eCommerce and online marketing have become even more important through COVID. No matter whether in the business-to-business or business-to-consumer – area. Those who have not yet dared to take the step into the digital world, or are still cautiously advancing, are offered help through simple, effective measures and tools.

The first important steps to eCommerce are always:

The very most important question – whether online or offline: “Who is my target audience?”  Specifically directed to eCommerce, this means: is the target group even reachable online? Is it interested in an eShop at all? Can you reach different target groups online than before with your products and services?

a)What are suitable products and/or services?

b)How can one market these successfully (incl. search engine optimization)?

c)Which tools are optimally suited for this purpose ?

d)And of course: test, test, test (again and again).

Which products or which services are suitable to present digitally? How must the product line or service be adapted so that digital can be used? How do you present the goods/services online? What internal and external processes are necessary for this?

How large is the online assortment? In the beginning, you certainly start with a part. E.g. start with 20 products or a handful of services – and then successively expand or enlarge. Think Big, Start Small!

Online, all important offer and product details must be available. Customers expect all questions about the product to be answered. Complete product information also makes it easier for customers to find the right product. And the most important questions about the product or service are covered by the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) function.

A strategic question is: Do you do an online-only store without having a comparable offering in-store? Or do you complement or extend your store offering with the online offerings?

Depending on your future goals, business model and target audience, this is a good decision to make and implement.

Offering the right payment methods is also very important. The buyer must feel secure. Therefore, it would also be important to attach, for example, one of several “Trust Badge” to bring across the seriousness and maintain the confidence of the customer to the.

With online payment there are many variants: PayPal, credit card, invoice and some more. Again, depending on the target group, different procedures or methods should be selected. It rarely has to be all available on the market.

The topic of shipping and logistics is unfortunately very often underestimated. Which suppliers do you work with? How do you keep products in stock? How do you control your warehouses? Simplified there are times 3 classical solutions:

a)100% own warehouse

b)X% own warehouse +y% supplier warehouse

c)0% own warehouse + 100% supplier warehouse

All variants make sense depending on the circumstances. The important thing is that there are few dependencies and that you do not face a wave of costs in the long term.

When sending the goods, it must be clarified which packaging, postage, delivery costs, etc. are calculated. Are these charged separately to the customer? Or are these included in the product price?

Are there minimum order values? What are the payment and delivery terms in general? How are promotions deviated from to achieve a higher response?

As part of the advertising budget, another question needs to be addressed: Do you want to offer and ship worldwide, national or regional (example: Click& Collect, delivery service). If “only” digital services are offered, worldwide is not a problem. If goods must be shipped or are carried out by staff services at or on the customer, the matter looks different.

Generally, the tip is: It is better to start regionally, because the advertising budget for worldwide and also national advertising is usually used up quickly and the company has no more air to breathe.

Therefore, everyone should ask themselves the general question: Does the corner store also have to ship their tea to New York and pay high shipping costs for it?

Key figures are absolutely necessary for controlling the build-up and growth. In addition to newsletter signups and visitors, conversion to buying customers is likewise an important metric in eCommerce.

Of course, classic CRM metrics (RFMR) are elementary: How often does the customer buy in a year? How long does the customer relationship last? How many one-time customers are there who have not ordered for 6 months? And so on.

Many companies are now considering taking the necessary step of digitization. But this does not change the fact: your (potential) customers must first learn and understand that there is now an online store from you. Communicate with the customer and bring them closer with every channel that you are now to be found in the digital world.

This means testing as much and as often as possible! And just do not blow the advertising budget too quickly. But again and again advertise, then serve the reactions, make sales and then again from the beginning. The learning loop, an important tip to conclude.

In consulting and in our lectures, we find again and again. There is too little investment in target group definition. The goals are fuzzy and too early the customer is confronted with an unfinished store. It is better to build up small and fine, slowly. The organization, i.e. your employees, must be empowered to tackle this new field. To do this, you should set up an experimental lab model, including a culture of error.

We have over 30 years of eCommerce experience. We know the levers and adjusting screws, of the above parameters.