Ecommerce Infrastructure

What is Ecommerce?

Ecommerce involves buying and selling goods and services online. It can happen between
businesses (B2B), between a business and a consumer (B2C), between consumers (C2C), or
between a consumer and a business (C2B). Some examples of ecommerce businesses are
Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, and Walmart.

What is an Ecommerce Infrastructure?

Infrastructures are systems needed by a business to operate smoothly. It is a key component

of any business, as it ensures growth and sustainability.
This could be software such as operating systems, applications, and security tools, as well as
hardware, such as servers, routers, etc. It also includes the people, procedures, and guidelines
that support the infrastructure. Ecommerce infrastructures are hardware and software
components required to operate and maintain an online store. They are the foundation upon
which ecommerce businesses are built, empowering businesses to sell their products and
services over the internet. They include the hardware, software, and services needed to
manage online transactions and process orders.

Components of an Ecommerce Infrastructure

Web Servers

A web server is a hardware or software that stores data and communicates it to users through
HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request. It is in charge of hosting websites, handling
visitor requests, and supplying web page content. Web servers use scripting languages like
PHP, ASP, and JavaScript to generate dynamic web pages. A web server in ecommerce is a
computer that stores and serves web pages to users over the internet. They allow customers to
access product information, view prices, and purchase goods.

Database Servers
A database server is a computer system that stores, manages, and retrieves data from a
database. It is the backbone of an ecommerce system, as it hosts the databases used for online
transactions and stores customer information. It is also in charge of effectively managing the
data's organization and security. Database servers also provide expansion, ensuring websites
can handle large amounts of data.

Payment Processing System

A payment processing system is a system used to process financial transactions in an
ecommerce system. It lets merchants receive payments from customers, securely process the
payments, and transfer the funds to the merchant’s bank account. This system is also part of
the ecommerce functionality responsible for confirming clients’ identities and providing a
secure platform for consumers to make their purchases. This handles payments from different
sources, such as debit and credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of servers spread out across different
locations. It provides online content to users based on their geographic location. CDNs are
used to improve website performance and deliver a better user experience. In ecommerce,
CDNs are used to provide online content such as product photos, videos, and other
information to customers faster.

Security and Fraud Prevention

Protecting ecommerce websites from cyber-attacks and fraudulent activities is important. To
protect customers, use fraud protection technologies like SEON, Signifyd, Kount,
Cybersource, and more. For the safety and security of customers and their data, ecommerce
security and fraud prevention are crucial.

Load Balancing
This is a process for distributing incoming traffic and requests across a group of servers. It
helps to improve the performance of an ecommerce system. This gives no room for failure in
the system and ensures the system can handle the increased demand from online shoppers.
It also helps to prevent any server from becoming overloaded with requests and also helps to
improve customers' shopping experience.
Backup System
This is a system that stores data, such as customer information, routinely. It helps restore the
system to the last saved state in the event of a system failure. This ensures that the business
can quickly and easily recover from any potential data loss. Backup systems can also be used
to transfer data from one system to another, allowing for greater flexibility.
Customer Service
Customer service in ecommerce is providing support to customers before, during, and after a
purchase. This helps customers find what they need, provides shipping and delivery info, and
also resolves order issues. This is critical for any ecommerce business.

Inventory Management

This is the practice of tracking and controlling the inventory of a business’ product. It
includes maintaining stock levels, ordering new products, and tracking sales. It is important
to keep accurate records of inventory to ensure customer satisfaction and product availability.
Inventory management helps protects against loss due to theft or damage and can help
identify areas of opportunity to improve efficiency.

Shopping Cart
This is more of an ecommerce feature than a component of an infrastructure. It allows
customers to add products to their carts, views their orders, and check out. It is an essential
part of any online shopping experience, as it enables customers to quickly and easily
purchase products. Item selection, item quantity adjustments, payment selection, and order
submission are common features of cart functionality. This can easily be integrated with the
help of ecommerce solutions like Medusa.

Shipping and Fulfillment

In ecommerce, shipping and fulfillment refer to the process of receiving, processing, and
shipping orders to customers. It also includes shipping tracking and order fulfillment.
Shipping and fulfillment are vital for any online business to be successful. This makes sure
customers get their orders quickly and are happy with them.
Some examples of providers that offer this service, ShipBob, ShipStation, Fulfillment by
Amazon (FBA), Deliverr, etc.
Advantages of a Good Ecommerce Infrastructure in Retail organisations

1. Increased Sales: By providing customers with a better shopping experience, a good

ecommerce infrastructure can help to increase sales. Customers will be more likely to
complete purchases if they find the process to be smooth and easy.
2. Lower Running Costs: A well-designed ecommerce infrastructure can help to reduce
running costs. By improving the buying process, businesses can save time and money
processing orders and satisfying client requirements.
3. Improved Security: A good ecommerce infrastructure can help to ensure the security
of customer data and transactions. By investing in strong security measures,
businesses can protect their customers’ information and help to prevent fraud.
4. Greater Flexibility: A good ecommerce infrastructure can assist organizations in
scaling their operations as they grow. Businesses should ensure they are well-prepared
for future expansion by investing in infrastructure that can manage greater traffic and
revenue.

The Importance of eCommerce for Your Business

1. eCommerce Helps You Reduce Your Costs

To have an online store it is not necessary that you have all your products presented in a
physical space. In fact, there are different companies that operate online where they only
show all their inventory through their electronic commerce platform. This implies not only
saving by not needing a rental or purchase of premises but also everything that involves
electricity, the Internet, etc. Or if you want to have one so that customers have a physical
space, it does not have to be as large as everything you offer. In either case, you will be
reducing your costs.
⭐ For example, you can own a well-built online store in no time with costs that don’t
exceed $150 yearly with Ecwid, the leading online store builder. What do you
think? Take a quick look

2. eCommerce Helps Businesses Go Global

Directly related to the previous point, this fact allows you to put your products for sale
anywhere in the world. They will not have the explicit need to travel to where you are to see
what you have to offer. If you are running a physical store, it will be limited by the
geographical area that you can service, but owning an eCommerce website will give you the
opportunity to increase your outreach. It’ll offer your products & services to customers
around the whole world, regardless of the distance and time zone. Furthermore, this
eliminates all kinds of geographical and linguistic tango barriers. Your e-commerce translated
into different languages will allow them to buy from different countries.
With eCommerce and mobile commerce as well, the entire world is your playground. Your
products or services are within reach for a lot of customers who might be sitting in another
corner of the world. So, if you want to grow your online business worldwide, it is a great idea
to start creating your own online store and localize it in different languages with international
eCommerce software.

3. eCommerce Can Be Done With Fewer Overheads & Fewer Risk

Starting an online store can mean significantly lower start-up costs compared to a brick-and-
mortar retailer. The retailer or the online business owner doesn’t have to take into
consideration the high expenses of shop rental, hiring a salesperson to woo the customer,
utility bills, security measures, etc. This, in turn, will enable you to sell your products at
competitive prices. Also, having an online store with price intelligence software enables
you to enjoy increased profitability with less risk.

4. eCommerce Can Broaden Your Brand & Expand Your Business

Having an eCommerce store can be used to broaden your range of products/services for sale,
expand your business, bring you more customers, and diversify your sales. It’s the ideal way
to take your brand from a traditional brick & mortar store to an innovative, well-loved one.
With eCommerce, there is no need to have more than one branch, just one singular online
store allowing you to fully reach customers without having to worry about moving locations,
you can just manage your online business from home.

5. eCommerce Offers Better Marketing Opportunities

Your eCommerce site is the best marketing tool that you would ever have. Thanks to the
internet, now anyone can market through online tools like social media marketing, email
marketing, search engine marketing, pay-per-click ads, and SEO help you build very useful
links with marketing automation.

6. Your Online Store Will Stay Open 24*7/365:

Also, one of the great importance of eCommerce that eCommerce retailers can enjoy is store
timings are now 24/7/365 as the eCommerce stores are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
compared to the regular stores. In this way, retailers can increase their sales by boosting their
number of orders. However, it is also helpful for customers as they can purchase products &
services whenever they want no matter whether it is midnight or early morning.

7. eCommerce Is Easier & More Convenient

People’s lives are hectic; getting to a physical store means taking a lot of time and effort. So,
starting an online store that means you can fit into your customers’ busy lives, making the
products they want accessible when they want them. The enjoyable thing about eCommerce
is buying options that are quick, easy, convenient, and user-friendly with the ability to
transfer funds online.
8. Personalize Your Shopping Experience
If there is one of the clear advantages of having an online store, is to be able to know (and
monitor) what your consumer does. Physically, it would be very uncomfortable for a
potential buyer to enter your store and you were all the time behind him asking what he wants
or why he does not buy your product.
eCommerce allows you, for example, to know at what point in the process you left the
purchase halfway and even remember that you left it in the middle by sending an email. This,
in addition, can help you to improve your shopping experience for another occasion:
shortening the steps to complete the order or offering those buyers products with similar
characteristics.

9. Improve the Image of Your Business

Among the advantages of having an online store, there is no doubt that it also includes
improving the image of your company. Offering a good online sales platform to users will
give your company a great corporate appearance. Not only will it prove to be up-to-date, but
it will also show interest in facilitating consumer purchases. For example, it prevents you
from traveling to the physical place of sale and allows you to compare prices from home.

10. Easily Receive Feedback on Products

Have you always wanted to know what consumers think of what you sell in order to offer
more or improve it? Well, the online store will allow you to receive that feedback so you can
implement improvements in your business. Through star ratings, with the possibility of
leaving comments. In addition, the customer will feel heard after their purchase. There is no
better way to thank you for your confidence in purchasing your company’s products. What’s
more, if you offer quality you will have nothing to worry about.

11. Maximum Security of Transactions

Today, operating over the Internet is almost safer and more reliable than doing it in a physical
store. From your home, without anyone spying on your secret number or your credit card. Of
course, the eCommerce website must have an SSL certificate. This certificate not only allows
safe browsing on the web. In addition, it keeps the data encrypted, in such a way that it is
totally safe to enter keys and passwords. This will not only be necessary for the customer’s
business account but to use of even more sensitive data such as credit card information with
complete peace of mind.

12 Ready for the Trade of the Future

We are not only talking about a trend of the present but also about what the commercial
relations of the future will be. And just as if you are not on the Internet you do not exist, if
your business does not sell on the Internet it is limiting its sales in a massive way.

13. Increase in Sales

Everything seen above is focused on one thing: being able to increase your sales. At the end
of the day, your business is based on being able to sell more, and therefore it is what it is
aimed at.
The Role of eCommerce in Business:
We could see that the role of eCommerce has begun to be very important since the COVID-
19 pandemic because, during the lockdowns, everyone has changed their ways of shopping
and started to get almost everything online!
Here is the role of eCommerce in business and selling:

 Point of purchase marketing or point sale: It is more than displaying items in ideal
areas, with eCommerce you can level up your POS systems such as sales analytics,
comprehensive inventory management, 24/7 customer support, and payment
processing.
 Lead generation: eCommerce responds to the changes that happen as the consumers
changes and evolve their needs.
 Data gathering and analysis: In order to understand your customers, you need to
gather data to help you better understand them, therefore, you need to integrate an
analytics platform into your eCommerce website. It’s always easier when you gather
data and analyze it with a tool, that’s why Data Cubed is the right tool to save money
and gather data.
 eCommerce and content marketing: Because today’s customers expect more from
businesses and brands, you need to have helpful information beyond those available
on your products page. you need to attract them, make them engaged, and inform and
entertain them.

What is ecommerce marketing?

Ecommerce marketing is the act of driving awareness and action toward a business that sells
its product or service electronically. Ecommerce marketers can use social media, digital
content, search engines, and email campaigns to attract visitors and facilitate purchases
online.

Ecommerce Advertising

In similar fashion to the way advertising falls beneath the umbrella of marketing, ecommerce
advertising falls beneath ecommerce marketing — and when used in tandem, you have the
ability to more effectively reach your audience members to boost conversions and improve
brand awareness. Meanwhile, ecommerce advertising includes the methods through which
you actually promote your product. In terms of online or ecommerce marketing and selling,
these.

Types of Ecommerce Marketing

To give you a sense of what an ecommerce marketing strategy looks like, here are some
common marketing channels and how you'd use them to build an online store.
Social Media Marketing

Brands, publishers, contractors, and growing businesses all launch pages on today's most
popular social networks to connect with their audience and post content that the audience is
interested in.

As an ecommerce marketer, you can do the same thing, but the campaigns you run might
look a bit different, and not every social network is a good fit for your needs.

Ecommerce websites are highly visual — you have to show off the product, after all — so
your success on social media depends on your use of imagery to drive attention and traffic to
your product pages.

Instagram is an appropriate platform for ecommerce businesses because it enables you to post
sharp product photography and expand your product's reach beyond its purchase page.

You can take your social media posts a step further by creating shoppable content, which is
content that enables visitors to buy right away. That can include anything from strategically
placed display ads within a social feed to additional tags that take users directly to a shopping
cart. These methods help you eliminate friction from the buying process.

Source
An ecommerce business is no stranger to product reviews, either. Using a Facebook Business
Page to share product praise is a perfect fit for businesses that already solicit customer
reviews across their online store. We’ll dive deeper into product reviews below.
Content Marketing

When you hear "content marketing" you might think of blogging and video marketing —
content that is meant to improve your website's ranking in search engines and answer
questions related to your industry. But if you're selling a product online, do you really need
articles and videos to generate transactions? You sure do.

Here are some ways to use content to market your ecommerce store.

Optimize your product page copy.

Optimize your product pages for short, product-driven keywords that include the name of the
product. If you sell wedding dresses, for example, a Google search for "brown bridesmaid
dress" is more likely to produce product pages like yours if you’ve included that term on the
page.

Also, make sure that your page titles, headers, and image alt text focus on the right keywords
so search engines know to return your ecommerce store for the right query.

Source
Write relevant blog posts.

If you manage an online wedding dress store, writing blog posts about "how to plan a
wedding" can attract everyone involved in wedding preparations no matter where they are in
the planning process.

As visitors become more engaged, you can create posts that will move them into
consideration, like “how to select the right wedding dress", and turn them into leads, like a
downloadable “wedding planning checklist”.

Create guest posts for external websites.

Guest posts can get you and your products in front of relevant audiences (oftentimes for
free). Submitting guests posts will also help you get more domain authority for your
ecommerce site, thereby telling search engines that you have a reliable site.

You’ll need to search for sites that rank for keywords related to your product. Sometimes you
won’t even need to create an entire post. If a site already has a relatable post, offer to expand
on it by providing additional context, like a video or infographic with a link to your site.

Put product-related videos on YouTube.

YouTube has over a billion active users … chances are your target audience is somewhere in
there. It’s also the second-largest search engine behind Google. If you’re looking for a
massive, captive audience, YouTube is where you’ll find it. Use highly searched keyword
terms to determine your topics, then share videos that are related to your product and helpful
to your audience.

This is also a great option for tutorial videos that show current customers how to use your
product — these videos can show people how best to use your product, increasing customer
satisfaction and building long-term relationships with website visitors.

Include a keyword-driven FAQ section on your website.

If your audience is asking questions related to your product, then you need to be the one to
answer them. Create an FAQ page on your website with responses to high volume, long-tail
keyword searches to get users to your site. You’ll be building both authority and traffic —
two crucial components of a successful ecommerce store.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) includes both search engine optimization (SEO) and paid
advertising. While SEO relies on your knowledge of Google's ranking algorithm to optimize
content, SEM can involve pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, display campaigns, or product-
specific ad campaigns (think Google Shopping), which allow you to pay for top spots on
search engine results pages.
On Google, PPC campaigns guarantee that potential buyers will see a link to your page when
they enter search terms that match the terms of your campaign. But because you're paying
Google each time a person clicks on your result, the payoff to you should be high.

This is why ecommerce marketers often register with Google AdWords and promote their
product pages through PPC campaigns. The campaign puts searchers right in front of the
business's product when they click on a paid result, increasing the likelihood that the searcher
will make a purchase before leaving the business's website.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, and believe it or not, it holds
specific value in the world of ecommerce marketing.

The best part about email marketing? It can be automated. Automation means that you can set
up a successful drip campaign to subscribers that are segmented by interest or stage in the
buyer’s journey and let your email campaign do its magic. It’s one less marketing tactic that
you need to worry about on your long list of tasks.
Even so, it’s imperative that you’re meticulous about your email list so you maintain
trust among your leads. In a time when data privacy runs high on an internet user's priority
list, not every commercial email is welcome in that user's inbox. Ecommerce marketers need
to be careful when and how they add website visitors to their mailing list.

Here are two ways an ecommerce marketer might use email marketing.

1. Post-Purchase Follow Up

If a user has already purchased a product from your website — and agreed to receive emails
from you during the checkout process — sending a follow-up email a few days after the
product is delivered keeps the conversation going and gauges their future interest in your
product line.

A post-purchase follow up also shows that you care about them beyond a sale and that your
company has an interest in their success using your product. It gives you an opportunity to
get feedback on their purchase experience, which, in turn, helps you reduce friction for future
customers.

Some best practices for this type of email are to ask them to write a review of your product
and/or read original content on how to use your product (those YouTube videos you created
would be perfect here).

2. The Abandoned Shopping Cart

Users abandon their shopping carts for a number of reasons, and emails to diagnose the
problem and retain their business can make the difference between a purchase and a lost
customer. We’ll cover ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment below.

If a website visitor fails to complete a transaction while they’re in your shopping cart,
consider sending a polite email to remind them to complete the checkout process, offer
assistance, or recommend other related products to get their mind back on you and their
browser back to your ecommerce store.

Learn more about why users are abandoning your shopping cart and how to fix it.
Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing focuses on people or brands that influence your target market. The term
is commonly used to denote Instagram accounts with several thousand followers, but it could
also mean a celebrity or community that your target audience follows or belongs to.
Influencers build communities of people that know, like, and trust them. It is, therefore, easy
for them to garner attention around your online product through a recommendation, or
“sponsored post.”

Affiliate Marketing
81% of brands employ affiliate marketing, and ecommerce sites are particularly good
candidates. Affiliates are people or businesses that help sell your product online for a
commission.
Unlike most social media influencers, affiliates generate interest in products via old fashioned
(yet effective) marketing tactics. They often use paid advertising, content marketing, and
other means to drive traffic to your their pages on your product — it’s like having a team
market for you.
Local Marketing

This is an often-overlooked tactic for ecommerce businesses, but local marketing allows you
to double down on the areas where most of your prospects are (if you have a large population
of them in one area) and allows you to offer incentives to your potential customer base.

Here’s how: use tracking cookies to determine where your prospects are located. Then, offer
discounted (or free) shipping to potential customers in the areas where you have warehouses
or shipping facilities. The incentive might be just what you need to gain a new customer

Parties involved in eCommerce

#1. Business to business (B2B):

The meaning of business to business e-commerce business is clear from its name itself. In a
Business, to business (B2B) e-commerce business, the transaction takes place between two
businesses. Where a business sells the products or services to another business. This type of
e-commerce business transaction takes place to reduce the business overhead on one
business. Take the example of Blake envelopes. This website of this B2B eCommerce
business provides you services to design envelopes for your business. On their website, you
will find products classified based on color, style, range, pack size, and types. It is considered
one of the best business to business (B2B) website that provides you product that you didn’t
think was exciting.

#2. Business to Consumer (B2C):

Business to Consumer (B2C) is the most basic type of eCommerce business. In this business,
one party is a business which sells products and services to another party which is a
consumer. One of the most popular examples of B2C eCommerce business is Amazon.com,
where the company sells products through website and app directly to the end consumers.

#3. Consumer to Consumer eCommerce business:

In this type of eCommerce business, both parties included in a business transaction are
consumers which means a consumer is the seller of a product or service, and another
consumer is the buyer. The most famous example of this type of eCommerce business is
OLX. To sell a product on OLX platform one is required to make an account on the app or
website and post the details like the price of the product, features of the product, and pictures
of the product, etc. Along with the contact details so that the people who want to buy that
product can reach you. People can negotiate the price of the product in-person or over the
phone and in this way can sell products.

#4. Consumer to Business (C2B):

This type of eCommerce business is the opposite of business to consumer (B2C) type of
eCommerce business. In this business, consumers develop products and sell them to
businesses or provide their services to businesses. Businesses pay to consumers for their
services and products. This is an example of an innovative type of eCommerce business. Let
us understand with the help of a few examples that you might also come across or you might
also have participated in. How often do you read the reviews of a product before you buy it?
And how often have you reviewed the product that you have bought online? There might be a
huge difference between the number of both answers. Companies know that people read
reviews before they buy products. Therefore, they pay people like you and me to write
positive reviews about their product and to give a good rating. This helps them in the sales of
their products and people who write reviews earn money for their services. Similarly, many
companies give their new products to people and ask them to provide feedback after using
those products in exchange for money or rewards.

#5. Government to Business (G2B):

This type of e-commerce business is where one party involved in the business transaction is
government or official authority, and another party involved in the business transaction is
business or enterprises. G2B business takes place when a business uses the products and
services sold by the government and pays for them. For example, online businesses are
required to pay internet tax for using the internet to sell goods and services and to run their
business.

#6. Business to Government (B2G):

This type of eCommerce business takes place when a government entity uses the products or
services of a business. This type of business transactions is quite common. For example,
when a government entity uses the online platform to promote its cause. The government
uses a popular platform like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to promote their cause and to
reach public or when a government hires a web designer to design their official website or
when the government uses internet services provided by a business to run their day to day
work.

#7. Consumer to Government (C2G):

This type of eCommerce business takes place between consumer and government where the
consumer provides products and services developed by them to the government. We all
participate in this type of business transaction in our day to day life. For example, you are in a
consumer to government e-commerce business when you pay income tax or pay for traffic
ticket or pay for property tax, etc.
E-Commerce Support Frontend Vs Backend: What’s the Difference?

The frontend of an e-commerce website is the part that online shoppers see and interact with.
This is also referred to as the digital storefront. The backend of an e-commerce website is the
part that handles all the data such as prices, promotions, product images, order details, and
fulfillment. In short, the frontend defines how the online shopping experience feels, and the
backend defines how it functions. As the touchpoints between buyers and sellers grow, the
need for consistent shopping experiences across e-commerce websites and other sales
channels grows as well.

Frontend Vs Backend support

Frontend
The e-commerce frontend, or client-side, is what people (i.e. clients) see when they visit your
site. It’s the part of your site that shoppers interact with directly and includes features like
fonts, colors, drop-down menus, image sliders, shopping carts, search bars, and product detail
pages. Frontend development ensures that an e-commerce website (or other digital sales
channel) is functional and visually appealing by prioritizing the user experience. Frontend
developers use programming languages like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to create and
manage a website’s frontend.
Backend
The e-commerce backend, or server-side, is the data access layer that holds products, orders,
and customer information. It helps websites operate by processing, storing, and transferring
their data to and from the customer-facing side. These actions are carried out by backend
components like the web server, application server, and database which make the frontend
interactive. They make it so customers can view products, place orders, and manage their
purchases using their own devices.

Collaborative Commerce: What it is, How it Works, Examples

What Is Collaborative Commerce (C-commerce)?

Collaborative commerce refers to the digitally-enabled business interactions within a

company between its internal employees, business partners and customers. Collaborative

commerce can take place in an industry or industry segment, within the supply chain, or in a

segment of the supply chain. It can be used in sourcing products, making transactions, or

completing repetitive business processes.To enable effective collaboration, both parties need

to use compatible technology in their distribution and supply chains. This is why

collaborative commerce is often referred to as an aspect of supply chain management.

Collaborative commerce (C-commerce) is the optimization of supply and distribution

channels to capitalize on the global economy by using new technology efficiently. In
collaborative commerce, organizations coordinate with each other to maximize their
efficiency and profitability. However, it can also mean consumers get what they need from
each other instead of companies.

Understanding Collaborative Commerce (C-commerce)

Collaborative commerce (C-commerce) is a new focus for organizations attempting to

become more profitable and competitive. Collaboration promotes fresh views of suppliers,
competitors, and customers. A goal of collaborative commerce is for a business to move
away from production and sales, shifting towards the integration of various businesses.
Companies may use or share the same technological platforms or transact business with each
other and at times may integrate vertically to some degree. Collaborative commerce involves
companies transacting business with other companies through electronic channels. C-
commerce is used by companies to team up with suppliers and competitors for efficiency,
but it’s also used as a sales strategy to capture more of the commerce market share.

Example of Collaborative Commerce

For example, XYZ Company has been producing and marketing widgets for decades.
Recently, ABC Company revolutionized the widget industry and can now make them
cheaply and more efficiently. XYZ Company decides to collaborate with ABC Company
and starts marketing, selling, and servicing ABC Company's widgets. Now, XYZ Company
is able to increase its profitability because it no longer has to pay for all of the expenses to
manufacture its own widgets. Instead, it focuses on the higher-margin business of marketing,
selling, and servicing another company's product. ABC Company's revenue benefits also
because of the massive number of widgets XYZ Company sells on their behalf. As a real-life
example, DoorDash has teamed with many national brands, such as McDonald’s and
Chipotle, to offer fast food delivery, building their business model on c-commerce. They
have since expanded their delivery service from restaurants to retailers and even offer 'fleets'
of drivers to businesses.

Benefits of collaborative commerce

There are numerous benefits of business collaboration, regardless of a company’s size or

industry. By working together to solve problems, companies can achieve goals they would

have been unable to reach by working alone. Key collaborative commerce benefits include

 Financial benefits: Collaborative commerce can boost sales, both at home and abroad,

and enable companies to win bigger contracts.

 Boost employee productivity: Collaboration can increase the ability to improve and

develop skills, while also encouraging staff motivation.

 Optimise physical capital: The ability to share facilities, resources and equipment

helps to create cost-efficiencies.

 Increase expertise: Being able to tap into the combined knowledge and capabilities of

third parties boosts in-house skills.

 Increase competitiveness: Through collaborative commerce, companies can

complement each other and help to increase each other’s individual reach.

Collaborative commerce makes it easier for smaller companies to compete with larger

ones, by automating processes and boosting efficiencies.

Collaborative commerce examples

To make it easier to think about how it could work for your business, it can help to see how
collaborative commerce is currently being used by companies. Here are some collaborative

commerce examples:

 Peer to peer commerce: Some companies enable consumers to rent office space from

each other, while others, like Facebook Marketplace, allow members to sell used

items or exchange free goods.

 Fast food companies can pair up with food delivery services. Food on Q is an example

of a company that offers on demand food deliveries for local restaurants. Furthermore,

a company like First Table helps customers find tables at local restaurants.

 Integrations: Uber and Spotify now collaborate, so that Uber customers can connect

their Spotify to their driver’s radio and choose which music to listen to for their

journey.
  Fintechs and banks are partnering to create better centricity and improve the customer

journey via the use of emerging technologies. Fintech companies can

provide customer service enhancements, while trusted financial brands can bring

their infrastructure, regulatory expertise, and access to capital to the relationship.

Why Ecommerce Compliance is Important for All Online Stores

“Compliance” may not sound exciting, but for ecommerce websites like Amazon, it’s a
necessity to sell across state or international lines. Taxation, legal regulations and data
privacy must all be properly addressed. Doing otherwise puts the entire business at risk.

Ecommerce compliance refers to how online businesses meet the regulatory requirements of
the markets they’re selling in. This includes a broad collection of legal and ethical issues that
impact most — or all — parts of the business. It’s vitally important to a company’s long-term
success that it meets compliance standards at all times.

Why is Ecommerce Compliance Important?

The question of compliance impacts anyone that interacts with your company. A failure to
meet legal standards may reduce customer confidence in your brand or make vendors less
likely to work with you. You may have difficulty hiring top talent. In the worst cases, your
business license may be revoked. Reaching and maintaining full compliance with all
ecommerce-related regulations isn’t optional. It’s a mandatory business need, no matter if
you’re running a global enterprise or a small business.

What Can Happen If My Business Isn’t Compliant?

Risks include everything from class action lawsuits to government intervention to even
criminal charges in extreme cases. Not properly following laws and regulations can place
businesses in great peril. Failing to meet labor laws may result in significant fines. Not
following security standards may result in workplace accidents. Publicly traded companies
that don’t meet transparency regulations may be sanctioned.

For ecommerce platforms, properly following all laws and operating ethically is not a choice.
It’s a must for maintaining relationships with customers and partners.

Common Ecommerce Regulations You Should Be in Compliance With

Though many industries share common regulations that must be followed, ecommerce does
have a few that are more specific to it. Parts of the business like shipping restrictions,
customer privacy, international payments and insurance make ecommerce a little more
unique than other business types.

PCI compliance.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) refers to commercial security
standards around the handling of credit and debit card transactions. These unified industry
standards ensure that all sales involving a credit card — be it online, point of sale (POS) or
over the phone — are done so with the security of customer data a priority.

COPPA.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 restricts the personal
information websites may collect for children under the age of 13. It dictates what must be
included in privacy policies, defines when to seek consent of a parent or guardian, the
protection of children online and what can and cannot be marketed to them.

GDPR/other privacy laws.

European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulates processing data and
private information across the EU, including companies outside the continent, but doing
business in an EU country. It puts stricter regulations on the handling of personal and credit
card data. Though it is a wide-ranging measure, the focus of GDPR is restricting processing
personal data unless there is a legal basis to do so. This directly impacts companies that make
ecommerce sales in the EU.

Shipping regulations.

Shipping can quickly become highly complicated, especially as international sales are
introduced. Some products, like alcohol, fruits, vegetables and perishables are normally
restricted, by either local laws or the shipping provider itself. This may impact supply chains
or vendor partnerships as well.

Sales tax.

Within the United States, sales tax will differ from state to state and must be accurately
included in the final charge. Failure to pay sales taxes in the state in which an item is sold
comes with financial penalties. If you sell internationally, the challenge is magnified. Across
international borders, there are taxes, tariffs and duties. These are highly complex and
difficult to navigate.

Affiliate programs.

Affiliate programs, like marketing agreements between brands and publishers, must meet
guidelines around transparency set by the Federal Trade Commission. This is commonly seen
with pieces in publications that are designed to appear to be editorial pieces, but are actually
paid advertisements.
Social advertising disclosures.

This is increasingly seen in the influencer marketing space, where YouTubers or social media
accounts with large followings may be paid to advertise goods or services. However, they
must also clearly state that their video or post includes paid advertisement.

Content compliance.

There are legal restrictions over what businesses can say when making public claims, like
with marketing messaging. A company that sells mattresses can’t claim that their products
will cure diseases, of course. Any public claim must be evidence-based and be able to meet
certain legal standards of accuracy

Scope & Opportunity for Retailing in E-Commerce

Online retailing

Online retail is a type of eCommerce whereby a business sells goods or services directly to
consumers from a website. The website may be their own, or it may be owned by a larger
retailer or marketplace like Amazon. Online retail is a similar concept to brick-and-mortar
retail. Shoppers enter the store, search through an organized inventory of products and then
pay for their goods at checkout. It’s just that online retail takes place over the Internet while
brick-and-mortar is done in person.
Online retailing is an electronic form of shopping goods from online stores where buyers and
sellers meet virtually and create a marketplace. Like offline retailing where buyers move
from one store to another to choose and buy products, here buyers can surf various websites,
add required products to their wish list, enter payment options and order the product which
would deliver the goods within the stipulated time. In online retailing, buyers can anytime
visit sites and go through products even if they do not wish to purchase anything. Some
online retailers also provide a return policy, so buyers have the option to return the product
within a specific period if that does not suit their demand

Advantages and disadvantages of online retailing

Advantages of online retail

 Easy access to market - in many ways the access to market for entrepreneurs has
never been easier. Online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon allow anyone to set
up a simple online shop and sell products within minutes.
 Reduced overheads - selling online can remove the need for expensive retail premises
and customer-facing staff, allowing you to invest in better marketing and customer
experience on your e-commerce site.
 Potential for rapid growth - selling on the internet means traditional constraints to
retail growth - eg finding and paying for larger - are not major factors. With a good
digital marketing strategy and a plan a scale up order fulfilment systems, you can
respond and boost growing sales.
 Widen your market / export - one major advantage over premises-based retailers is the
ability expand your market beyond local customers very quickly. You may discover a
 strong demand for your products in other countries which you can respond to by
targeted marketing, offering your website in a different language, or perhaps
partnering with an overseas company.
 Customer intelligence - ability to use online marketing tools to target new customers
and website analysis tools to gain insight into your customers' needs..
Disadvantages of online retail

 Website costs - planning, designing, creating, hosting, securing and maintaining a

professional e-commerce website isn't cheap, especially if you expect large and
growing sales volumes. Infrastructure costs - even if you aren't paying the cost of
customer-facing premises, you'll need to think about the costs of physical space for
order fulfilment, warehousing goods, dealing with returns and staffing for these tasks.
 Security and fraud - the growth of online retail market has attracted the attention of
sophisticated criminal elements. The reputation of your business could be fatally
damaged if you don't invest in the latest security systems to protect your website and
transaction processes.
 Legal issues - getting to grips with e-commerce and the law can be a challenge and
you'll need to be aware of, and plan to cope with, the additional customer rights which
are attached to online sales.
 Advertising costs - while online marketing can be a very efficient way of getting the
right customers to your products, it demands a generous budget. This is especially
true if you are competing in a crowded sector or for popular keywords.
 Customer trust - it can be difficult to establish a trusted brand name, especially
without a physical business with a track record and face-to-face interaction between
customers and sales staff. You need to consider the costs or setting up a good
customer service system as part of your online offering.
Online retail v/s E-commerce
Online retail involves businesses that primarily focus on the B2C (business to consumer)
sector. These businesses are trying to sell products to the end consumer. D2C, or direct-to-
consumer, is the most popular form of online retail today. It involves businesses that market
and ship their products directly to the consumers. D2C lets brands control their brand image,
access their customer data, and eliminate distributor costs.
E-commerce, on the other hand, involves the buying of products and services from a seller
online, not the brand itself. For example, Amazon is the largest online retailer that provides its
customers with products from various companies. This means that you can explore and
compare products by features and price online. E-commerce platforms allow for participation
from entities like small businesses, individuals, non-profit organizations, government bodies,
and from retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors. Choosing to do e-commerce
can mean participating in the best online ecosystem for your business and gaining access to the
most relevant insights for your company.
Online retail is great for helping you keep a check on your customer experience, but it makes it
expensive to attract new customers because of the low brand visibility. On the other hand, one
downside to online retail is the absence of an e-commerce safety net, so your business exists
somewhat in isolation. Whereas, on an e-commerce platform, potential customers would see
your products listed on the platform even if they had never heard of your brand before. One
other drawback of online retail is the considerable difficulty in achieving operational efficiency.
For example, a company that conducts its business via e-commerce can cut costs at various
parameters. One such parameter is employee salaries since the company no longer requires
large teams to maintain an online retail site.

Overview of major Online retailers

Lenskart, peerfry, zivame, bag it today, HealthKart, Firstcry, FnP, Ajio, Reliance digital, Jio
mart, Bigbasket, apple.com etc…-----overview/details of few

Online Retailing- Process

Publishing an Online Catalogue

In order to showcase the merchandise, the business needs to publish an online catalogue that
shows:

 Product pictures
 product features and specifications
  Size chart (if needed)
 Price
This is usually done through a website with a shopping cart facility or a mobile application,
or both. Customers are driven to this website, through different online marketing methods
(social media, SEO, paid ads,..etc), where they browse the catalogue and decide on the
products they want to buy. If they choose to buy an item, they add it to the shopping cart and
proceed to checkout, where they enter their delivery information and pay for the items they
want delivered.

Capturing Payments

Payments are processed through a separate payment processing service provider that
integrates with the shopping cart on the website or app. This payment gateway captures the
amount from the customer, and later on transfers this amount, after fees deduction, to the
seller’s account.

Many payment gateways provide a lot of different payment methods for the customers to
choose from, based on where they are based, and a lot of new services even allow customers
to buy now and pay later (BNPL) in installments.

Processing Orders

After the order has been confirmed through payment, now the business will start processing
this order. This is done by :

1. Locating the items in the bins (at the warehouse) or on the shelves (at the store) in
case of Ship from Store option
2. Packing them in a suitable shipping container (boxes or mailers)
3. Labeling the container with the delivery information
4. Sending a pickup request to the delivery service provider (e.g Fedex, UPS, ..etc)
5. Sending a notification to the customer with a tracking number for their shipment, once
it is out
The order is considered to be complete, once the customer receives the shipment.

Handling Returns

Every online retail business must have a return policy, and it should clarify the following:

 Whether the business accepts returns

 The time frame, within which is accepts the returns (e.g within 30 days)
 The conditions, under which it accepts the returns (e.g. in original packaging)
 Who pays for the return process
 How much is the re-stocking or handling fee (if any)
 Where to send the returns
 Who to contact for return requests
Components of E-Retailing Electronic retailing or e-tailing refers to the direct sale of
products, information and service through virtual stores on the web which is designed around
an electronic catalogue format and auction sites. There are thousands of storefronts or e-
commerce sites on the Internet that are extensions of existing retailers or start-ups. 207 There
are certain essential ingredients for an electronic retailing business to be successful. E-
Retailing You must consider these components well in advance before setting up an electronic
storefront. Let us learn the components of E-Retailing. These are as follows:
● Attractive business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce portal: The interfaces and navigation
should be user friendly and pleasing. The site should have a strong sense of branding. ● Right
revenue model: Revenue model should be accurate and there is transparency in terms of
service levels and pricing.
● Penetration of the Internet: As the e-commerce portal is in addition to the existing brick-
and-mortar infrastructure aimed to bring in customer loyalty. The retailer should keep in mind
the local internet penetration for better success.
● E-Catalogue: It is a database of products with prices and available stock. The retailer can
provide value added service by giving price and feature comparison between products. This
would enhance the value of the e-commerce portal for the customers. The retailer can indicate
special benefits available to customers under the loyalty programme thus making the
customer feel special.
● Shopping Cart: The customers can select the products that they wish to purchase and fill
their shopping cart. The Shopping Cart can be designed in a way that it could allow the
customer to store their preference and previous purchase history for easy selection. This adds
value to the shopping experience and save time. Finally, as in a real store, at the time of
checkout, the system calculates the price to be paid for the products. The experience should
be seamless and without errors.
● A payment gateway: Customer makes payments through his/her credit card or e-cash. The
payment mechanism must be fully secure.
● Support Services in E-Retailing: The electronic retail business requires support services, as
a prerequisite for successful operations. These services are required to support the business,
online or offline, throughout the complete transaction processing phases. The following are
the essential support services:
 Communication backbone
 Payment mechanism
 Order fulfilment
 Logistics

Reverse logistics

Reverse logistics is the process of returning products from customers back to the producer or
seller. Especially in online retailing, the entire returns management process is taking on an
increasingly important role. This includes the return of products to the supply chain and the
transport back to the relevant warehouse, fulfillment center, or production facility. A quality
check is then carried out on-site and the products are then either restored, processed, and
made functional again. If the faulty product is beyond salvation then it is disposed of
properly.

Experts often talk about the 5 Rs when it comes to returns management:

 Returns
 Recalls
 Repairs
 Repackaging
 Recycling

The returns process is a relatively time-consuming and labor-intensive process, requiring

many “touches”. This also results in high return transport costs, which further hinder your
profit margins. In addition, it creates more work for customer support and the supply chain.
For example, according to a report by Oporto, a product sold for $50 incurs 59%, or nearly
$30, in return shipping costs.
How to optimize the returns process

Despite all precautions, it is simply not possible to prevent a certain percentage of your sales
from being returned. The key here is to keep the work it creates as low as possible and
develop an optimized and efficient returns process. A simple returns process reduces costs,
prevents a big impact on your profit margins, and delivers customer satisfaction.

Make sure that every aspect that can be automated is automated. This will save you time and
money. Incidentally, in most cases, this drastically reduces the error rate as well. An
important factor, especially in terms of customer satisfaction, is the inclusion of return labels.
Just under half of customers expect this when making a purchase. Alternatively, you can (and
if possible, you should) also offer a returns portal. In this case, return labels are available
digitally. On-demand return labels have three advantages:

 Better unboxing experience for the customer

 Less effort for your company (printing, enclosing, etc.)
 Sustainable solution (paper, ink, etc.)

A digital returns portal also brings other advantages:

 Drive customer
Digitally capture the
Reduce pressure on Full transparency for all satisfaction and
reason for your product
customer support parties involved increase consumer
returns
loyalty

Save time and resources Customers benefit from Gain valuable insights The self-service return
by turning the return a customer-friendly into the exact reasons process provides a better
process into customer process for registering for returning products. experience for your
self-service. The time returns and you get to Your customers can customers. They will
can thus be used for know which items are choose from a fully also remember this the
more important things being returned, well in customizable set of next time they buy your
advance reasons for return products online

If your business model, like many others, cannot prevent returns, working with a 3PL
fulfillment partner could be the right solution for you. These companies specialize in
optimizing the supply chain fulfillment and logistics for online shops. The same goes for
reverse logistics; by bundling together returns from multiple companies, they can negotiate
advantageous prices with parcel service providers due to their high volume of shipments. In
turn, 3PL fulfillment providers can pass on attractive conditions and cost-optimized logistics
processes to online retailers, enabling them a tangible competitive advantage on the market.
This not only saves you a lot of time but also reduces the costs of your reverse logistics.

Building a reverse logistics (What customers want)

As you build your reverse logistics experience, focus on key factors such as:

 A generous return policy

Pay attention to customer insights in building your return policy. Customers are more
likely to make an initial purchase if your return policy offers an extended returns
window (30+ days), and free return shipping. By taking friction out of the returns
experience, they’re more likely to give your brand a try if they’re not sure about you.

 A fast and easy process

By using an automated returns management platform like Loop, you can enable
customers to easily self-service their return requests, whether they want a refund,
exchange, or store credit. Rather than waiting to talk to a support agent, they’ll be able
to resolve their concern in the space of seconds, leading to higher customer
 satisfaction and more repeat purchases.

 Simple drop-off options

Since the majority of customers don’t want to ship items back themselves, make sure
that you offer multiple ways for customers to return their items. While some
customers may prefer to print return shipping labels and mail them independently,
others may prefer to scan a QR code at a nearby drop-off center, where the item can
be safely repackaged for them. Make sure to provide flexible options that meet all of
your customers’ needs.

 Transparency in the returns process

Customers don’t want the stress of worrying about whether they’ll get their money
back if an item is lost in transit. Consider putting their minds at ease by issuing their
refund or credit immediately upon scanning an item in at their local post office or
drop-off location, so that they’ll be free to make another purchase immediately rather
than waiting for the item to arrive at your warehouse.

 Easy exchange options

Customers will be more likely to consider an exchange – helping your brand retain
more revenue from the transaction – if they have a seamless way to complete it.
Rather than asking customers to process a refund and then purchase a new item, make
it easy for them to process a direct exchange or get store credit when they request a
return. That gives them the flexibility to exchange an item they don’t want for one
they do, at their own convenience, reducing churn and keeping customers engaged
with your brand.

E-commerce Marketing strategies

What Is Ecommerce Content Marketing?

Content marketing for ecommerce is focused on supporting the customer through the buyer's
journey in order to maximize online sales. An effective strategy integrates valuable content
throughout the customer journey, ensuring potential buyers can access the information they
need at any time and in the relevant channel. Content for ecommerce websites is
differentiated by the value it delivers to its audience. Examples of how ecommerce content
can be valuable include:

 Video guides about how products work

 High-quality images of a product
 Online forums for getting answers to questions
 Search engine-optimized blog posts about issues of interest to buyers

Tactic #1: Ensure Your Content Is Visually Appealing

In ecommerce, there is a greater emphasis on visual content than in other sectors because in
nearly every case, buyers want to see what they are buying—and in as much detail as
possible. A video or still image of a product in use gives the buyer a good indication of
quality and suitability. This is why many of the best ecommerce marketers focus their
content marketing efforts exclusively on producing high-quality videos. A good example is
U.S. grooming brand Beardbrand, which grew quickly through smart content marketing.
Specifically, this meant founder Eric Bandholz spent time and effort creating video content
for each part of the acquisition funnel.

In the example above, we can see a number of important elements:

 An interesting title—we have a central character (the Marine) and the fact he hasn’t
trimmed his beard for 2 years
 Human interest: we want to know the story and the results
 Clear links to the brand’s value proposition (i.e., beard and men’s hair care)
 Links to the website and other social media platforms

This video generated 71,000 views in its first eight days online.

Tactic #2: Double Down on the Channel that Works Best for You

Successful content is a long-term investment, so content creators need to find the channel
they feel most comfortable generating a lot of content within. Possible channels include:

 Blogs: Sharing lists, guides, thought leadership, and more for all of your audiences, no
matter where they are in the buyer’s journey
 YouTube: By establishing a presence on YouTube, you “humanize” your brand and lay out
your area of expertise
 Instagram: Whether creating bite-size stories or longer form Reels, Instagram is a good
way to connect with a larger audience via social media
 LinkedIn: Generally thought of as a more business-focused platform, this is a great social
channel to find and connect with the professionals you seek to connect with
 TikTok: It feels like the whole world is on TikTok now, and it’s increasingly being used by
a younger audience in place of regular search engines

Tactic #3: Use Video to Build Your Brand Character

Ecommerce is about products. And video is one of the best ways to showcase your product,
demonstrate its benefits, and answer the most burning questions. Our research shows that
video is the most effective content format for retail and ecommerce businesses in 2023.
 Popular categories of video content include:

 Product explainer and description videos

 Customer testimonial videos
 Live shopping videos

Long-form videos are usually posted on YouTube channels, while shorter videos are typically
shared on TikTok or Instagram. According to Aaron Orendorff, videos tend to work best if
there are people in them: People will always gravitate towards people over products, so
companies need someone in-house to create videos at scale as it’s a volume game. You need
someone who has ‘a face’ and who can get memes. Aaron Orendorff, Head of Marketing at
Recart Our takeaway? Work with a person who has an engaging and likable personality to
create a following on top video channels like YouTube and TikTok. Your central character
builds trust and becomes a strong representation of your brand, generating more engagement,
views, and customers over time.

Tactic #4: Optimize Your Presence on Amazon

Many people looking to buy specific products begin by searching on Amazon—not search
engines like Google, as they would if their query was more informational. As a result,
companies need to pay close attention to each piece of content that accompanies their
products on Amazon and ensure it aligns closely with their own website and their brand
overall. Failure to do this means shoppers may choose to buy a competitor’s product instead.
Amazon has expanded the content options available to brands beyond just the title,
description, and images of their product to include:

 A+ content
 Amazon Posts

A+ is a premium content feature that allows sellers to improve the description and
merchandising of their products by adding richer text and high-definition videos and images.

Tactic #5: Partner with Influencers and Experts

We mentioned earlier the important role that personalities (i.e., people) play in ecommerce
content marketing. For some brands, the founders, such as Bobby Hundreds and Eric
Bandholz, fulfill this role. For other retailers, working with sector experts can be a great
option, not least because it shows Google that your content has authority.

Examples include fashion brands collaborating with social media influencers or bloggers and
health and wellness brands partnering with doctors or nutritionists. For instance, UK fashion
retailer Boohoo partnered with CottonConnect, agricultural experts from Pakistan, on a
project called REEL (Responsible Environment Enhanced Livelihoods) cotton.

Our takeaway?
 The cool branding and influencer alliance enhances their credibility and really connects to
their target audience. In fact, this has become a unique selling point for them, helping them
stand out from the crowd in a busy marketplace. Partnering with third-party experts to
conduct research is another valuable investment that incurs no loss of credibility or authority.

Tactic #6: Pay Attention to the Marketing Tactics of Marketplaces

An ecommerce marketplace is a collection of online stores offering different products from

different vendors. They serve as digital destinations for shoppers looking to browse and
purchase from a variety of brands, just as marketplaces do in the real world. Brands that
participate in these create digital “storefronts.” Examples include:

 Amazon Marketplace
 Walmart Marketplace
 eBay
 Chewy
 Wayfair
 Alibaba
 Rakuten
 Houzz

Jordi Ordonez recommends paying close attention to the content marketing strategies of
marketplaces, as they administer millions of URLs and need to promote thousands of brands
without cannibalizing their search rankings or getting penalized by Google.

In fashion ecommerce in particular, “lookbooks” are becoming increasingly popular in place

of traditional blogs. Lookbooks are digital recreations of printed promotional catalogs that
retailers used to create for in-store browsing before ecommerce even existed. Here’s an
example from Lookbook.nu: Digital retailers now create online lookbooks to showcase their
products in an eye-catching way. Fashion brands will often release a lookbook for a new
season or line.

Tactic #8: Make SEO a Central Part of Your Plan

Due to an above-average focus on visual content, many ecommerce websites have

overlooked the opportunities afforded by more traditional text-based content marketing.
However, creating educational blog content and optimizing your website for search should be
an essential part of your strategy. Most ecommerce sites have been built for the onsite user
experience (i.e., “What it looks like”) but the technical SEO under the hood (i.e., the header
depth, the URL structure, etc.) is often very poorly implemented, with different pages on the
same site frequently cannibalizing each other for the same keyword.
 Finally, focus on understanding the motivation behind your customers' search behavior. Try to
dig deeper, find out what made them type specific phrases and look for products.

Final Thoughts

The purpose of ecommerce content marketing is to support the customer throughout their
purchase journey and increase a brand’s online sales.

It is different from other forms of content marketing in the following ways:

 It emphasizes visual content more than traditional text formats

 Its audience sometimes starts their acquisition journey on Amazon rather than on search
engines such as Google; however, Google still plays an essential role
 The most successful brands leverage personalities, especially via video, and establish
authority by partnerships with experts
 Traditional SEO and text-based formats (such as educational blog posts) sometimes remain
overlooked, which presents opportunities for brands that want to rank highly

Creating content for ecommerce websites, therefore, requires a multi-pronged approach that
balances both the visual and the text-based.

Mobile App Marketing

This type of marketing refers to the process of promoting a mobile application to reach a
larger audience and increase downloads. The process happens through various channels, such
as social media, online advertisements, app store optimization, influencer marketing, email
marketing, etc. So, mobile app marketing aims to increase visibility and attract users to
download and engage with different applications. It is a crucial aspect of app development
and involves promoting a mobile application to reach a wider audience and drive downloads.
The ultimate goal of this exercise is to increase visibility, drive user acquisition and
engagement, and increase revenue generation.

Importance of Mobile App Marketing

User Acquisition

Marketing on apps helps to prompt more downloads and increase the user base for a
particular application, which is critical for its success.

Visibility
Marketing strategies help increase the visibility and discoverability of mobile apps, making it
easier for potential users to find and download them instantly.

User Engagement

Mobile app marketing promotes different applications and their respective features through
various marketing channels. The process helps to increase user engagement and guides them
into coming back to the same applications.

Revenue Generation

A well-executed marketing campaign can drive downloads and increase user engagement. It
leads to increased revenue generation for businesses through in-app purchases, subscriptions,
and other monetization methods.

Competition

Mobile app marketing helps differentiate an application from its competitors and stand out in
the crowded marketplace.

Brand Awareness

It helps to increase brand awareness and reinforce the brand’s presence in the market.

Customer Insights

Marketing of this kind provides valuable data and insights into customer behavior and
preferences, which can be used to inform future marketing strategies and improve the user
experience.

How Does Mobile App Marketing Work?

Marketing on apps involves a comprehensive approach to promoting a mobile app so that it

reaches a broader audience and drives downloads. The process typically involves the
following steps.

Step 1: Understanding the Target Audience

It is important to understand the target audience, their needs, and their behavior before
starting a campaign. The information can be gathered through market research, customer
surveys, and analysis of app store data.

Step 2: Defining the Marketing Objectives

The marketing objectives should align with the overall goals of the app and the target
audience. Examples of marketing objectives include increasing app downloads, user
engagement, and revenue generation.

Step 3: Choosing Marketing Channels

The next step is to choose the marketing channels that are best suited for reaching the target
audience. The process could include app store optimization, social media marketing,
influencer marketing, online advertising, and email marketing.

Step 4: Executing the Marketing Campaign

The marketing campaign can be executed once the marketing channels get chosen. The
process involves creating and distributing marketing materials, such as advertisements,
influencer collaborations, and promotional emails.

Step 5: Monitoring and Optimizing

The marketing campaign should be monitored regularly to measure its effectiveness. You can
then optimize it based on the results. It involves analyzing data such as app downloads, user
engagement, and revenue, and making the required adjustments.

SEO , SEM and PPC

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the process of optimising a website to rank

prominently on the organic search results.
SEM or Search Engine Marketing is a subset of digital advertising, associated with targeting
a website to rank on the paid search engine results pages.
PPC or Pay Per Click refers to the buying model in which advertisers pay a fee for every
click their ad receives.
 SEO vs SEM vs PPC

Based on the above definitions, SEO and SEM both exist within the umbrella term “Search
Marketing”. And while PPC is a buying model which is commonly and inaccurately used
interchangeably with SEM, it isn’t wrong to say that SEM and PPC co-exist within the same
subset of Digital Advertising – Search Advertising.
Note that there are other subsets of Digital Advertising that include:
 Display Advertising
 Social Media Advertising
 Programmatic Real Time Bidding
 Mobile Advertising
SEO v/s SEM
The main difference between SEO and SEM is that SEO is a method of ranking a website on
the organic search results while SEM is based on a pay per click model of displaying text ads
above the organic search results. To better illustrate this, let’s put on the hat of a Marketing
Executive of a B2B organic food supplier.Your clients are looking for products like yours on
Google and they’re typing in search terms such as “organic food”.
Example of Pay Per Click buying Model in the search channel, organic search and paid search results

To be visible and potentially acquire clients at this crucial moment, your website needs to be
ranked highly on the paid search results, organic search results, or in the best-case scenario,
BOTH.
To rank on the paid search results, you set up your ads and target keywords on Google
AdWords. Within a day, your company website ranks on the top 4 positions of Google
whenever a potential client searches for your target keywords e.g. “organic food suppliers”.
However, you have to pay Google AdWords a fee every time a user clicks on your ad. That’s
because Google AdWords charges advertisers based on a pay per click or PPC model. After
evaluating your costs vs results, you realise you may not be able to maintain your budget for
the long term as more and more competitors bid and compete for the same target keywords.
You decide to invest in an SEO strategy to rank your website on the organic search results
instead, where clicks don’t cost you anything.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing (SMM) is a form of internet marketing that uses social media apps as
a marketing tool. These social media platforms enable brands to connect with their audience
to:

 build a brand;

 increase sales;

 drive traffic to a website; and

 build a community of followers to share and engage with content.

Producing relevant content that users will share with their own networks helps brands
increase their exposure. It also extends their reach toward fans, potential customers and even
potential employees when used as a recruitment tool. Social media marketing also enables
organizations to get customer feedback while making the company seem more personable.
Social media enables organizations to create relationships with their audience. It gives end
users a platform to ask questions, voice complaints and generally be heard. It also gives
brands the opportunity to respond, adapt and adjust business processes or products. Some
popular social media apps include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest,
Instagram and Snapchat. Each platform has elements that makes it attractive to use. And
when a company uses several in combination to deliver a multichannel message, consumers
can see those messages on their preferred channels.

5 pillars of social media marketing

When developing marketing programs, one key area that marketers care about is how to
deliver their messaging. Social media helps spread those messages to the right people at the
right time, through both free and paid means. Social media also enables brands to learn more
about their audience's personal, geographic and demographic information. This enables
organizations to customize their messaging and content for the best engagement.

Here are the five pillars of social media marketing that will lead to a successful program.

1. Social strategy

With any marketing campaign or activity, an appropriate strategy should be laid out in
advance. Organizations need to determine the goals of the program, the channels that will be
used and what types of content will be shared. Here are some examples:

 Determine goals. Using social media for marketing should align closely with business
and other marketing program goals. Some goals that businesses can use to measure
 success include increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic and leads, and
increasing revenue.

 Select social media platforms. There are many social platforms available, but it doesn't
make sense for businesses to use them all. Organizations need to know their audience and
choose the platform(s) that best fit their demographic.

 Content mix. Each social platform has a unique flavor for distributing content --
including video, imagery, links and direct messaging. So brands need to identify which
content their marketing persona is most likely to engage with.

2. Planning and publishing

After establishing a strategy, it is time to begin publishing. This can be as simple as posting a
new blog post, sharing information about an upcoming event or posting a new product video.
But being consistent is the key to an effective SMM program. To build an audience,
organizations should post frequently to their page. Posting relevant content consistently will
keep the audience coming back for more.

Content that organizations post to social media should align with other marketing
promotions. Tools such as Hootsuite, HubSpot and Sprout Social enable marketers to
schedule their posts at the appropriate time.

3. Listening and engagement

Businesses that create activity on social platforms can see growth in interaction and
conversations about the brand and products. Users will comment on and share posts, tag the
company in their own posts, and even begin communicating through the instant messaging
functionalities. These types of interactions are ideal because there are notifications in place to
alert social media managers. This enables them to practice good customer service, which in
turns boosts the customer experience. People on social media may also discuss a brand,
product or service without tagging or speaking directly to a company. There are several social
media listening tools available to stay plugged into the conversation, such as Brandwatch,
NetBase Quid and Sprinklr. Free tools such as Google Alerts can also notify marketers when
their company is being mentioned.
4. Analytics and reporting

As more content is published and the audience expands, it is a good idea to continuously
measure performance. Questions to ask include the following:

 Which posts are getting the most engagement?

 Where are a brand's followers from?

The success of any marketing program is dependent on its data and analytics outputs. A
marketing team can use this information to make more informed decisions on future
campaigns and take advantage of what works. Each social platform has its own analytics
data, but there are other tools that can collect data from many channels into one location. This
enables marketers to evaluate the overall success and failures of their marketing campaigns.

5. Advertising

Much of social media marketing is free -- with the exception of resource time and specialized
tools. Building an audience and publishing content on free social media sites is a great way to
achieve marketing goals, but as the program grows, so does the budget. Paid marketing
features can be very valuable to organizations. They can target their advertisements at
audiences based on many factors, including demographic information, retargeting and
behaviors. There are tools to help manage social media marketing at volume, but using the
native ads functionality to begin is enough to promote posts, capture leads and ensure
messages get in front of the right audience.

Advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing

Social media marketing has embedded itself into every organization's sales and marketing
roadmap. It is an additional channel to distribute content and messaging to a significantly
larger audience than a homegrown database of contacts. While there are advantages to rolling
out a social media marketing program, there are disadvantages as well.

Advantages of social media marketing

 Reach a wider audience. There are more than 3.6 billion users across all social media
channels. A single post share can exponentially increase brand exposure.
 Improved customer satisfaction. Organizations don't just market to customers on social
media, they also interact with them. This can improve customer service and create one-to-
one relationships.

 Cost-effective tool. When executed correctly, the cost of managing a social media
program can be low. Once the knowledge, team and program strategy are in place,
marketing teams find it easy to use with very little overhead.

 Increase website traffic. Social posts are a great way to drive traffic back to a brand
website. Promoting blog content, landing page offers and more can entice users to click
through and engage further with a brand.

 Gain better insights. Using the analytics and reporting features from each social media
platform gives insight into who page followers are, what content they are interested in
and how they like to engage with a brand.

Disadvantages of social media marketing

 Time-consuming process. A lot of time can be spent on social media campaigns to

ensure they are effective. Marketing teams also need to constantly fill the calendar with
new content and respond to inquiries. This can make it difficult for small marketing teams
to tap into the full capabilities of SMM.

 Need qualified resources. It takes the right person or team to run a social media
marketing program. Social media marketing programs don't benefit from entry-level
employees. Instead, skilled and seasoned social media marketers are key.

 Have to wait to see ROI. SMM is a long-term investment. Social media platforms yield
a high ROI, but not in the form of immediate results. The success of an SMM program
isn't determined by one piece of content, but rather several over long periods of time.

 Competitor's market research. Posting to social media is a public forum and everyone
can see the content, including the competition. There is no workaround for this.

 Brand reputation is vulnerable. SMM can open a brand for public embarrassment and
bad press. Negative reviews can be plentiful as customers take to social media to vent
frustrations. And because of the public nature of the platforms, anything a company says
or does will be seen and reacted to. Brands should expedite response times to mitigate
this risk.
DRTV- Direct Response Television
Direct Response TV (DRTV) is a type of television-based advertising that encourages
viewers/consumers to take immediate action. This action can be making a phone call, visiting
a website, purchasing a product etc. Often, DRTV or infomercial advertising is a component
of a much larger, integrated, multichannel campaign that brings together a customised and
effective mix of advertising vehicles to deliver the best results for a particular brand, product
or service. As with everything, DRTV is evolving and has evolved into Brand Response TV.
Brand response TV is a combination of the immediate response and measurable capabilities
of DRTV with an added element of embedding important brand memories in the consumers
mind.

Unlike traditional TV commercials that are broadcast between television shows, DRTV
campaigns and direct response online ask for a direct response (hence the name). This is
vastly different to more traditional television advertising; it allows for tracking and results to
be measured from the initial point of contact through to the sale itself. This is because with
DRTV, the TV audience is not just being exposed to the brand – they are being invited to
action right away. With the right approach, expertise and guidance, the results can be
phenomenal and transform a business overnight. DRTV is incredibly dynamic and nimble, as
media buys are often tweaked and adjusted based on real-time results and responses. This is
the primary reason why this advertising format is so attractive and increasingly in-demand by
marketers, who demand an ROI. It’s vital to be able to select and buy the most effective
media, in conjunction with a detailed analysis of the success of each buy.

Which industries is DRTV most effective for?

Although infomercial advertising has been used in a variety of niches, the greatest results
have come from the fitness, health, cosmetics, personal care, supplements and homeware
categories. These are typically categories in which it’s easy for viewers to see how the
product will improve their quality of life. DRTV lends itself to industries that are well
established, yet have a compelling offer they need to get to market. These industries include
insurance (health, vehicle, life), finance (mortgage, credit cards, debt consolidation),
superannuation, energy, Not For Profits, travel, telecommunications and many more.
Three specific reasons why advertisers choose DRTV:

1. Targeted Audiences : DRTV commercials are broadcast across major forms of media and
have the capability to reach specific groups of people. Through a highly diversified and ever-
expanding selection of television channels, you can make sure that your message gets in front
of the right audience. It is often not the channels you would expect, that deliver the best
results for your product.

2. Integrated Approach : Although DRTV advertising is most effective at driving direct

leads or sales, it also drives brand awareness. Short-form spots can introduce the brand and, if
the TV ad is compelling, they then invite the viewer to find out more on a website or over the
phone. Incorporating direct response online elements is an incredibly powerful way to help
meet the needs of today’s tech-savvy market.

3. Measurable ROI : DRTV campaigns are directly tied to sales and revenue, so it’s
incredibly easy to track the ROI of an advertising campaign. Once initial goals are
established, and tweaks are made to the campaign based on initial feedback, the advertising
can be improved even more.