Top Ten things to do for retailers to grow sales in 2012

Top Ten things to do for retailers to grow sales in 2012

ChannelAdvisor came up with a list of ‘Top 10 e-commerce marketing trends for retailers to embrace in 2012’. The list made a lot of sense to me and hence I am summarizing it below for our readers;

1. Diversify – It spreads your risk of investment. Promote/Sell on as many platforms as possible. Advertize not only of Google, but also on other prominent search engines. Sell not only on Amazon, but also on eBay and other marketplaces. If you are targeting single geography currently, add other important geographies as well. A lot of what we are talking about in the following points is also an offshoot of this point.

2. Reach other Countries – make partners, sell via marketplaces or have your own subsidiary! Do whatever works better, but reach the markets where you can sell.

3. Amazon (Junglee in India) – be available and be found here. Optimize your price, availability, feedback and A-to-Z guarantee to differentiate yourself from others.

4. eBay – eBay still does substantial transactions and if you are not on eBay, you are missing out. EBay is moving away from auction-selling; instead 60% of eBay listings are now fixed-price format. EBay is also much focused on large merchants and improving the buying experience for consumers.

5. Marketplaces (established as well and emerging) – TaoBao became a Mecca for all sellers in China. You never know what works for you unless you list yourself there. Be on the lookout for emerging marketplaces and list yourself.

6. Pinterest! – Not many would have heard of this in India. Pinterest is the fastest site to reach 10 million unique visitors. More on Pinterest here (http://www.smarte-commerce.com/pinterest-an-introductory-guide-for-marketers/ ). As channeladvisor puts it ‘The best way for retailers to become a part of this infectious hobby is by capturing consumers’ attention with appealing and relevant images.’

7. Set your social media right – Engage customers and discuss in an open forum the topics that are of interest to customers. Promotions, giveaways and flash sales that are exclusively available to Facebook fans are the most popular ways to increase fans. Regularly update the products on your page and, more importantly, the discussion topics.

8. mCommerce – with increasing number of smart-phones, handheld devices are playing an increasingly important role in online sales. Have your site optimized for mobile browsers and ensure that your products are compatible with mobile barcode scanning apps.

9. Prepare for the shopping season – as ChannelAdvisor points ‘It is never too early to start planning for the 2012 holiday season’. Avoid the mistakes in holiday season panning of the last year. Be ready with your products, promotions, channels much before the mad rush starts.

10. Google Local – not much relevant in the non smart-phone world, but with the increasing smart-phone access, it’s important for retailers to use it optimally to drive traffic in their stores. Update – Google Local is now entirely replaced by ‘Google + Local’

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