after Balboa Island in Orange County, California. They started with a $4,000 investment and in just a few years turned Balboa Capital into one of the largest privately held finance companies in the U.S.A. In 2014, it reported an annual loan volume of $250 million with its clients. Balboa has offices in Jacksonville, FL, Scottsdale, AZ, San Ramon, CA, Costa Mesa, CA, and Spokane, WA.

What do they do?

Most of the firm’s business involves leasing arrangements and loans. They specialize in small business equipment loans. Most of the company’s lending products are capped at $250,000, with loan terms ranging between three months and two years.

Unsecured Loans

Balboa Capital offers unsecured loans as a part of its financial schemes. These loans are unsecured both for businesses of all sizes and individuals.

Major Financial Operations

The company is a lender for franchise expansions of Domino’s Pizza and McAlister’s Deli in the USA.


Features

Balboa Capital’s financial products have a variety of features that are client-centric and help with easy acquisition and payment of loans. In Balboa’s partnership with atmosol, it offers the following features for its financing options:

Guaranteed Financing For New & Existing atmosol clients

As a part of our partnership, Balboa guarantees any type of loan, large or small with a wide variety of payment plans and options for any current or future clients.

Lowest Rates Possible

Interest rates are flexible for every client and will be set at the lowest rates possible. These rates are decided after meetings and negotiations between Balboa Capital, atmosol, and the client.

No Payments For The First 6 months

Need an E-commerce store ASAP? But you cannot pay upfront? No problem we got your back! Balboa Capital offers “a no payment for 6 months” option so that you can get your business on track with an E-Commerce website first and worry about payments later!

No Origination Fees

Most financial entities charge a 0.5% to 1% fee as compensation for processing a loan. Not at atmosol! No clients, either present or future clients are charged any origination fees for processing their loan applications with Balboa Capital.

Why Choose atmosol?

atmosol is America’s first eCommerce digital marketing agency that specializes in everything that is eCommerce. We offer services in eCommerce website development, Graphic design, UI/UX design, Online Store Maintenance, Digital Marketing, and Online Store Consultation. We provide the best eCommerce services in the market at modest rates.

100% Customer Satisfaction

Everyone at atmosol believes that the customer comes first, and we stop nothing short of 100% customer satisfaction. We believe in having clear and transparent communication with our clients. We aim to make your customer journey as seamless as possible. Check out our client testimonials for more information.

Everything E-commerce

atmosol offers solutions on Everything eCommerce. It means that if you need an online store with Magento, have questions on eCommerce development, need to promote your online store, or manage a steady conversion rate with your leads, atmosol is your one-stop shop!

Get in touch with us for any queries you have on atmosol’s eCommerce services, or our financing options with Balboa Capital, and let us transform your business with the power of Everything eCommerce!


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