Why is Digital Marketing Especially Important for E-commerce Businesses?

What is E-Commerce? 

Digital Marketing has become a salvation for eCommerce businesses as it offers what is necessary to grow an online business; reach and ROI. It is especially important for e-commerce as there is no physical presence as such. Since traditional ways of marketing have become obsolete, e-commerce marketing agencies and businesses have been studying online trends to make sure that their marketing strategy brings the best results for an online business. Digital marketing is especially important for eCommerce due to the growing numbers of online shoppers. To put it into perspective, it is estimated that there will be 2.14 billion global buyers online by the end of 2021.

The most common definition of e-commerce is a commercial transaction that is conducted over the internet. Electronic commerce, also known as e-commerce is the process of buying and selling goods, products, or services over the internet. All services in e-commerce business are provided virtually and can be done in four different ways; 

• Business to Business (B2B)

• Business to Customer (B2C)

• Customer to Customer (C2C)

• Customer to Business (C2B)

Benefits of Digital Marketing Everything can be promoted online with the help of digital marketing, and every business should consider having a strong social media presence to increase brand awareness. Social media platforms help businesses market their products, boost customer engagement and build a loyal long-term customer base. In short, a business without a social media presence will likely fail. Due to the onset and growing popularity of digital marketing, it is estimated that 42% of the population uses search engines every single day, which amounts to 3.2 billion active users. Since all e-commerce businesses are completely based on online services, it is extremely important to have a strong digital marketing strategy in place to reach these daily users. 

The digital world is expanding with millions of internet users from around the globe, making digital marketing the immaculate way to reach out to millions of users at once. Before the digital marketing era, businesses had to resort to traditional ways of marketing their products, which cost a lot of money and time. On the contrary, businesses today can send out emails and promotions to millions of customers at once within a few clicks. The importance of digital marketing for e-commerce can be broken down into three categories; 

1. Digital Marketing Strongly Impacts Buying Decisions

The digital marketing strategy that a business will choose to employ will attract site visitors and impact their buying decisions. It also prompts consumers to come back and buy products from the potentially empty e-shopping carts. To stand out from the competition, e-commerce businesses must implement diverse digital marketing channels and strategies that will attract and retain their customers.

2. Increased Simplicity of Marketing Products Online

The days of going out and physically marketing products in stores are over.  Digital Marketing has changed the way of purchasing and selling products and services for the better, making most products ‘marketable’ online in a matter of seconds, therefore allowing businesses more time to focus on other areas that need development and creating a hassle-free shopping experience for customers. 

3. Improves Market Reach by Surviving Competition

In the current competitive market, it is crucial to stand out from the crowd. However, since every business uses digital marketing, surviving is the only way to maintain any business. An advantage of digital marketing is that it becomes possible to reorganize any marketing process and track competitor insights, consequently putting businesses ahead of their competition. 

Top Marketing Channels for E-Commerce 

Without digital marketing for e-commerce sites, the chances of the business being discovered deteriorate, so in order to be relevant and succeed, all e-commerce businesses must consider either curating their own digital marketing strategy to propel growth, or to contact a digital marketing agency to assist in growing the business’ online presence and driving sales and reach. There are many marketing channels for e-commerce, which are the ways that marketing can be conducted to boost sales and reach for a business, the top 5 marketing channels include; 

• Video marketing 

Video marketing is one of the more popular trends for marketing, and will likely continue to be for the years to come. The state of video marketing in 2021 has improved tremendously. According to Biteable, 72% of businesses state that including videos in their website improved their conversion rates. 52% of customers say that watching a video of a product makes them feel more confident in their decision to purchase. Video marketing is a proven way to build brand awareness and boost traffic and conversion rates. 

• Email marketing

Email marketing is used to deliver relevant content to a subscriber’s inbox. Email marketing is a great way to increase customers and sales. It also empowers a business to get in touch and stay in touch with a business by informing them of upcoming events or any new products or services.

• Content marketing 

Content marketing is another one of the most efficient digital marketing channels for generating ROI. According to LYFE Marketing, content marketing is able to produce 3x less for around 62% less than traditional marketing. Leads are people who are most likely to buy a product and become customers. Content marketing can include blog posts, infographics, case studies, and webinars.

• Social media marketing

Social media actively increases business success through brand awareness, word of mouth, and driving engagement. It has the potential to double sales through growing interest and intriguing followers with exciting products and services. Different products usually require unique kinds of marketing methods and channels, so it’s important to make adjustments according to what suits the niche, which is where a reputable digital marketing agency comes in. Digital marketing agencies can help grow an e-commerce business by using their tested and reliable growth strategies. 

For example, Facebook ads have the power to drive a 70% increase in sales. It has the ability to target the right demographics based on a given business. Likes for attention-grabbing posts lead to engagement, and then to sales.

• SEO & PPC

38 % of users start their online shopping journey with a Google Search. SEO is a long-term strategy that helps the exposure of an online store, business or service in search engine results pages. it is a technique in which specialists optimize a website in a way that makes it rank highly in Google searches and be seen by the appropriate audiences. By optimizing a website successfully, it will in turn drive enormous traffic to the website. It has been observed that optimizing a checkout process can help in increased sales, and reduce cart abandonment rates.

Digital Marketing Agencies for E-Commerce 

E-commerce digital marketing is an important step in growing e-commerce business and making it visible to customers. Some e-commerce businesses choose to create their own digital marketing strategies and some contact agencies that specialize in e-commerce. Seeking help from a digital marketing agency is very common, as some business owners are not as experienced with growing businesses online. Before finalizing cooperation, it is worth looking over the company testimonials and feedback from other customers, to see if the chosen agency has any experience with any niche in the e-commerce sector.