At this time of pandemic, when traditional commerce is in crisis, online sales grow in strength. Due to lockdown, more and more companies are moving their business online, driving e-commerce traffic. How is user behaviour changing in online trading?
Increase in the number of online stores
Just a few months after the lockdown had been introduced, it was possible to see that e-commerce represented one of the main pillars of the new global situation. Online stores have had to make a number of changes to accommodate the rapidly growing interest in online shopping. First of all, it is important to constantly contact potential and existing customers, e.g. by email or push notifications. Consumers who used to more often opt for brick-and-mortar stores had to undergo a fast digitisation course. However, that is not all – during the pandemic, the behaviour of users who regularly shopped online has also changed. Consumers, especially young people, are more likely to use mobile devices for this purpose.
The global crisis had a particularly beneficial impact on e-stores with a well-established market position, operating in the sector for a long time. Small businesses, for whom the pandemic meant “to be or not to be”, had to adapt to new circumstances by quick launch of online stores. This is of course possible to do, provided that entrepreneurs focus on fast action not perfection. However, in order to gain traffic and attract new customers to the website, new technologies should be used. What do you need to know when operating in the e-commerce sector?
Accelerated digital transformation worldwide
It is impossible to discuss new technologies without mentioning the hot trend in the world of marketing, namely marketing automation tools. User behaviour during the pandemic has changed, especially when it comes to people who have not previously shopped online or have not knowingly chosen this form of shopping. Now they are actually forced to do so; hence, the shopping process must be simplified, intuitive, quick and high-quality.
Marketing automation gives an opportunity to implement all the crucial solutions that effectively attract users to e-stores. These include e.g. such functionalities as behavioural segmentation, namely possibility of creating customer groups according to their behaviour on the web. This makes it possible to provide the audience with products or services perfectly matching their needs and expectations. The more precisely the target group is determined, the more effective marketing campaigns will become. Therefore, the stores that have invested in relevant targeting and message customisation gain competitive advantage. Marketing automation gives the opportunity to plan both dispatch of messages and real-time communication depending on user online behaviour and actions (real-time marketing).
