“50% users are intended to boost their online spending over the next 6 months.” – PwC, Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey, June 2023
In the past decade, the explosive growth of eCommerce made it an essential and crucial asset for businesses to strengthen their market presence. With the increased use of online shopping and users’ intention to boost spending amplified the interest of businesses to adopt the trend in this disruption and get their own exclusive presence on the eCommerce landscape.
eCommerce presence is a strategic move by businesses to leverage the 24-hour selling opportunity. However, the growth of e-commerce endures with time under the ever-evolving marketplace equations. Companies need to be mindful of the strategic moves further to ensure the growth of their eCommerce, as mere digital presence won’t add numbers to their balance sheets.
Moreover, resonating with the rapidly emerging challenges and customer expectations, the future profitable growth of eCommerce gets ignored. Executives are concerned and focused but largely inclined toward technological adoption and competition. The good news — Krish has identified some common signs that say the need for a growth partner to ease the job of executives for their eCommerce growth respectively.
It has been challenging for eCommerce businesses to up their competition game aligned with growth; above that, their existing agencies don’t have a clear picture of their growth vision. eCommerce players are also rushing to stay ahead of the curve, yet this is the time to pause, take a deep breath, and carefully consider these signs that tell you something is off in your existing agency. Indicates a need of the hour to look for a reliable growth partner.
Sign 1# Missing or weaker growth strategies
What if your existing agency doesn’t have a growth strategy for you?
eCommerce companies can deploy various strategies to generate more revenue, increase reach, improve conversion rates, and enhance profitability that creates value. One thing is clear: growth doesn’t happen overnight; it takes mindful decision-making with constant monitoring and improvement as the business moves ahead. Notably, most agencies are unable to expand eCommerce reach due to weaker growth strategies, even though they want you to grow. The way to fix this issue is to review existing growth strategies (if any) and turn toward a growth partner to create a lasting impression and build a substantial place for your eCommerce in the market.
Sign 2# Poor UX/UI and Customer Experience (CX)
“eCommerce sites lose almost 50% of their potential sales because users cannot use the site.”- Nielsen Norman Group, a UX research and consulting firm.
User Experience, User Interface, and Customer Experience (CX) are inseparable for the success and growth of any eCommerce site. According to the Nielsen Norman Group – a UX Research and Consulting firm study, almost half of the eCommerce sites lose their potential sales due to poor UX/UI responsible for the peril. Usability encapsulates the User Experience (UX) on any eCommerce site; a great UX/UI helps earn more customers and sales, subsequently resulting in better growth.
Slow page load speed, no clear navigation or messaging, lack of intuitive search functionality, complex product/service listing, low-quality product images, lack of product information, complicated checkout process, et cetera; clearly showing a poor UX/UI, one of the biggest hurdles in your growth. Here, your existing agency ignored the importance of usability heuristics; time to look for a growth partner in a true sense.
Sign 3# Delay in identifying and addressing critical technical issues
“53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than 3 seconds to load.”- Google Data, Global, Think With Google
Critical technical issues and glitches are inevitable for any eCommerce site. eCommerce companies always have the opportunity to nudge themselves toward growth with constant improvements in the tech stack with advanced technologies and by fixing the glitches. A periodic audit, stress test, and monitoring help identify these issues with any eCommerce site, yet time is crucial.
Delay in identifying and addressing critical technical issues negatively impacts the customer experience, customer satisfaction, brand, sales volume, conversion rate, and revenue potential. Once a glitch is detected, immediate action is needed to find and fix the root cause before any potential loss. However, most agencies have been delayed in taking prompt action, which kills eCommerce businesses. When your eCommerce agency is failed to do so, there will be friction in your growth curve. Rethink; your operational success needs a growth accelerator.
Sign 4# Poor marketing strategy and data analytics
“Worldwide eCommerce revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 11.16%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$5.56tn by 2027.” – Statista Market Insights
With the significant boom in global eCommerce reflects a relief for businesses. The annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 11.16% might be exciting for marketers, but it takes time; sometimes, it takes 5 years at least to reach this growth level. And the role of data analytics-powered marketing strategies is essential. eCommerce marketing is now an ongoing process that takes inputs from data analytics of audience demographics, acquisition insights, conversion rates, paid campaigns, et cetera and turns them into actionable insights to derive engagement, conversion, and loyalty.
Until business leaders know their present performances, they can’t plan to achieve results in the future. Data insights and analytics help to delve deep into the numbers that favoured eCommerce business in the past and forecast the future accordingly. Despite all the data analytics, if the eCommerce business is drowning, then you are investing the marketing budget into a leaky marketing bucket. A growth partner can only help you guardrail marketing plans with data analytics.
Sign 5# Lack of 360-degree eCommerce offerings from your current agency
The eCommerce landscape has a unique characteristic; it evolves and changes more often. When you outsource an eCommerce project to any random agency that doesn’t have the 360-degree eCommerce capabilities of technology and marketing needs required in the eCommerce lifecycle model, it results in losing the eCommerce charm with time. eCommerce usually suffers from chaotic customer order management, inability to deliver personalization, failure to meet customer expectations, inability to offer a seamless experience, and more. Winning on eCommerce isn’t easy, and if the agency lacks 360-degree eCommerce offerings, then it is next to impossible.
The eCommerce ecosystem has different rules across the full spectrum of digital channels. Furthermore, eCommerce growth can be achieved by continuous upgrades, maintaining customer expectations, improving experiences, and evolving (new platforms/technologies, features, resources, and strategies) with each stage of the development cycle. A 360-degree eCommerce agency is a growth partner for businesses that brings the true potential for profitable growth to future-proof businesses. Its unique capability of a one-stop solution with advanced technologies and security delivers a seamless omnichannel experience strategically designed to emerge as a lead in the disruption.
Sign 6# A recognized shortage of experts’ skills and relevant expertise
eCommerce ideas grow with expert skills and relevant expertise of domain and industry. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all for eCommerce business analysis, development, and marketing. It is the time for domain expertise and skills that work as essential enablers for a competitive edge.
While leaning on inexperienced agencies with a shortage of relevant expertise seems a cost-effective move, it may impede the faster growth of businesses in the long term. It is a clear sign for companies to understand that they need a growth partner to fill the talent gap.
Brands need to invest in a growth partner who brings the talent pool with ample expertise to build momentum and gain the edge. Growth partner drives eCommerce with the required skill set and builds growth by harnessing the advancement of the digital age.
The rapidly evolving eCommerce world requires brands and marketers to embrace the changes and brings together the capabilities of advanced technology and profitable strategies to thrive in growth. But the devil is in the agency services. These agencies often fail to understand growth vision.
The secret is — Growth Partner, a 360-degree eCommerce agency that enables brands to stay updated and evolves with time. In other words, an eCommerce agency embeds eCommerce’s growth vision into its own culture and periodically assesses growth to craft strategies for continuous improvement.
Growth services by Krish strengthen digital marketing and sales channels with continuous improvements that deliver a unique online experience to end customers. Read further to understand ‘Growth Services: What and why do you need it?’
Minal Joshi is a content marketer at Krish with a flair for eCommerce and Digital Commerce aspects. She is a MarTech fanatic with a knack of writing with which, she helps brands to curate, create, & commence digital brand positioning. Sharing insights via articles, case studies, eBooks, Infographics, and other forms of content creation is what she lives for. Being an ardent traveler, when not writing, you'll find her sipping coffee into the mountains or petting a stray.
1 December, 2023 Phygital: Shopping Experience at the intersection of ‘Physical’ and ‘Digital’ realms In the era where the line between the physical and digital worlds is blurred faster than ever, the eCommerce landscape is transforming experiences at the intersection of ‘Physical’ and ‘Digital’ realms. As brands navigate through the challenges of engaging, retaining, and acquiring customers, one emerging concept is remarkably grown up: the blending experiences of both worlds. With new-age smart devices and advanced technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), digital twins, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) brands are transforming the in-store experience and eStore and accelerating customer decision journeys.
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