How e-commerce players can boost business growth amidst increasing competition

By Sushant Puri

The past year’s events have spawned several drastic transformations, particularly for businesses. At the forefront of these pandemic-induced disruptions has been the e-commerce industry. The global crisis kickstarted a massive shift from offline to online buying and selling across almost all age groups, geographies, and economic status. Being the second largest e-commerce market in the world, the Indian e-commerce sector is projected to touch USD 99 billion by 2024 according to IBEF.

However, contrary to common assumptions, there is a lot more to e-commerce than merely buying or selling online. The fast-growing industry consists of intricately woven business strategies and complex networks that enable its rapid growth. Especially for new-age e-commerce players, boosting business growth will allow them to stay afloat amidst the cut-throat competition that exists in the market. That said, here are five expert tips to help one understand the nuances of an e-commerce business and ensure growth.

Excellent user experience

User experience plays an instrumental role in determining business growth. Focussing on optimised UX/UI, easy navigation, and a smooth checkout along with integrated payment options will create a user-friendly shopping experience. Ensuring an impeccable and optimised user experience will help e-commerce brands increase customer acquisition, retention, and satisfaction, and will ultimately boost growth exponentially.

Content is the king

For any business, content is undeniably a key element that can boost business growth. Particularly for an e-commerce player, the quality of content can make or break the business. Website/app content must be top-notch. Add FAQs, encourage people to leave reviews, have a separate blog section, and ensure that the content displayed on the website including the product descriptions are clear and not misleading.

Furthermore, social media is another way to promote your business as people increasingly spend a majority of their time scrolling through their feeds. Boost engagement on your pages in various social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, organise giveaways and contests and build a community for your brand. These are simple yet effective strategies to drive growth.

The 80:20 rule

In today’s tech-powered, fast-paced world, there would always be multiple aspects to be taken care of in e-commerce businesses to ensure seamless end-to-end services. Always bear in mind the 80:20 rule where the primary principle is to identify an entity’s best assets and utilise them efficiently for maximum value. Google and Facebook will often constitute the bulk of a business’s traffic so it’s important to retain focus on them before proceeding with other elements.

Building trust

Laying a solid foundation and building trust will go a long way in helping your business progress further. Simple measures such as keeping product prices and brand policies clear will nurture a trust-based customer relationship. Besides this, communicating shipping and handling charges will also reduce cart abandonment to a great extent as customers often abandon their cart due to ambiguity in shipping, packaging, or handling charges. Especially for an online business, establishing trust will prove vital in fast-tracking business growth.

End-to-end support

As mentioned earlier, e-commerce is much more than simply buying or selling products online. Aside from product quality and the aforementioned aspects, end-to-end support plays a pivotal role in boosting your business. Clear communication, quick and relevant responses to customer queries across all touchpoints, etc., are some other crucial elements that brands much never overlook.

Remember that boosting your e-commerce business’s growth is a gradual process. E-commerce is a highly lucrative segment with immense scope for growth and the above-mentioned tips, if implemented accurately and efficiently, can help your business thrive in the increasingly competitive market.

The author is co-founder, ANS Commerce

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