This may sound like a cliché now, but I find the tale of how David brought the mighty giant that terrorized the ancient Israelites at one point timeless. David was small in stature compared to the giant and ill-equipped for the battle at hand. However, David, a novice in battle summoned courage, unconventional wisdom, tactics, and zeal to bring the mighty Goliath to a mighty fall.
In the same way, when it comes to e-commerce, you need to think outside the box as this can help you achieve success in the face of e-commerce giants like Alibaba, Amazon, Walmart or other big guns in your business niche. Is it collaborating with business influencers which is an upcoming trend, tapping into augmented reality or offering customised product recommendations?
These strategies can help you overtake your competition and connect and engage with your target clients in new ways. This article looks at 5 powerful and ingenious ideas that you can employ to scale your e-commerce business to greater heights. Are you prepared like David to slay the competition?
We are in the first quarter of the year, it is not too late to evaluate your performance last year as a business and plan for the year ahead. It seems easy to keep focusing on tried and tested methods of doing things, however, imagine how a few ideas outside the box can help you achieve your goal this year. Ideas to help you hit the target for your profit margins, scale up to new markets, acquire more clients or whatever your resolution may be.
Investing in new technologies
A great strategy to consider is investing in new technologies that can help streamline and automate different aspects of your business online. Investing in new technologies could be tools that can help with managing inventory, customer service, or order fulfilment.
Imagine the amount of time and effort spent trying to manually create emails, send drip emails, create and send weekly newsletters, and segment your customers according to buying behaviour; while at the same time searching for leads and creating and posting on social media.
These tasks can be automated in one way or another. By automating these tasks, you can free up time and resources to focus on other areas of your business that require more personal attention. You might say that these technologies cost so much. It may be true but think of the rewards.
In addition, some of the software, for instance, marketing automation tools are freemiums-meaning you can use them for free to a certain extent and maybe pay more later when your e-commerce business scales up.
Besides, with the revolution in technology happening so fast, you will be able to keep up with the market trend and stay ahead of the competition when you do not have to spend time doing everything manually.
Explore unconventional sales channels or platforms
You can explore unconventional sales platforms and channels. If you have never tried it, this year you can explore the idea of selling your products through platforms like TikTok, Twitch, Instagram and so forth, even if you don’t have a high opinion of some of the platforms, you may be surprised of the results or impact in reach and connecting directly to potential customers and making the sale.
You can also explore large marketplaces like eBay, Alibaba and Amazon just to mention but a few of y have never, as they could open doors to new customers and increase sales. In addition, when you diversify your sales channels by joining the big marketplaces it’s not only getting new revenue streams but also expanding your online presence.
Testing and experimenting
Experimenting and testing different strategies is important in businesses in the e-commerce niche. As a business you can try out new marketing trends and strategies, try different models to price your services and products, or experiment with new product lines, who knows the outcome, it may be better than you anticipate.
Remember that it is more of a balancing act to test something new and to stick to what you are accustomed to but not hit the profit margins you dream of.
Open to ideas and opportunities that are new and ‘alien’
If as a business you become open to new ideas and opportunities, it will be easy to spot new trends, adjust in time to consumer preferences that are always shifting, and be in a better position to evolve your business to stay ahead. Let the key this year be thinking out of the box, and looking for ways to uplift, scale and grow your business.
Building relationships with other businesses in your industry
An idea like fostering relationships with other businesses in your industry may seem silly at first glance. I mean they are your competitors in one way or another, right? Some might have won over your customers right in broad daylight.
Maybe the reason why you don’t have loyal customers is as they are see-sawing back and forth between you and your competitors due to price wars or any other attribute. Relax, that’s not what we are implying:
Working with other businesses in your industry does not always have to boil down to dealing with arch-nemesis. Far from it. E-commerce businesses can benefit by making collaborations and partnering and even having cross promotions with complimentary instead of competing brands.
This can include reaching out to complementary brands and companies to form partnerships, or even exploring the possibility of collaborations or cross-promotions. In this way, an e-commerce business can expand its reach into new markets and customer bases.
In addition, e-commerce businesses will be able to benefit from the expertise and resources of other companies by building relationships with other businesses. For instance, shared logistics solutions reduce costs and save money, come up with new product lines, and organise joint marketing campaigns just to mention but a few.
Conclusion
The start of the new year is the best time to reevaluate our goals and if the strategies and tactics we employed worked or not and how to improve. Are you going to build new relationships with other e-commerce businesses, invest in the latest technologies, or explore new and ingenious sales channels? The important thing is to be open to new ideas. Also, leaving one’s comfort zone, and being willing to test and experiment to bring your business goals to fruition.
