We are marketing and selling for the digital era. Commonly called digital commerce, marketing and sales here is essential for everything right from product promotion, pricing, analytics, customer acquisition and retention, content development, and the list goes on.
Digital commerce has merged marketing and selling, while they were two distinct principles earlier. Digital commerce is trending now as a concept, but the overall success of this depends on the tools, technologies, and processes utilized to produce calculative results.
People confuse digital commerce with e-commerce, but both are different. Digital commerce encompasses additional tasks such as product descriptions, blog posting, social media posts, research and development, marketing, customer satisfaction, and customer service.
Digital commerce is similar to a fuse providing electrical current to the device. Digital commerce is the source of power for an online retailer’s transactions.
Before we move on, let us see some statistics proving the growth of digital commerce as a concept:
- Approximately 80% of the companies use AI as an inevitable part of their digital commerce strategy. Very soon, they shall witness 25% more improvement in their KPIs like customer retention, revenue, and cost reduction.
- 15% of the brands are contemplating to launch their standalone digital commerce brands.
- US B2B market is set to reach $1.8 trillion by 2023.
- eCommerce will facilitate 95% of purchases by 2040. (source)
Digital Commerce Classified
Digital commerce has been categorized into:
- Active digital commerce and
- Passive digital commerce
Businesses selling their products online and accepting online payments are a part of active digital commerce, and businesses that market and sell products online but accept payments offline are a part of passive digital commerce.
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Importance of Digital Commerce
The impact of digitization in B2B and B2C is increasing. Customers seek better and personalized experiences from the brands. If brands fail to meet the expectations, customers are not likely to buy from the same brand.
Today, digital commerce is used more than a conventional sales channel. According to a study, 65% of consumers will research a product online before going to a physical store. Thus, digital commerce is necessary and it is the demand of time, business, and customers.
Key Digital Commerce Trends
Worldwide digital ad spend has already soared beyond $375 billion. It has also been predicted that digital commerce is going to exhibit robust growth soon. Thus, it is important to consider the different avenues of digital commerce and in which channel your brand must invest.
The most experienced marketers and sales people find themselves on the fence about keeping up with technological innovations, but as technology advances so should your digital commerce strategies.
Some key digital commerce trends that no marketer or sales person should let go of are:
1. Personalization
It is reported that 71% of consumers choose to spend time on marketing messages specific to their needs. Engaging your customers through trust and improving user experiences are two prominent things you can try with content personalization.
Personalized content helps customers establish a personal connection with the brand.
2. Subscription Commerce
When a customer signs up to receive goods from the brand on a recurrent basis, this falls under the subscription commerce category. We have observed a 100% growth in this category during recent years. Popular for industries like beauty, food and drink, health and wellness, and spiritual fitness, the anticipated CAGR of the global automotive subscription through 2022 is 71%. If a brand doesn’t enter this arena, it is losing a big market share.
3. Enterprise Marketplace
Enterprise marketplace is a new model of business where organizations create different ways of doing business. They develop new capabilities, create wider ecosystems, and generate new sources of income.
Time for the brands to harness the power of enterprise marketplaces.
4. Augmented Reality
AR plays a vital role in boosting digital commerce. With AR, brands do not need the physical inventory of products and they save time, money, and resources. AR offers an impeccable way of boosting brand value through a smart device’s screen.
Companies that have utilized this technology are Facebook, L’Oréal, Sephora, and more.
5. Customer Analytics
Analytics helps to understand customer behavior to make informed business decisions. Companies can use analytics to be more well-organized in all marketing efforts and improve the demand from their target audience.
Right from keeping a check on algorithms with analytics software, companies can optimize social media marketing strategies with the help of unique analytics.
Wrapping Up
Understanding your target audience will ensure that you have the caliber to focus on success with digital commerce, fulfilling the evolving demands of customers will benefit your brand when you push analytics solutions to perform.
It is time to gain a market share in digital commerce, the future is yours with digital commerce.
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