The numbers escape the capacity of understanding that our brain has: worldwide, e-commerce will generate a turnover of more than US $ 8 billion by 2026, according to data from the portal specialized in market research Statista. If we consider that in 2021 the total was US $ 5 trillion, the expected growth will be 56% in just five years. This consolidates a trend: the explosion produced by the pandemic has no turning back. How can you capture part of this trend and achieve an increase in sales?
The acceleration of electronic commerce generated that many companies had to respond “urgently” to an immediate and exponential demand. The challenge, now, is to think strategically, to integrate e-commerce with internal management systems, with all digital channels, with digital means of payment, with customer service and marketing systems and with analytical tools to bet on an increase in sales. In this way, every decision made for the future will be based on data and generate a predictable impact on the business. Simply put: it’s time to use technology to multiply conversions.
In that sense, chatbots can be of great help. A June 2021 Botnation study had found that 89% of consumers value speed of response and 75% say it is very positive to solve problems without having to wait for a human agent to be available.
Chatbots, well applied, can not only answer standard questions, they can also play a key role in clearing doubts related to the purchase decision and favoring conversion.
How to improve the customer experience?
Another key differential factor for an increase in sales in e-commerce is to deploy a true omnichannel strategy: that the customer experience is consistent and homogeneous regardless of whether they have decided to operate through the website, from a mobile app, from a social network, in a marketplace, in a physical point of sale or through the WhatsApp service center.
In this sense, platforms such as easycommerce® stand out, which allow enabling multiple channels, both wholesale and retail and both for small local transactions and to reach an international market, all with the same backend supported by automation. This means that management will be unified, as will the vision of the customer, and interoperability is guaranteed. In the same way, a platform of these characteristics enables scalability: it accompanies the growth of the business without obstacles or complications.
From a customer experience standpoint, the benefits are manifold. On the one hand, greater engagement is achieved, since each interaction is significant and at all times the consumer has the feeling that the company “knows” him: he asks for the data only once and delivers the appropriate answers at all times. On the other hand, this unified and 360º view of the customer allows the organization to know its consumer in depth and personalize the interaction. It is even a way for marketing to deliver related proposals and enhance both upselling and cross selling.
E-commerce presents opportunities like never before to bet on increasing sales. And technology plays a key role in increasing the likelihood that each person who connects with any of our sales channels ends up becoming not only a customer, but something more important: a true standard-bearer of our brand.
