E-commerce platforms & online advertising
4.4.1 Platforms in e-commerce
Modern customer service has introduced the trend of customer-centricity, aided by new technology, especially mobile solutions and social media, which is already changing customer service management. E-commerce itself offers different types of platforms that additionally support customer service. Online platforms are strong drivers of innovation and increase consumer choice, improve efficiency and competiveness of the sector, and facilitate communication. Although we can distinguish between two different types of innovative platforms: communication platforms and transaction platforms (or e-commerce platforms), they sometimes have the same functionalities, imposed by the peculiarities of e-commerce.
E-commerce platforms are a virtual place where supply and demand ‘come together’ to complete a transaction. They can be divided into online marketplaces and online sellers (or resellers). The first can also act as a reseller and an example of this is Amazon. The second can also use the space of a marketplace or operate on its own website. When setting up an e-shop on a website, the business will need to choose an e-commerce platform. The most common examples of this type of software include: Shopify, Magento, Open Cart, Zen Cart, WooCommerce, Symphony Commerce, BigCommerce or OsCommerce. Each of these platforms offers everything that an online store requires, and also enables the developers to create and customise the store based on their business requirements.
There are many reasons why an e-commerce platform is used. Initially a business will notice that they are easy to implement, inexpensive, complex in the amount and type of solutions provided and they provide customer support immediately after implementation. In the long-term, they can result in a decrease in business costs and they can increase customer information and improve communication, not only between a business and its customers, but also between staff.
Other platforms, such as Customer Relation Management (CRM), support e-commerce businesses in streamlining their activities, which means the automatisation of many processes, including communication inside (between staff) and outside (potential customer and customer) the company. On the basis of data that customer service employees enter into the system, they can control the conversion from potential customer to customer, followed by the customer receiving notifications concerning placed orders, etc. The implementation of this type of platform saves time and generates new leads. CRM examples include: SugarCRM, Oracle’s Siebel CRM and Microsoft Dynamics.
Another type of platform is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which can connect parts of a business requiring large amounts of manual processing to integrate with other departments, as well as centralising and automating data and processes. ERP deals mostly with back-end information, whereas CRM manages customer information and other more front-end data. ERP examples include: Sage ERP X3, Oracle E-Business Suite and Microsoft Dynamics.
The prices of both CRM and ERP systems vary widely based on the size and needs of the company. As such, integrating these tools can be hugely beneficial, both in terms of customer satisfaction and business efficiency.
All the above-mentioned platforms can also be classified as Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), since they are collecting data, although they were initially defined as marketing tools. CDPs collect, unify, identify and funnel data to improve customer experiences, inform product decisions or fuel commercial decisions.
4.4.2 Marketing online
What constitutes good online marketing is good visual identity – in terms of a business’s brand, product or service. In e-commerce once a business starts using the Internet as the main channel to interact with its clients, the presentation starts from the moment they open the browser. From that moment on, the business is being assessed on the basis of what information is published online, i.e. how often others mention the business’s brand / service and what information is published, whether the business is positioned higher (or lower) in comparison to other similar businesses of this type. This highlights the importance of a business’s presence on a website or at least on a social media channel, otherwise they are not regarded as having any presence at all. The type of content provided on the business’s website as well as the presentation of that content will determine whether or not the visitor will decide to continue browsing.
For businesses just starting to enter the virtual space, an important consideration will be the brand / business logo, which can be a starting point to building any company’s position online and at an international level. It is easier to associate a business / service with a logo (visual representation), than with a name (text representation). A logo is not a strategy, it is the clothing your business / service should wear. Additionally, clients associate a logo with the level of service that is offered.
Good graphics, up-to-date descriptions and well thought out page structures will impact on the positioning of an online site in terms of SEO. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) refers to website positioning, i.e. the position a business’s website has on the most popular search engines. As Google is regarded as the most used search engine, it is worth investing in Google Ad Campaigns, as information on the campaign’s performance will be provided by Google Analytics. Website analytics is in fact closely connected to website positioning and therefore digital marketing.
Digital marketing is any online marketing activity. Content marketing is a type of digital marketing that focuses on creating and distributing content for a target audience. Its ultimate goal is to drive a profitable customer action in e-commerce or on a website. Some examples of content marketing include: blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, white papers, case studies, and eBooks.
The main types of online marketing (apart from SEO) include:
Search Engine Marketing (SEM). A paid strategy, similar to SEO, but which does not use organic results; businesses pay each time users click on the ad to their website.
Social Media Marketing (SMM). It can take the form of paid ads, promoted posts or sponsored stories, but can also involve no cost if channels are managed well and regularly maintained. It also includes activities like listening to what customers have to say, engaging in conversations or sharing content. According to HubSpot, Facebook is the primary content distribution channel for marketers today. (HubSpot, 2020).
Inbound marketing. This involves content marketing, SEO, and social media marketing – all of these attract audiences, engage users, and generate leads.
Affiliate marketing. This involves advertising a third party company’s product one’s own website while earning a commission for each sale that was made.
Email marketing. This is the use of email to promote one’s products or services. It can take the form of newsletter campaigns, although less popular due to GDPR requirements.
Mobile advertising. All advertising campaigns should also be adapted for mobile devices or at least follow a responsive typology, which is imposed by digitalisation and the ubiquity of mobile technologies. As of 2019, mobile devices, excluding tablets, generated about half of all website traffic globally (HubSpot, 2020).
Video advertising. This usually uses the PPC method; businesses only pay when someone engages with an ad through a video. This type of advertising is sometimes also associated with influencer marketing due to the increased number of vloggers and YouTubers. YouTube is the fourth most-used social media platform by marketers today (HubSpot, 2020).
Display advertising. This can have the form of display ads or banners, tailor-made landing pages and popups. Display ads differ from other ads because they do not show up in search results, but are found on websites and blogs to redirect user’s attention to the company’s product.
Native advertising. These are sponsored ads at the bottom of pages, suggested examples for users to click on.
Pay per click (PPC). These are ads that advertisers only pay for when a user clicks on them.
Remarketing. Also known as retargeting, a cookie-based mechanism that follows the user around the internet, to show ads of products / services of their previous interest.
Before choosing from any of the above marketing tools, it is important to firstly engage in market research and identify not only who the business’s customers are, but also what their needs and expectations are. Other activities that must not be neglected in e-commerce is researching competitors and engaging in good planning. Only then will a business be ready to step in to the virtual world and go international.