Driving E-Commerce Growth: The Synergy of Data, Optimisation, and Customer Experience

The Rise of E-Commerce (Sales & Growth & Covid-19)

Across the globe, e-commerce is experiencing an unprecedented surge in growth, poised to dominate a quarter (>25%) of all sales. However, the grocery sector’s e-commerce share lags behind at just 7.2%.

Leading the digital revolution is the Asian e-commerce market, accounting for a whopping 45% share of all online FMCG sales; while globally, mobile e-commerce is projected to account for 43% of all e-commerce sales by 2024. Businesses with a strong social media presence have observed a remarkable 32% increase in sales.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a seismic shift in consumer buying habits, prompting businesses to rapidly adapt. E-commerce played a crucial role during this period, offering customers enhanced choices, convenience, and access to valuable product ratings, reviews, and price comparisons. The digital transformation accelerated at an unprecedented pace, equivalent to two years’ progress in just two months, as acknowledged by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

The Importance of Customer Experience (Websites & Cart Abandonment)

Creating a positive and seamless customer experience is crucial in the fiercely competitive e-commerce landscape to address switching to competitors and cart abandonment.

User-friendly websites play a significant role in attracting and retaining customers. Negative experiences, especially on mobile platforms, can quickly drive customers to switch (40%) to competitors. To address this, businesses must optimise their mobile websites to provide a smooth and hassle-free shopping experience.

Cart abandonment remains a critical challenge for businesses, hampering conversion rates. By addressing these issues and streamlining the checkout process, businesses can significantly reduce lost sales and enhance customer experience and loyalty.

The Total Picture (Leveraging Data for Improved Decision-Making)

Data serves as the lifeblood of successful e-commerce strategies, but many platforms lack sophisticated capabilities, leading to a partial picture from inconsistent and chaotic data across the many sales data sources.

To overcome this, it is crucial to first consolidate all data sources, then harmonise them, in a regular and timely manner, thus ensuring they are comprehensive and accurate. Only then, will you have the Total Picture of business performance across multiple markets, channels, and retailers, that will improve and game-change your decision making and growth.

Best-in-class marketeers use effective reporting and analytics to derive insights and opportunities from a clean data source. With the right tools in place for business users, successful e-commerce strategies and performance are born by understanding:

How your business is performing online versus offline: To grow your total business, you need to be winning online. Having sales performance reports from clean harmonised data, online vs offline is a must. Best-in-class marketeers analyse further by SKU, by Brand, by Category, and by Total Company. This allows you to correctly understand if you are getting your fair share within the total e-commerce channel, as well as within and across retailers (which retailer’s e-commerce channels are laggards vs my total e-commerce performance, and vs traditional bricks and mortar?).

Do you have the correct range of products selling online: Online retail typically offers access to a wider range of products with ratings, reviews, and price comparisons at customers’ fingertips. Are you supplying the right range of products, by customer, by market, that satisfies the needs of your online consumers? (If not, is this what is holding you back?).

How are your competitors delivering online success: Understanding successful strategies used by competitors can help drive your business performance, but it’s essential to adapt these strategies to align with your strengths and customer needs. What’s driving their success, and is it a potential driver for your business. Strategies and performance will differ by customer, by market, and by channel.