Just days away from a new e-commerce Day in our country, we review the current state of electronic commerce, the trends and the opportunities that they represent for both companies and consumers shopify Tools.
Thanks to Big Data analysis and analytics, stores can find the right customer at the right time and for the right product. This means that with the amount of historical information that electronic commerce generates today based on the purchasing behavior of users, all this intelligence can be taken, processed and thus improve the experience of buyers.
Miguel Elías, Online Business Manager of Samsung Electronics Chile, provides seven tips to enrich the customer’s shopping experience and how to identify those points where improvements can be made and have a loyal and satisfied user base.
- A mobile presence is essential: With more than 50% of web searches made from mobile devices in Chile, how can companies take advantage of this opportunity and capitalize on it for the benefit of their sales? We are not just talking about people who search before leaving a house for a store, but consumers who from the same store carry out other searches to obtain opinions from other customers regarding a product or service or even compare it with others. Brands must be in the mobile world to be competitive.
- Take advantage of the high banking penetration in Chile: The payment methods are totally relevant to promote electronic commerce. In Chile, although we do not have a broad mass of consumers like Brazil, we do have the great advantage of having the necessary base for e-commerce. By this we mean high bank penetration, access to credit cards and Internet penetration, which in our case is over 70% and we are number 10 worldwide in this area. In this sense, the next challenge is to have greater competition and never lose sight of progress in terms of payment security.
- e-commerce is open to all categories of products and services: In Chile, e-commerce has grown steadily in recent years and people are increasingly venturing to explore new categories. At the beginning it was very strong with the great technology products, but now items such as clothing, food, travel and multiple entertainment experiences have gained a place among consumers. Therefore, from small stores to large retailers they have a lot of potential for success.
- Expert clients. We must not dismiss their knowledge: A shortcoming that should be avoided when talking about an e-commerce channel, is assuming that one as a seller knows more than the customer about what he is looking for on a site. We have to make things easy for them: have a search engine and navigation structure that allows them to find products quickly and easily, without losing sight of the large inventory.
- As obvious as it sounds, the physical and digital world are different: It is important not to impose legacy system barriers on the online world, that is, legacy or old procedures that are generally transferred from the physical to the digital sales channel, and that only further complicate the customer experience. A common mistake is to waste time by asking the consumer for unnecessary information to close an e-commerce sale, but that for a purchase or physical ticket was part of the routine. For example, it is useless to ask for the shipping address if the person selected the option to withdraw a product in store.
- 24/7 transparency: Trust is one of the attributes that define a customer’s loyalty in a future online purchase. We must be 100% transparent with the conditions of prices, availability and logistics. A good practice is to keep the customer informed, throughout the purchasing process and proactively, about what is happening with their order. For example, online tracking systems to see minute by minute where the package is become very relevant.
- Augmented reality and NFC: the next steps for e-commerce: A trend that is catching on is the augmented reality associated with online purchasing processes. For example, how a user through a mobile device can recognize real-world objects, through the camera on their smartphone, and then be linked to commercial sites that offer them. This type of interactions will be available in the future thanks to equipment such as the Galaxy S8, which together with Samsung’s Bixby interface, will allow the recognition of still and live images to relate them to the digital world.