Do you see the rapid pace of innovative disruptions that have been shaking up the traditional business models? Technology has become a great enabler in facilitating new innovations to bring markets and customers to one platform. It has created seamless experiences for both B2B and B2C retailers. E-commerce businesses have been upping their game to know customers better and creating markets where none existed. E-commerce is predicted to be the biggest beneficiary of Digital transformation.
Digital transformation has become inevitable for any ecommerce business to successfully run in this digital era. It has become a key aspect of staying relevant in business. Retailers earlier used to battle it out in the physical world but now they are competing online. So, every business leader is thinking of transforming their business and going digital and wants to share a slice of the ecommerce pie. Most retailers are trying Magento Development to build their online store to join the digital transformation.Let’s understand how ecommerce and digital transformation are interconnected.
E-commerce and Digital Transformation’s Interconnection
- Customers are online – The new-age tech-savvy customers are looking for their desired products online. A staggering of 87% buyers are looking up online for product information, product reviews, etc. even if they are buying in the brick-and-mortar store. Consumers expect to find this product-related information quickly on the web. This helps them to make a brand opinion about your business.2. Rising Customer Expectations – Modern customers are discerning and looking for personalized experiences across a wide range of touchpoints along multiple channels. Buyers are hopping from one device to another and using these ecommerce apps. If you want to improve the bottom line of your business, you need to build ecommerce websites that cater to this customer base.
3. Build Brand Presence in the Market – As more and more brands are now going digital through Direct-to-Consumer(D2C) marketing, your business would go into slow oblivion if you rely only on wholesale marketing strategies. Through the rapid digital transformation of your ecommerce business, you can also cut out the middlemen and improve your profits. Customers can have first-hand communication with the brand manufacturers. There are various digital strategies for robust branding and a stronger digital presence. You can create a roadmap for the success of your marketplace.
Impact of Digital Transformation on the Future of E-commerce
You may be thinking that if retailers have ecommerce businesses, it is logical to assume that they have embraced digital transformation and have a firm grip on the digital world. But is that really the case? Well, digital transformation doesn’t have an endpoint. You cannot simply sit back and dust off to conclude that you have reached the zenith of digital transformation.
Having an ecommerce website is just one aspect of your enterprise’s digital transformation. You need to do a million other things to match, survive and thrive in the ecommerce landscape. You need to keep a track of your customers’ expectations and behavior so that you can adjust and modify your targeting campaigns to meet the needs of your buyer demographics and psychographics.
You should also be able to understand your competitors’ strategies, keep up with the current trends, and expand your customer base. So, digital transformation is never an end in itself. It is a long-drawn journey and retailers should focus on continual improvements and keep up with the current trends. But as the possibilities are endless, many entrepreneurs dread getting the right strategy and nailing it to achieve the anticipated results.
For an ecommerce business to achieve the specified business outcomes, you need to focus on grabbing every opportunity that comes along your way. Be it capitalizing on the organic traffic through SEO, paid ads, PPC ads, Google Shopping, sending email campaigns for the abandoned cart users, etc. every strategy should be explored to understand what’s working the best.
All companies must invest in digital transformation for reaping major rewards. Some of the ways digital transformation is helping to change the face of your ecommerce business are:
- D2C – We have seen how brands have built partnerships with brick-and-mortar retailers. But now, they have been moving to D2C through which e-retailers not only can reap greater profits but also understand customers better by recouping buyer connections. Instead of post-sale surveys, voluntary feedback & reviews, there can be a direct line of communication between retailers and buyers. One can also provide a personalized experience and also focus on providing a seamless experience across multiple touchpoints. This also helps in building brand evangelists who become the word-of-mouth marketers for your products.
- Alternate Payment Methods – Today in addition to credit cards, we have new ways of payment processing based on the blockchain technology, like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, etc. Also popular among the millennials is the buy-now-pay-later option. Digital transformation lets this happen and helps you to stay ahead of the pack by letting you adopt contemporary ways of online payment.
- Rise in Mobile Phone Buyers – Today, the majority of the buyers come from mobile phones. They sit back and start to experience the visual feel of their products with just a click. They want modern websites that have to look good on all devices like tablets, smartphones, etc. By rapidly adopting the digital trends, you can make your apps adaptive and provide a fluid experience to the buyers.
- Cloud Computing – Cloud computing enables your ecommerce websites to cater to the changing demands of the market. You can easily upscale and downscale as per the seasonal demands and traffic spikes. It provides scalability and also improves your performance by providing your ecommerce website greater bandwidth, computational power, and massive storage. You can also ensure the safety of your ecommerce websites with cloud services.
- IoT – The IoT-enabled applications help in the interchanging of data and aids in retail and ecommerce firms’ collaboration. You can smoothly and efficiently execute all your operations. Everything becomes easier be it inventory management, supply chain management, maintenance & warranty, personalization, etc. IoT-enabled ecommerce businesses help various companies to garner smarter insights on customer trends and facilitate a more inclusive shopping experience. It can also aid in customized advertising and identifies various shopping patterns for better targeting.
- Big Data – For an ecommerce business, big data helps in enhancing personalization. Various machine learning algorithms can help you to understand customers’ previous activities. You can learn more about your customers through big data and also install some product recommendation integrations on your ecommerce website.
- Augmented Reality opens up new possibilities by providing a real-time experience to the buyers. It breaks down the limitations of online shopping as buyers can visualize the products virtually and yet feel a real-time experience. Through the AR technology, we are able to remove the major psychological barriers to making a purchase.
- Headless & API-driven ecommerce
Rapid innovations in ecommerce are possible with digital transformation and constant updates like how one can decouple the company’s ecommerce platform from the frontend. We are ensuring that the data entered into the backend travels seamlessly to a wide range of frontends via APIs. This allows enormous personalization and customization options for the buyers. It also improves the SEO of your website and drives targeted organic traffic to your ecommerce site.
How to make your ecommerce website adapt to digital transformation trends?
Skynet Technologies is one of the pioneering companies to understand the seismic shift happening in the ecommerce landscape. We have been around for more than 2 decades helping businesses to set up their ecommerce website and adapt to the changing trends in the digital arena. Our digital transformation services include a wide range of services that have become the backbone of ecommerce businesses. In addition to the above trends, Skynet Technologies’ digital transformation services include making changes to UI/UX, building ecommerce businesses that are universally accessible through ADA compliance websites, digital marketing, and branding services to help you stay ahead of the race, cloud computing, IoT, etc.
By interconnecting ecommerce and digital transformation, we help you improve your Conversion rate optimization and SEO. While SEO drives organic traffic to your website and CRO strategies convert the visitors into customers. Our digital transformation enables your ecommerce website to adopt everything intended to improve your customer experience. From subtle page design changes to compelling product descriptions, navigation options to the checkout process, it lets you reduce the user friction and drives them down the funnel. We have been helping many retail businesses to improve their revenue streams. While the pandemic has forced both buyers and sellers to go digital, hurry up and start your digital journey today.
