E-Commerce Marketing Basics in the Cyber World

by Cecilia Guerra

A quick look at traditional vs. online tactics to drive sales

 

For “bricks and mortar” retailers the approaching of “Black Friday” will comprise a signicifant segment of their annuals sales. Black Friday also serves as asales indicator for the holiday season and ultimatly the year. Well over a decade ago this variable changed to include “Cyber Monday“.

Like Black Friday, Cyber Monday is about engaging consumumers and enticing dales with offers, coupons and discounts of all sorts.   As the world continues to become smaller the web continues to play an incresing role to engage customers and facilitate sales seemlressly.

Consumer behaviors, time flexibility, convenience

Do to the advances in electronic payments and a host of consumer behaviors onlline marketing,  e-commerce has been an increasing sales factor for over a decade.  There are some people who even refuse to go to the shopping mall or brick and mortar store trading the discomfort of having to traveling by a certain time to meet store closing deadlines and the added expenses of gas and tolls.

Couple this with the amount of patience to be mustered waiting on what could be endless lines for the convenience of “shopping” at home 24 hours a day 7 days a week, with no lines and having to move little more than one’s eyes and wrist!

Marketing and e-commerce

Based on the above, an entrepreneur needs to consider what are the marketing nuances required for marketing strategies the “traditional” vs. “online” shopper? 

For one thing, those businesses who have opted to sell in the e-commerce space now find themselves having too tailor their marketing strategy and studying their demographics with a fine toothed comb since social media has added a new dimension of “cyber-marketing”.

Businesses have the added task of knowing which social media sites are “trending” with its demographics in order to market its goods/services appropriately.

Sales are driven by the perception suggesting cosumers are getting more value than what they are actually paying for.

What you are paying for is actually worth more than what you gave to acquire it.  Marketing generates sales with the “buy one get one free” ad, or via rebates or reductions from the normal retail price. 

Traditional shoppers received “shotgun” notices via newspaper/magazine advertisements, store circulars, TV, radio, sending  coupons to existing and potential customers via U.S. mail or hoping that existing and potential customers received information from others via phone call or in-person word of mouth and finally, to reach a broader audience, billboards are utilized.

Cyber-marketing modifies traditional marketing in that it now offers the following:

  • Digital newspaper/magazine ads
  • Text and email advertising
  • E-coupons via a company’s website or e-circular

Instead of receiving a phone call people can now be “tagged” to a sale via social media sites like:

A company can “announce” live sales via a “tweet”, or a company can “pin” an item that is on sale via SnapChat, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr or announce a sale via social network video on YouTube or Vine or “talk” about a sale through its networks on Google +.

It’s not enough to use “traditional” forms of marketing anymore.

Businesses now have the added task of knowing which social media sites and applications are “trending” with its demographics in order to be able to develop its marketing strategy appropriately. 

Any e-commerce business that ignores or puts little emphasis in getting to know the intricacies and norms of the “cyber world” will be at a competitive marketing disadvantage, therefore, invest that additional “two cents” worth of resources to determine what marketing strategy works best for your e-commerce site. 

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