StartupTalky

Tag: ecommerce industry

  • How to Manage International Shipping for Your Ecommerce?

    E-commerce is the new wave for the present era! And you being a businessman must focus on international shipping. Fame comes with effort and that is exactly what this article is all about. Well, keep reading till you read the last sentence of this content as it conveys the exact strategies you need to follow to manage international shipping for your e-commerce.

    International Ecommerce Shipping from India

    Strategies for Maintaining Regular International Shipping for Your E-commerce

    Indian Ecommerce Market Growth Forecast by ibef.org
    Indian Ecommerce Market Growth Forecast by ibef.org

    International shipping needs a lot of strategies to become successful. Transaction of your goods does not only need good communication with your customers but also a lot more other than that. You have to do research work on duties and taxes that will apply to your shipment, the type of carriers that will fit your product the most, and also whether you will add on insurance to your transaction or not.

    It is better to pen down the strategies you are going to opt for your international shipping and then go for the final call.  Therefore, the given points are the most preferred policies you need to research for managing your shipments to international countries.

    How To Be A Pro In International Shipping

    At first, you need to recognize what products you are willing to ship and to which place on earth. The following strategies are some of the steps you must keep in mind before trusting your supporting franchise.

    • Shop’s Traffic Analytics- Online traffic can be your inspiration for expanding your marketing establishment all across the world. So always keep track of the regular traffic analytics of your online shop.
    Online Ecommerce Shopify Store Analytics
    Online Ecommerce Store Analytics

    This gives you an idea of the number of insights your website faced for the given period. However, you can also opt for sending direct customer requests to sell your goods in their markets. Always remember that high online traffic implies growth! So congratulations as your efforts are paying off now!

    • Identify Which Domestic Market is Fit For Your Business-  Are you interested in some of the domestic markets across the world, which you feel can be a good catalyst for your business growth? Well, you need to do good research on this before going for the final call. Going through e-commerce penetration is always an impressive step. Dig into the information which includes the trends and tastes, those markets prefer and sell the most.
    • Start Shipping Smaller Goods- If you are a beginner in international shipments, then you must first ship goods that have an amazing appeal to the international market. This will increase the public’s demand for your products. Also, lightweight goods are easier to ship and are also cost-effective. And if you are shipping a durable product then it is going to be a satisfactory delivery to your customers.
    • Marketing Language for Expansion- Dealing with customers worldwide is not a matter of joke! Therefore, you need to inherit some strong communication skills to mark progress toward your goal of market expansion. Moreover, if you are good at certain languages, then try to approach those countries that speak such languages to increase the reach of your business. Remember to make the best result out of your weapon, even if you have only a few of them!
    • Nearer transactions can be a great first step- You can fulfill the realistic expectations of your customers if you start preferring shipments to closer franchises. Small distance shipments at first give you a grip on the concept of domestic shipping. And smaller steps are always the most essential step to success. So go on and hunt behind near targets!

    The Four Factors You Need to Consider for Shipping Goods

    • Delivery Options- The more delivery options you provide to your customers, the more good reviews you get. So why don’t you offer them the choice to select their delivery preferences? Like some are interested in instant delivery and the others on a little delay! So you give them the options and work on their choice.
    Different International Shipping Delivery Options
    International Shipping Delivery Options
    • Insurance and Tracking- Shipment tracking is an amazing chance to keep an eye on the shipment progress of your goods. You being the sender can stay updated with the shipment progress and the concerned customers are also eligible to have a tracking report. And this strategy gives you the chance to stay tension free as you can easily find out when your goods are lost or destroyed. Well when you are shipping goods under an express agency, they provide insurance to keep your transaction hindrance free.
    Shipment tracking of an Order
    Shipment tracking of an Order

    Most of the global express companies do not include the “insurance” option but there is always an add-on for this option and it’s quite affordable. Therefore, whatever you are shipping, try to add proper “insurance” to it for staying tension free in the long run.

    • Cost Issues- Are you planning to save up money on shipping costs? Well in this case there are a lot of carrier types like- Postal carriers and Express Carriers. Postal Carriers are always the cheapest option you can go for. Of course cheaper the price, the less the service.
    International Postal Carrier Service Provider Companies
    Postal Carrier Service Provider Companies
    • These type of carriers does not promise you a specific time or date for shipment, rather the transaction process takes a long time. On the other hand, Express carriers ensure a speedy delivery and automatic add-on insurance for the goods, but they charge an expensive price.

    Therefore, it’s always best to do brief research and choose between postal, regional, and express carriers according to your plans and products. And it is always to know what is available for the international shipment process.

    • Shipping costs are the most essential thing to deal with when you are sending goods from your side to the customer’s reach. Talk to your customers about the extra charges required to keep their parcel harm free. transparent and communicative to your customers on shipping costs is paramount. Well, of course, transparency on fees does not imply scaring customers with an unexpected cost for shipment. This can degrade your online traffic. To avoid unpredictable bargaining, you can mention a fixed price on your policy page.

    Create A Detailed Export Packing List

    You must create a typically detailed sheet on the package and this list includes- the buyer’s name, proper address, seller’s address, invoice number, date of shipment, and likewise. This will avoid confusion in the long run and also be a compulsory step in international shipments. Furthermore, the packing list includes many more like-

    Product Packaging Detail List
    Product Packaging Detail List

    ● Carrier info

    ● The mode of transport

    ● The quality and type of the package to be shipped

    ● Dimensions and weight of the package

    ● Package marks for approval

    Guide on Shipping Rules and Regulations

    Shipping goods from one part of the world to another part takes a lot of strategies as well as guts. But before taking this step you are ought to aware of the concrete rules and regulations in this field. Do a briefing with your team members on the places you are planning to ship the products. Note down the parcel laws that the country believes in and then you are good to go! Just like some countries prohibit the entry of outside goods and some sets some limits on shipments. Are you having thought about how to get this information? Then set your eyes on the rest of the content to get an acceptable answer.

    ● To study the specific rules and regulations of your target countries, you can take help from UPS. They can guide you on this with full authority.

    ● While you are preparing for packing the products to ship, check whether they fall under the less harmful category. During International Shipping, the parcels can malfunction and it is not a new thing but you must check it properly. Understand what the categories like “ safe goods” and “harmful goods” mean and design accordingly. Moreover, you can visit the country’s government website to be on the safe side.

    Taxes on International Goods

    A specific tariff is charged by the concerned government body on international shipments. Well, these charges and duties are not fixed to a constant percentage and it keeps on changing by the dimensions and type of the package. Duties can be of two types- DDP( Delivery Duty Paid) and DDU( Delivery Duty Unpaid). In the case of DDP, you have to pay all the taxes that apply to your shipment as the merchant. And in the case of DDU, the customer pays the associated fees that apply to your shipment. So keep a record of these duties and the concerned taxes before shipping your goods.

    Conclusion

    International Shipping is the best option to expand your e-commerce across the whole world. And having a good communicable working team, your business can reach an unexpected height in the upcoming years. Therefore, giving the above-mentioned factors some research and thought can be very much helpful to you if you are a beginner in this field. And also never forget to try out new approaches and techniques to flourish your business.

    Therefore, now it’s time to buckle up and focus on expanding your business worldwide. Also, try to make your content reach every geographical corner of the world. And the above-mentioned article is the right key to your business interests! Therefore, good luck with your efforts!

    FAQs

    Which are top 10 fastest international shipping companies?

    Top 10 most popular international shipping companies who ship fast are-

    • DHL
    • FedEx
    • UPS
    • USPS
    • DB Schenker
    • Royal Mail
    • DTDC
    • Bluedart
    • Aramex
    • Ecomm Express

    Is it hard to ship internationally?

    Shipping goods internationally is a complicated process as it needs a lot of paperwork, one must consider the custom regulations, international shipping rates, lost or damaged parcel, the delivery time.

    How do I figure out international shipping cost?

    You need to check out following things to get an estimate of international shipping cost-

    • Origin or Destination of Product Delivery
    • Weight Type- Either Dimensional or Product Weight whichever is larger.
    • Shipping Mode
    • Warehouse expenses
    • Delivery Timings

  • Top 10 Leading E-commerce Companies in the World

    The global e-commerce market is expected to reach USD 27,147.9 billion by 2027.

    By 2040, 95% of all retail purchases will be made online. All these stats show us that the market of e-commerce is booming.

    If you own an e-commerce business then you can make a lot of revenue since nowadays a lot of consumers don’t want to visit an offline store. Instead, they would prefer buying products from the comfort of their homes.

    But, it also tells us that there is a lot of competition in the market. To survive in this ever-growing market you need to constantly innovate, improve the buying experience and provide a high-quality product or service.

    In spite of the highly unpredictable nature of e-commerce, there are some companies that were able to take the e-commerce market by storm. Today, we are going to tell you about the top 10 e-commerce companies in the world.

    1. Amazon
    2. Alibaba
    3. eBay
    4. Walmart
    5. HomeDepot
    6. MercadoLibre
    7. Rakuten
    8. Reliance
    9. Prosus
    10. Meituan Dianping

    1. Amazon

    Amazon Website
    Amazon Website

    You must have expected Amazon to be at the top of the list and why not! We all must have ordered something from this ever-growing e-commerce site. The consumer base and revenue of this company are growing year by year.

    Currently, in July 2022 Amazon has a market capitalization of $1.163 trillion. At the end of the financial year 2022, the company generated a whopping revenue of $477.748B, a 13.99% increase year-over-year. The company has 310 million customers worldwide.

    In 2021, Amazon grew its market value by 73.6 per cent. It made a revenue of $469.822B in 2021, a 21.7% increase from 2020. This is because of the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in lockdowns all around the world.

    As of 2022, Amazon generates $638 million each day. This means that the company makes $7,300 each second, $443,000 every minute, and $26.6 million every hour. So, every week Amazon earns an average of $4.4 billion and every month an average of $17.6 billion.  Considering all these stats if Amazon stops working even for 1 minute they would lose millions of money!

    According to Statista, Amazon.com had over 2.2 billion combined desktop and mobile visits. The company has listed 12 million items across all its categories and services which means that you can buy anything from the site.

    Amazon Prime membership and Prime day are very smart strategies that allow the company to increase their sales.

    Users quickly buy the Amazon Prime membership since they get free two-day shipping and access to Prime Music and Prime Video. Since they are prime members they are most likely to buy products from Amazon regularly.

    Prime day sales incentivize consumers to buy goods and services. In 2021, on Prime day the company made a revenue of $11.79 billion.

    2. Alibaba

    Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is a Chinese multinational company that has several businesses which specialize in e-commerce, cloud computing and logistics.

    Alibaba.com:

    Alibaba is the biggest wholesale marketplace which connects buyers and suppliers all around the world. Think of it like Amazon. The only difference here is that Amazon serves the American division but Alibaba is for China.

    Taobao:

    An online marketplace that facilitates consumer-to-consumer (C2C) business.

    Alibaba Cloud:

    A cloud computing company that provides cloud services on a pay-as-you-go basis.

    TMall:

    TMall is a Chinese-language website that facilitates business-to-consumer (B2C) online retail.

    AliExpress:

    AliExpress is an online retail company where international online buyers can buy cheap products and services from small businesses in China.

    Lazada:

    Lazada is an international e-commerce company where merchants sell their products and the company takes care of payment and delivery of products.

    Youku:

    Youku is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China.

    DingTalk:

    DingTalk is a messaging app in China that has over 100 million users.

    Cainiao Network:

    Cainiao Network is a Chinese logistics company.

    As you can see Alibaba has created its own ecosystem. The market capitalisation of Alibaba is $331.52 billion. The company has 1.24 billion consumers worldwide.

    In a press release the company said that in the September Quarter of 2021, the company generated a revenue of USD 31,147 million, indicating a 29% year-over-year increase.

    In the financial year 2022, Alibaba group made a revenue of 134.6 billion U.S. dollars.

    The unique thing about Alibaba and its subsidiaries is that they provide opportunities to small sellers to upscale their business.

    3. eBay

    eBay is an American e-commerce company which allows users to buy and sell their products. As of July 2022, eBay has a market capitalisation of $24.47 Billion.

    At the end of March 31 2022, the company’s revenue was $10.265 billion, a 9.17% increase year-over-year. In 2021, the company made a revenue of $10.42 billion, a 17.16% increase from 2020.

    The platform has 185 million active buyers and 19 million sellers worldwide. Most of the users buy and sell electronic products and accessories.

    eBay has implemented advanced technology using which buyers can find the best price for a certain product easily. The ‘best price guarantee’ of eBay also attracts a lot of customers.

    Under this policy, if a user buys a product from eBay and finds a better price from its competitor, within 48 hours the company will cover 110% of the difference.

    eBay also encourages sellers to advertise their products. This helps the company to earn ad revenue. The company has also tied up with PayPal which provides in-house payment services to buyers and sellers.

    4. Walmart

    Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that has established 10,500 stores and clubs in 24 countries.

    It operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores. Apart from focusing on offline stores, the company has started allocating its resources to its e-commerce stores and has expanded its grocery pickup and delivery services.

    The huge chain of offline stores helps the company to sell more goods and services online.

    The company has a market cap of $343.52 billion. Walmart’s annual revenue for the year 2022 was $572.754 billion, a 2.43% increase from 2021.

    Walmart has 2.3 million employees which help the company to rapidly scale their business.

    5. HomeDepot

    Home Depot is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that deals with construction and home improvement products. It is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States.

    The company has a market capitalisation of $294.646 billion. In the first quarter of fiscal 2022, the company reported sales of $38.9 billion, an increase of $1.4 billion.

    According to Statista, the company has carried out nearly 1.8 billion customer transactions worldwide.

    HomeDepot’s huge chain of offline stores and awesome customer service has helped the company to become successful.

    Recently, the company has invested a lot of money to digitally transform its operations. In 2021, the company launched the “Rent Online, Pick-up In Store” (ROPIS) functionality where customers could view equipment online and make reservations for them in advance from the comfort of their homes.

    The company has partnered with Google Cloud to take their digital transformation efforts to the next level.

    6. Mercado Livre

    Mercado Livre Website
    Mercado Livre Website

    Mercado Livre is the largest e-commerce and payments ecosystem in Latin America. The company operates in 18 countries.

    Using this platform users can buy, sell and make the payment for the products. MercadoLibre has a market capitalization of $35.26 billion.

    The company’s annual revenue for 2021 was $7.069 billion, a 77.92% increase from 2020.

    In 2021, the company gained 139.5 million unique active users. Mercado Livre has been aggressively investing in logistics to make its delivery more effective. In the fourth quarter of 2021, nearly 90% of the shipping was carried out using its own network.

    7. Rakuten

    Rakuten Ichiba is Japan’s largest e-commerce that operates in 29 countries. Using this platform consumers can buy electronics, clothes, books, baby essentials, apparel and much more.

    Apart from e-commerce the company also provides financial services, video distribution services and communications services.

    The company has a market capitalisation of $7.45 billion. If we look at Rakuten’s latest financial reports we can notice that the company’s current revenue (TTM) is $15.03 billion.

    Rakuten provides loyalty points to its customers which are linked to their credit cards. This means that every time customers make a purchase from Rakuten they earn points. The company has 1.6 billion customers around the world.

    8. Reliance Digital

    Finally, an Indian company on this list! As we all know, Reliance Industries is a multinational conglomerate that has a diverse business in telecommunications, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, mass media and textiles.

    Reliance is India’s biggest retailer, with more than 12,000 stores. The company has put up its foot in the quick commerce segment by launching JioMart. Using this platform users can order 50,000+ grocery products online.

    The company’s fashion e-commerce portals Ajio and Reliance Digital performed well during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Reliance has a market capitalisation of US$243 billion. Reliance Industries became the first Indian company to cross 100Bn$ in revenues.

    Reliance industries is also the 10th largest employer in India with a workforce of 236,000 employees.

    In FY2021, Reliance Retail generated a revenue of Rs 1,53,818 crore and a pre-tax profit of Rs 9,842.

    9. Prosus

    Prosus is a Dutch multinational conglomerate company. It is Europe’s largest consumer Internet company and one of the world’s largest tech investors.

    The company has invested a lot of its money in companies from different sectors like fintech (PayU), food delivery platforms (iFood, Delivery Hero and Swiggy), and EdTech (Stack Overflow, Brainly, Udemy), retail (eMag) and e-commerce (OLX).

    In 2021, Prosus delivered revenue growth of 51% to US$9.8 billion from its e-commerce ventures.

    10. Meituan Dianping

    Meituan-Dianping is a Chinese shopping platform for consumer products and retail services like dining, delivery, travel and much more.

    The company works on the model of a ‘super app’ where users can buy movie tickets, order food online, read restaurant reviews, buy different products and services and do much more from a single app.

    Meituan has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion. In 2021, the company generated a revenue of 179 billion yuan.

    In the first quarter of 2022, Meituan’s food delivery and in-store business along with hotel and travel segments achieved an aggregate operating profit of RMB5.1 billion.

    Conclusion

    As you can see all the top e-commerce companies are constantly innovating and providing high-quality products or services to their customers. The companies have understood the behavioural pattern of the audience and are trying to make the lives of the people better. Remember, when your product or service is helping people you will always succeed.

    FAQs

    Which is the world’s largest e-commerce company?

    Amazon is the world’s largest e-commerce company with a market capitalization of $1.163 Trillion. At the end of the financial year 2022, the company generated a whopping revenue of $477.748B, a 13.99% increase year-over-year.

    Is Alibaba bigger than Amazon?

    No, Alibaba is not bigger than Amazon.

    Which country is No 1 in e-commerce?

    China is the world’s biggest and fastest-growing e-commerce market in the world. The e-commerce market in China is growing at an annual growth rate of 21%.

    What is the biggest online market?

    eBay is the biggest online marketplace that serves over 180 million buyers worldwide. The company operates in 190 markets around the world.

  • Don’t Go Outside, Dakoo Is Coming!

    Insights shared by Avkash Kumar, Founder & Director, Dakoo.

    Understanding the market’s need, Dakoo, a hyperlocal marketplace & delivery platform founded by Mr. Avkash Kumar in 2021, is dedicated to bringing the latest technologies to the market. What started as a modest beginning for Avkash Kumar in 2021 during the ideation phases of his hyperlocal eCommerce platform, to what the nation is going to recognize soon as a tech franchise brand “Dakoo”, – his journey has traversed many complexities of a true entrepreneur. In 2021, 2x start-up founders Priyam and Avkash, two IIT Kharagpur alumni, sowed the seed of a hyperlocal marketplace & delivery platform Dakoo, with the mission of empowering local businesses.

    Priyam and Avkash - Founders of Dakoo
    Priyam and Avkash – Founders of Dakoo

    Dakoo is looking to provide a superfast home delivery ecosystem just like Zepto. They have fast-growing start-up founders, just like their brand vision, with big dreams of getting into every Indian’s life and city, not only metro cities. Following the “Vocal for Local” motto of our honourable PM, Dakoo is also looking to decentralize the e-commerce industry by empowering the local vendors of India.

    Dakoo Tech Franchise allows small businesses to own recession-free tech businesses in their city and be a part of an exciting and innovative movement. When each city has its own eCommerce platform, local vendors can easily sell their products online and this will ultimately strengthen the local economy. With the advent of the franchise model, Dakoo is committed to bringing this technology to every city and town in India to help small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow exponentially especially considering the post covid situation.

    From Finding The Problem Till Getting Their First Seed Funding Of INR 2 Crores, Dakoo Super App Brings In Local CEOs Of Dakoo To Every City!

    India is a country with many cities. There are tier-one cities like Kolkata, and Mumbai; tier-two cities like Surat and Jaipur, and tier-three cities like Mangalore. India is predominantly a rural country, but people from tier 2 and 3 cities migrate to bigger cities for education or job opportunities. This leads to the unavailability of many employment opportunities in these smaller towns, which is a big problem for those staying there. Dakoo will provide thousands of employment opportunities in these areas in the near future by empowering the local economy. In India, 60% of local retailers are not digitally enabled.

    Dakoo Tech Delivery
    Dakoo Tech Delivery

    Out of the massive $1.1T Indian local retail market, more than 90% of FMCG sales take place through local retail. India has almost 86% of consumers who shop locally. Thus, statistically, most e-commerce players are projected to prefer Dakoo’s logistics service over other players because it can be scaled up with less cost. Dakoo’s business model is all about ensuring that small entrepreneurs get enough orders to sustain their businesses who are suffering from daily orders due to the easy accessibility of big Indian eCommerce giants.

    How to Start an Ecommerce business in India 2022?
    Are you thinking about starting an ecommerce business in India in 2022? This is your complete guide to successfully start an ecommerce company!
    StartupTalkyParnas Ghosh

    How Dakoo Solves The Problem?

    Startups and small businesses face a lot of challenges. And while there are programs to help, they don’t solve one of the entrepreneurs’ biggest challenges: Time. Dakoo looks to help small businesses across multiple industries with marketing and sales services through an easy-to-use digital platform. To ease out ventures like start-ups and small businesses, which face a lot of challenges, Dakoo Super App brings in an entire framework of apps for Customers, Merchants, and Delivery agents with regular updates. This helps to enhance product quality as well as customer experience. Dakoo offers free home delivery from any local shop, whether it’s a vegetable shop, Grocery store, Restaurant, Thela, Electronics shop, or Supermarket. All deliveries are completed within 25 minutes by Dakoo’s super-strong delivery ecosystem. Dakoo plans to reduce this delivery time to 15 minutes by the year of 2023. Bringing this kind of comforts and privileges of metro cities to tier 2 and 3 cities, while competing in tier 1 cities simultaneously, is the goal of the super app. Dakoo also plans to bring an electric vehicle hailing platform to tier 2 & tier 3 cities in the near future. The company has a dedicated team of professionals who work hard to ensure that its products can meet customer expectations. They also provide a Franchisee App, which helps handle the city monitoring and management dashboard. It also allows them to control multiple delivery agents through just one app.

    The best part that would give a boom is the system of making sure to keep track of all orders placed by various customers using different delivery partners. It enables them to maintain high transparency throughout their entire business process. Apart from ensuring that they deliver the best services to their clients, they have made sure that they can make payments easily and quickly without any issues or delays. This helps them achieve maximum productivity without compromising service quality or efficiency levels. Dakoo also offers digital marketing services such as Digital Marketing, guerrilla marketing & branding material, Marketing pitch, onboarding & training Videos for merchant & delivery agents, the Initial level of Customer support, Merchant support & Delivery Agent support. This helps businesses gain visibility online, thereby increasing sales volume significantly.

    Grow your Sales using Dakoo
    Grow your Sales using Dakoo

    Want to Operate with Dakoo? Know How!

    Dakoo was designed to help entrepreneurs reduce costs and complexity. If you wish to use Dakoo you have to follow these steps.

    • You can Hire delivery agents who will be paid per delivery directly via the app.
    • Convince Merchants in your city to join Dakoo, using our marketing pitch video.
    • Conduct offline marketing & branding campaigns with materials provided by Dakoo.
    • Manage delivery escalation & feedback improvements.

    You will be responsible for any and all taxes and fees related to your business, as well as complying with local laws and regulations. This includes VAT, corporate tax, income tax, and more. You will also be responsible for any legal liabilities or other financial commitments that may arise from running your business. Make sure you comply with all applicable hiring laws and regulations, as well as labour standards. Protect your data by complying with all applicable data protection laws. And finally, make sure you are compliant with all intellectual property laws. The company recently took 10,000 interviews and going to award franchises to top 100 entrepreneurs.

    Dakoo award franchises to top 100 entrepreneurs
    Dakoo award franchises to top 100 entrepreneurs

    Growth Plans and Future Roadmap

    Dakoo’s service is growing in popularity among local entrepreneurs and small businesses. The company is focusing on building a system that can grow alongside them. In the next few years, they hope to leverage artificial intelligence to create a single platform where eCommerce and digital marketing are closely tied together. Dakoo recently secured INR 2 Cr from the Founders of FlyDining, helping them complete their vision of digitizing the local market. The investors, Mr. Pankaj Dhingra, Mr. Samir Dhingra and Mr. Shubham Singhal, have shown faith in the business model of Dakoo and invested for the better future of India.

    Being open to co-branding opportunities with EVs and looking to launch in tier 2 and 3 cities, Dakoo is all set to become an important part of how thousands of local business owners run their online operations. As soon as small businesses grow beyond local exposure and word-of-mouth promotion, it’s time to map out a growth strategy. Ideally, that means creating a set timeline based on specific milestones. Without these milestones ahead of time, it can be difficult to make smart decisions about how best to spend marketing dollars down the road when cash flow becomes an issue. If money is tight right now, consider scaling back advertising costs temporarily until revenue hits another level again. Here’s where all Dakoo will serve as a real Dakoo, for as a good one, for thousands of entrepreneurs and their businesses!

  • How to Make Impressive Use of 404 Page on eCommerce Stores to Boost Conversion?

    Frequent online shoppers must have come across a 404 error page at least once during their online shopping journey. As the site keeps getting bigger, so do the chances of encountering such pages. An eCommerce store can render a 404 error page for several reasons.

    For example, the site owner may have forgotten to permanently delete the page without any redirect, poor server configuration may be causing the problem, or the page is currently unavailable because it is being worked on. The reasons can be several, but the eCommerce store owner cannot take the risk of losing potential sales because of an error page.

    To ensure store owners make the most from 404 error pages, we’ve analyzed hundreds of eCommerce stores to check how they tackle this problem. After studying various eCommerce stores, we’ve handpicked and listed below some of the best ways to boost conversions from 404 error pages. Let’s quickly head to the list shared below.

    Pitch in Your Most Popular Products
    Display Product Categories with Working Links
    Incorporate a Product Search Bar in the 404 Page
    Sprinkle Some Humor or Add a Surprise Element
    Skyrocket eCommerce Sales by Optimizing 404 Pages

    If a visitor landed on the 404 page, he was looking forward to buying a product from the online store. This opportunity should not be wasted. The best way to monetize such situations is by recommending some of the most popular products on the 404 page. Something like Urban Outfitters does.

    Urban Outfitters 404 Page
    Urban Outfitters 404 Page

    Their entire 404 page is divided into two sections. The top section features an old-style black and white GIF stating the page can’t be found. At the same time, the second and lower part displays the most popular products with high-quality image and product name. Since the best and most sold products are shown, the visitor may be tempted to check them out and make a purchase.

    Since this is an excellent way to optimize the 404 page, Urban Outfitters isn’t the only eCommerce store following this method. Steve Madden, a popular shoe-selling online store, also follows a similar approach for maximum conversions.

    No shopper would appreciate landing on a dull 404 page. If the eCommerce store only tells the visitor that the page doesn’t exist, the chances are rare that the visitor will continue browsing the same site. He may instead prefer going back and looking for better-optimized eCommerce stores.

    To prevent this from happening, provide the visitors with a starting point once they reach the 404 page. An excellent way to do it is by adding category pages.

    Missguided 404 Page
    Missguided 404 Page

    Take a look at the 404 page from Missguided, for example. It tells the visitor that the site couldn’t find the page they were searching for. But they don’t end there. The 404-page message is quickly followed by the line “let’s get back on track.” Visitors can see a list of categories with relevant images just below this message.

    It prompts them to start their search again by simply clicking on any of those categories.

    For example, if a visitor was searching for tops, they can click on the “tops” category instead of leaving the eCommerce store. It will boost the chances of the visitor making a purchase. Birchbox is another eCommerce store that follows a similar approach to increase conversions.

    How to Start an Ecommerce business in India 2022?
    Are you thinking about starting an ecommerce business in India in 2022? This is your complete guide to successfully start an ecommerce company!
    StartupTalkyParnas Ghosh

    Incorporate a Product Search Bar in the 404 Page

    When visitors visit a particular eCommerce store knowing what they want, converting them becomes much easier. But missed sales are guaranteed if they accidentally land on a 404 page that isn’t optimized.

    It is why various big eCommerce stores are taking appropriate measures to ensure visitors don’t leave their site after coming across a 404 page. Take Etsy, for example.

    ETSY 404 Page
    ETSY 404 Page

    It is one of the biggest eCommerce marketplaces and knows how to bring back lost sales. It gives visitors two options – type for the relevant product in the search bar or heads back to the homepage.

    These two options give visitors a reason to stay back instead of abandoning the site. Since it becomes difficult to anticipate what each visitor is looking for, giving them an option to search their way out is one of the best-performing ways.

    It is why Etsy is not alone in adopting this approach. eCommerce stores like Need Supply Co., Ted Baker, UnderArmour, etc., follow a similar template while designing their 404 pages.

    Sprinkle Some Humor or Add a Surprise Element

    Making a prospective customer annoyed or frustrated is always a big no for eCommerce store owners. It takes them away from the brand and reduces their chances of returning for future shopping.

    To prevent such events, eCommerce brands should adopt a more personal or humorous approach. Everyone can take inspiration from Amazon, the biggest eCommerce platform on the internet.

    Amazon error 404 Page
    Amazon error 404 Page

    Whenever a visitor lands on a 404 page, Amazon displays a picture of one of its ‘dogs of Amazon’ to make them feel less annoyed. Everyone loves dogs; hence, this approach works in most cases.

    No one expects to see a smiling dog when landing on a 404 page, so it makes them giggle a little instead of making them feel annoyed. Another aspect of this page is a direct link to the homepage.

    Now that the dog’s picture made the visitor smile, he can continue searching for relevant products by returning to the homepage. eCommerce store owners can either replicate the same strategy or make some tweaks to make the 404 page look humorous. It will help prevent visitors from going to another online store.

    Top 8 Shipping Software For Your Ecommerce Fulfillment
    Ecommerce shipping software is a program that tracks orders and logistics. The most popular software are EasyShip, Shopify, ShipStation, etc.
    StartupTalkySubhajit Mitra

    Skyrocket eCommerce Sales by Optimizing 404 Pages

    A mistake some eCommerce store owners make is ignoring their 404 page. They forget that these are also part of the website that needs proper optimization for better conversions. eCommerce store owners that desire high sales must develop unique 404-page optimization methods.

    They can either design their own optimization ideas or pick one from this article. No one can entirely prevent visitors from landing on 404 pages, but efforts can be made to ensure they don’t leave the site without making a purchase. So act wisely.

    FAQs

    What does the 404 error indicate?

    404 error is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol standard response code that indicates the server was unable to find what was requested.

    What is 404 error in eCommerce websites?

    404 error in eCommerce websites indicates that the webpage is down to a misspelled URL, a broken link, or a product page doesn’t exist anymore.

    What are the best ways to optimize 404 error pages on eCommerce websites?

    Some of the best ways to make your 404 error pages of eCommerce websites impressive are:

    • Pitch in Your Most Popular Products
    • Display Product Categories with Working Links
    • Incorporate a Product Search Bar in the 404 Page
    • Sprinkle Some Humor or Add a Surprise Element

  • The Challenges and Winning Strategies of Selling Products Digitally

    The article is authored by Nishit Nanda – CEO, Youlry.

    Where once, jewelry was seen as an important part of daily rituals – later evolving into something of a political statement, late-stage modernity sees it through the lens of the personal. Which begs the question – how do you sell something intimate to the body and to the wearer that by its very nature, distances itself from a physical experience, while keeping it authentic at the same time? The crux of it all – selling jewelry online with its virtual carts and anticipation is still undergoing a learning curve. Especially for brands in India where digital is in its infancy when it comes to the consumer experience journey.

    Designer or not, the value of its parts requires fine jewelry to be expensive. However, beyond product merit, brands are now in the race to create other forms of value that are more evolved for the current crop of target groups

    The luxury market and specifically fine jewelry arrived fashionably late to the online retail space in 2018. For a lot of legacy brands that were trend adopters rather than trendsetters, the main reasoning for this delayed entry was the flawed reasoning that online would be detrimental to brand image, leading to the loss of a certain touch-and-feel immersive experience of brick and mortar high street stores. This was all taken down a notch as 2019 saw luxury brands committing to evolving their hunting grounds despite a slowing global economy, to win over Millenials and Gen Z. As far as fine jewelry was concerned, the emergence of an omni-everything strategy seemed imminent.

    Why omni-everything? Because, compared to omni-personal, omnichannel is the easier stop-gap. While omnichannel comes with a checklist: seamless customer experience, consistent point of contact etc. omni-personal is what distinguishes the haves from the have-nots. It is the secret sauce that seeks to understand consumer desire across categories which is where digital joins forces to create a balance of personalization, privacy, accessibility, and security with dedicated soft touches that are luxury-ready. To say the least, this is more important than ever in a post-pandemic world where brands were thrown into a tailspin because of market flux and supply chain disruptions.

    A big shift nonetheless, increased online shopping has led to a mass quickening of trust across segments and fine jewelry is no exception. If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that in the face of crisis, consumers chose accessibility, value, and convenience control over brand loyalty – all factors that had retailers needing a new way of doing business to stay relevant.

    How to Start an Ecommerce business in India 2022?
    Are you thinking about starting an ecommerce business in India in 2022? This is your complete guide to successfully start an ecommerce company!
    StartupTalkyParnas Ghosh

    As the retail landscape reinvents itself, some of the omni-personal strategies tried and tested to prove successful are:

    Being Agile

    Adapting retail strategy through social listening is a good starting point. Which is how born-on-the-cloud brands have begun their personal journeys in the consumer mindscape. Unlike most legacy brands that hurried to become relevant, new-age luxury brands are redefining the term “presence” itself to create likeable, relatable, and aspirational appeal for a consumer segment whose tastes evolve very quickly. In an era of highly informed consumer behaviour, adapting consistently is crucial to brand form. It showcases a brand’s inner ability to swiftly meet the end-to-end needs of shoppers with a digital response rate that is instant – especially when it comes to content creation, deployment, and response.

    Making Data Relevant

    Like Moses, parting the red sea of dirty data – irrelevant information can be quite daunting. This is why it is very important to understand how to utilise data in a meaningful way to avoid ill-targeted marketing communications that hinder personalized shopping experiences in a segment that is high value, high risk, high investment and high emotion. After all, the whole premise of purchasing jewelry whether online or offline is based on trust which needs to be reinforced digitally – a crucial requirement for omni-personal marketing.

    Building Relationships

    Personalising individual shopping experiences while providing superior end-to-end service is not easy within B2C.

    Bridging the digital divide with a human touch, and solving logistical, communication or inventory hurdles in a more likeable and personalised manner is crucial. Sometimes this could mean taking on certain losses that will even out in the long run with gains made in the form of trust, reliability and service quality for creating an exceptional lifetime customer value.

    Adopting an Omni-approach

    Shoppers need a wealth of choices and integration – including but not limited to product catalogues, purchase execution, delivery etc. This is where omnichannel disrupts the traditional sales funnel in exchange for a more personalised, non-linear route that stands for individual choices in terms of brand discovery, research, payment and after-service along with post-purchase. It is a human touch strategy and evolved retail strategy that places the consumer at the centre of a changing landscape.

    Conclusion

    Ultimately it is the responsibility of brands to understand that they do not determine what the customer wants and instead, are there to fulfil evolving consumer needs with a sound strategy across design, development, sales and marketing. In an era that no longer worships commodities or brands but the consumer, it is important to remember that only the personal is personable.

  • How to Evaluate the True Worth of an ECommerce Business?

    Running an eCommerce business has emerged as a highly lucrative and sought-after online business model. It allows you to expand your customer base on a global level without requiring massive investment. If you know all the ins and outs of running a successful eCommerce store, you can rake millions in revenue in an incredibly shorter timeframe. But this is just one way to earn using eCommerce stores.

    Another way is to sell it off for a rewarding price. If you take a quick look at different website flipping marketplaces like Flippa, Empire Flippers, etc., you will find various eCommerce stores listed for sale. The listing price is usually a multiple of the revenue the site generates. If you don’t want the hassle of maintaining multiple stores, you can choose to set up profit-generating eCommerce stores and start selling them for substantial profits.

    But the question is, how will you know the ideal selling price of an eCommerce store? You can do it by evaluating the store’s worth using the following methods.

    Ways to Evaluate the Worth of an eCommerce Store

    Valuation Factors that Matter for ECommerce

    Determine the True Value of an eCommerce Store for Maximum Profits

    Ecommerce Business Valuation

    Ways to Evaluate the Worth of an eCommerce Store

    There are various methods to evaluate the worth of an eCommerce store, but specific methods are best suited for particular situations. You can use any of the techniques shared below that you deem fit.

    Seller Discretionary Earnings

    When evaluating an eCommerce store’s worth, factoring in the seller’s discretionary earnings emerges as the top option. It can be best described as net earnings before tax. To get the most accurate figure, you will have to deduct the total cost of products sold and operating expenses from the sales revenue and then multiply it by a given number. This number ranges from 1.5 to 5 and depends on various factors we will cover later in this guide.

    After deducting these expenses, you can add back any costs that are not deemed mandatory to operate the store smoothly. The owner’s earnings can also be added to gain better clarity on the total revenue. In simple words, the net profit of the past months (generally 12 months) is taken into account and then multiplied by a number (ranging from 1.5 to 5) to ascertain the store’s present worth.

    Discounted Cash Flow Analysis

    Buyers that want to estimate the future return on investment after factoring in inflation should use this method to evaluate an eCommerce store’s worth. Although it is best suited to calculate the worth of traditional, offline stores that are more stable, one can always turn to this option for analyzing an online store’s value more reliably.

    Under this method, you must deduct the last year’s capital expenditures from the operating cash flow. The resultant figure will be the free cash flow for the particular period. Do it for the previous five years to get an accurate cash flow growth rate and discount it according to the WACC of the eCommerce business.

    For the uninitiated, WACC refers to the Weighted Average Cost of Capital. If this looks too technical, it is best to hire a professional to do it for you. If the current Discount Cash Flow (DCF) remains above the proposed investment figure, the investment could result in positive returns in the near future.

    Precedent Sales

    It cannot be termed the primary value evaluation method, but it can help the eCommerce store buyer and seller arrive at figures worth contemplating. If the previous two methodologies weren’t sufficient, try looking at the listed selling price of similar eCommerce stores on online marketplaces.

    The acquisition price of similar eCommerce stores can offer some insightful points for reference. It can get tricky as the valuation criteria are never the same for all stores. Hence before proceeding with this point, predetermine a few key metrics, like company size, annual revenue, years of operation, and other things that are relevant to you.

    Both buyers and sellers can have an unreasonable figure in mind, and checking the precedent sales can give a reality check to both.

    Top 5 C2C eCommerce Startups in India 2022
    Many startups in India are adopting the C2C model because of its cost-effectiveness. So, here’s a look at some of the best examples of C2C websites.
    StartupTalkyPratyusha Srivastava

    Valuation Factors that Matter for ECommerce

    Valuation of e-commerce industry
    Valuation of e-commerce industry

    Now that you’re aware of the standard and most popular methods to determine the worth of an eCommerce store, let’s quickly get a brief understanding of the factors that play a crucial role in most valuation processes.

    Store Traffic

    ECommerce Websites Traffic
    ECommerce Websites Traffic

    All eCommerce stores rely significantly on online traffic because higher traffic often translates to higher sales and vice-versa. Besides the quantity, it is also the quality that matters. For example, an eCommerce store attracting 5,000 high-quality monthly visitors will be worth much more than a store that attracts 50,000 low-quality monthly visitors.

    Customer Base

    Customers are the lifeline of any business, and eCommerce stores are no different. If your eCommerce store has a dedicated and loyal customer base that makes repeat purchases, its value will always be on the higher side. Many sellers make it a point to check the statistics related to repeat purchases before making any purchase decision.

    Brand Value

    If given an option, would you buy a product from a well-known brand you trust or a new store? You’ll most probably go with the former option because you’ve imposed your trust on the brand. Other online shoppers also think along the same lines. The sales prospects of a branded eCommerce store will always be higher than that of a non-branded one. Hence, you should never ignore this factor while determining the store valuation.

    Besides these factors, you can also consider the financial history and operating costs for a more appropriate valuation.

    Top 87 Best Low Investment Business Ideas With High Profits
    Are you looking for business ideas with low investment? Take a look at these high-profit business ideas that require low investment.
    StartupTalkyShubham Kumar

    Determine the True Value of an eCommerce Store for Maximum Profits

    Evaluating an eCommerce store’s worth isn’t easy and requires much of your time. But putting your efforts into it can prevent you from underselling your eCommerce store or paying more while buying one. If you want to employ the correct business valuation methods, you can stick to the above mentioned options. These methods are used by a major portion of eCommerce store buyers and sellers, so you have nothing to worry about.

    FAQs

    What are the types of e-commerce stores?

    Traditional types of eCommerce stores are:

    • B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
    • B2B (Business-to-Business)
    • C2B (Consumer-to-Business)
    • C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer)

    What are different ways to evaluate the worth of an eCommerce store?

    The Worth of an eCommerce Store can be evaluated by:

    • Seller Discretionary Earnings
    • Discounted Cash Flow Analysis
    • Precedent Sales

    What are the factors for ECommerce Valuation?

    Valuation Factors that Matter for ECommerce are:

    • Store Traffic
    • Customer Base
    • Brand Value

    What are the marketplaces for eCommerce stores sale?

    Some marketplace where ECommerce stores are listed for sales are:

    • Flippa
    • Empire Flippers
    • Motion Invest
    • MicroAcquire Marketplace
    • Investors.Club

    What is the biggest ECommerce store?

    Amazon is the biggest ECommerce store.

  • Top 5 C2C eCommerce Startups in India

    There are plenty of business model options available for startups. They choose according to their business field, work, and customers they want to engage with. Among such, the Customer to Customer (C2C) business model is quite prominent. In this business model, customers trade products with each other. This is majorly done through auctions and assessed advertisements.

    With the growing marketplace in India, many startups are pursuing a C2C business model. The C2C businesses combine with eCommerce technology and gather their potential audiences.

    C2C companies like eBay, and Amazon sell their products and services through a well classified or through an auction system. The customers generally purchase goods from another customer through a third party, where the transaction occurs.

    When it comes to India, there are dozens of companies that follow the C2C business model and many have adopted it lately. The eCommerce and online auction platforms specialized in the technology of the third party which stimulates the buying procedure. In this article, we will be talking about the top C2C eCommerce companies in India. Let’s get started!

    1. eBay
    2. Coutloot
    3. Quikr
    4. Olx
    5. Amazon

    1. eBay

    eBay C2C eCommerce website
    eBay website

    India’s leading online platform, eBay provides auctions, timely purchasing, and assessed models of trading from person to person. The company was established in 2006, headquartered in Goregaon (East).

    eBay offers a broad range of product marketing, categorized into dozens of lists including Apparel, Cars and bikes, computers, personal loans, health & beauty, antiques, jewellery, real estate, mobile phones, travel, and many others. eBay is listed out in ‘Top Websites in India’ with the ranking of 25th.

    2. Coutloot

    Coutloot C2C eCommerce website
    Coutloot Website

    Coutloot is a social commerce platform founded in 2015. It is widely known as India’s biggest offline and online social marketing platform that offers its customers the service of selling anything online to buyers with reasonable bargaining, across the country.

    Coutloot also provides documentation, cash on delivery, and logistics services to its customers. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

    3. Quikr

    Quikr C2C eCommerce website
    Quikr Website

    Quikr is a very prominent online C2C eCommerce marketplace, launched in 2008 that offers a series of posting and reacting to free local confidential ads of various kinds including Apartments, Pets, furniture, jobs, events, cars, housing, and others.

    Today, Quikr has expanded its services to more than 940 cities across India. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. According to Alexa, Quikr is listed in the ‘Top Website in India’ at the 16th position.

    20 Best Reseller apps in India | List of Top Reselling Apps
    Searching apps for reselling or shopping? Here is a list of 20 Best reselling apps in India to find a proper marketplace to buy or sell products.
    StartupTalkySushree Sangeeta Behera

    4. Olx

    Well, Olx has made quite a strong presence in the digital market in today’s era. The company was established in 2006. Olx is known as the strongest and most popular consumer to consumers (C2C) based digital platform in India.

    Olx offers the service of selling, buying, and renting goods through free assessed advertisements from customers’ locales. You can buy anything including cars, bikes, furniture, mobiles, computers, apartments, electronics, and properties, digitally. Olx is ranked 32nd by Alexa.

    5. Amazon

    Amazon is an extremely popular and largest online retailer across the world. The most interesting thing about Amazon’s marketing is it operates both business consumers (B2C) as well as consumer to consumers (C2C) business model. Although the company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States, in India, the company is known to be the biggest E-commerce company.

    Amazon has over 334555 employees with annual revenue of $221.60 billion. The company was founded by Jeff Bezos who has stepped down from the position of CEO of Amazon. It acquired around 83 companies such as Canvas technology, Blink, Pillpack, and Ring.

    Is Amazon Killing Small Businesses? [Case Study]
    Is Amazon killing small businesses or is it helping them?. If you are a small business owner should you trust Amazon for selling your products?. Let’s find out.
    StartupTalkyPratyusha Srivastava

    Conclusion

    There are tons of companies in the market that are shifting towards the consumer to consumers (C2C) model and getting great outcomes. Through this, the companies are improving their customer relations and developing more potential audiences. Especially the eCommerce companies opt for the C2C business model. And with such growing technology and marketing, C2C based companies are making enormous outcomes.

    FAQs

    What is an example of C2C in India?

    Some examples of C2C eCommerce startups in India are eBay, Amazon, and Quikr.

    What is C2C?

    C2C is a business model in which the customers trade with one another in an online environment.

    What is the difference between C2C and B2B?

    In a C2C model, the customers trade with one other while in a B2B business model the company concentrates on providing the raw data for another company.

  • Top 7 Transactional Emails That Every E-commerce Business Can Make Use Of

    At a time when there are a plethora of eCommerce platforms for the customers, it is all the way more important to keep your existing customers abreast and gain more of them. At a time of oversupply of options like this, every firm has to find ways to keep their memory fresh in the minds of their customers. Not only that, but it is also necessary to inform them why they have to purchase from a particular platform and not from their competitors.

    Marketing emails is one of the best ways in which all of these requirements can be achieved. Each mail becomes a golden opportunity for the firms to connect with their customers or even know about their needs through their email responses.

    This article will look at certain kinds of emails that can be used to enhance customer engagement and retention.

    WIDGET: leadform | CAMPAIGN: undefined

    Welcome Email
    Promotional Email
    Customised Email
    Re-engagement Email
    Reference Email
    Review Email
    Stock Update Email

    Welcome Email

    It is a fact that everybody likes to be acknowledged for their efforts and actions. Being an e-commerce platform, a newsletter that is circulated through a common mailing list is usual.

    Whenever there is a new subscription, be sure to send them a welcome email. The content and creativity that will brim in this email will help the consumer gain a first impression of the firm and its quality.

    In this email, you can start by thanking them and then highlighting one aspect of the firm. It can be about an upcoming sale, a special discount or a cue towards when all to checkout for the newsletter.

    Since this email will go immediately after they subscribe, it is more likely to be seen and read by the customers than any other email later. Hence, make sure that the welcome email is the best that it could be.

    Promotional Email

    The prime intention of these emails is to keep customers up-to-date with the events of the firm. These emails can be used to drive sales for your business. To increase the impact of these promotional emails, they can be curated based on the recent purchases of the customer.

    Upselling can be done by offering the customer something of higher value depending on their engagement with the platform. Alternatively, through the promotional emails, customers can be introduced to complementary products to cross-sell. It will help in increasing the overall sales of the organisation.  

    While making these promotional emails, note that they should be engaging with the audience without pressurising them. While it is a good idea to give them a deadline for the discount or a sale, it should not come out as a compulsion. Rather, the email should elicit a curiosity that will make the customers search and make the purchase.

    Customised Email

    The best way to retain customer loyalty is to make them feel special. A mail wishing them a birthday or letting them know that the organisation appreciates them can go a long way.  

    Emails that pose as a first-hand reminder of an upcoming sale are a good example of a mail that would make the customer feel valued. Along with these mails, the firms can offer small discounts that will ensure better engagement.

    A lot of companies make use of these emails to ensure that their customers come back to them without fail. Cultfit through their efficient notification management can be an excellent example in this regard although they are only notifications and not emails.

    Re-engagement Email

    Considering the options that customers have in this digital age, it is very likely that they might remain dormant after one or two purchases. In these situations, eCommerce platforms can make use of re-engagement emails that invite customers back to their fold.

    It will not only generate a connection with the customer but also ensure better chances for their come back. During these emails, it will be ideal to offer the customers certain benefits or discounts that can boost their interest.

    Reference Email

    The key idea that drives any eCommerce venture forward is the expanding consumer base. There is no better way than word of mouth to increase the reach of any product.

    emails encouraging the customers to refer more people into their fold is an excellent idea. These emails have to be curated in such a way that a reason why the customer should refer someone else has to be clearly stated. The idea of offering a freebie or extra points in return for a reference never gets old.

    Review Email

    Customer engagement is a two-way process. While commerce platforms constantly try to earn the trust and loyalty of the customer, it is equally important to learn and evolve according to the customer’s suggestion as well. Apart from the growth prospect that this process offers, it will also help to create an impression that the customers are heard and valued.

    emails that contain feedback and review links can be circulated periodically. Depending on the availability of data and the nature of business, eCommerce platforms can circulate these emails with every order or from time to time inquiring about the overall experience of the user.

    Stock Update Email

    Every customer has unique needs that they want to be met by the eCommerce businesses every time they use these platforms. It can happen that they cannot deliver what the customer needs at a particular point in time due to the unavailability of stocks. It is a very important and impactful gesture when the company reverts back to the customer when the restocking happens.

    While chances are high that the customer would have gone for some other options, such a mail can prove extremely useful to the firm’s commitment to the customers. If the company has its standards maintained when it comes to the quality of the products, then there is absolutely no doubt that such a mailing practice will make the customer wait until the product is restocked.

    Conclusion

    Keeping up with customers through emails is a great way of ensuring and expanding a good customer base. While the contents of these emails have to be reworked depending on the needs and visions of the respective commerce businesses, the purpose of these emails remains as the ones mentioned above.

    There are still more different kinds of email templates that can be used to send to the customers. However, too much of it can be tiring for both parties. A respectable number of emails say two or three every week are largely appreciated. Making use of this great opportunity through emails can be a great way of building commerce businesses.

    FAQs

    What is a transactional email?

    A transactional email is an email sent to an individual when the user performs an action, for example subscribing to a newsletter.

    What is transactional email? Give detailed examples.

    Some examples of transactional emails are sending an email when a new user signs up, confirmation of purchase or forgotten password email.

  • 15 Proven Ways to Increase Your Average Order Value

    Every extra penny earned need not come from a new customer!

    Sometimes it only takes a few tweaks to encourage your existing customers to spend more on your eCommerce store. After all, they already trust you and are 60-70% more likely to place an order.

    For instance, we all have visited some fast-food chains such as McDonald’s. Food chains like these boost their sales by offering combo offers (Buy burgers, fries & coke to save ₹89) or small ad-on like french fries.

    Essentially 4 major metrics impact your eComm store: Number of new customers (over a period of time), Average order value (AOV), Repeated orders, and Marketing/ retention costs.

    Today we will focus on ways to enhance the average order value of your store. Before we jump onto strategies, let us understand what the average order value is and why it is important.

    1. Increase Free-Shipping Threshold
    2. Cross-Sell
    3. Upsell
    4. Create Combo/ Bundle offer
    5. Offer Discounts on Bulk Orders
    6. Loyalty Programme
    7. Personalized Experience
    8. Time-Sensitive Offers
    9. Add Social Proof
    10. Free Gift
    11. Incentivize First Purchase
    12. Build Trust and Authority
    13. Flexible Return Policy
    14. Coupons (Product Discounts)
    15. Downsell Add-ons

    What is the Average Order Value?

    The average order value is the average amount spent on your store by a customer that purchases from you. For instance, in a month, your store gets 500 orders and generates ₹50,000. Then, the average order value is ₹100 for your store.

    Average Order Value= Total revenue/ Total number of order

    How would you feel if a customer enters your store looking for a ₹200 purse But, then purchase a purse and other accessories worth ₹1500.

    So, an increase in the average order value helps in:

    1. More revenue without extra marketing spent
    2. Increasing customer lifetime value (LTV)
    3. Recovering customer acquisition cost
    4. Increasing profit
    5. Clearing out inventory

    Generally, eComm store applications, such as Shopify, provide AOV on the dashboard. Nonetheless, you can easily calculate it with the formula. More the AOV, the better it is.

    The average order value increases when a customer places an order of a higher amount. No one wants to buy more. Your offering should have a higher perceived value to encourage buyers to spend more on your store. Note that just increasing customers will not boost your AOV. Here are 15 strategies to incentivize the customer to splurge a little extra. After all, a store earns 40% of its revenue via repeated customers.

    Now, let us look into 15 ways to increase your average order value.

    1. Increase Free-Shipping Threshold

    One of the easiest ways to increase your average order value, almost instantly, is by increasing the free shipping threshold.

    For instance, if you offer free shipping at ₹500, increase that to ₹600. Make a leap of about 20-30% of the current average order value. So, if your current average order value is ₹780. Then, increase the free shipping threshold to ₹700.

    In case you do not offer free shipping, we highly recommend opting for it. It helps a lot to move the AOV high. In alternate cases, people place small orders as they have to pay for shipping either way.

    Also, highlight this limit on the cart or at the top of the website. Let customers know that they are ₹x away from availing of free shipping.

    A great example of the same is the classic ₹500 free shipping base on Amazon.

    Free shipping threshold
    Free shipping threshold

    2. Cross-Sell

    Cross-sell means recommending and selling complementary products. They are not similar products but products related, such as toothpaste and brush. The aim is to prevent the buyer from purchasing items from different stores and provide it with all in one place.

    You could display these related products on:

    • Home page
    • Product page
    • Cart
    • Check out

    In this case, Amazon offers the option to add a tempered glass, warranty with the mobile phone.

    Cross-selling
    Cross-selling

    You can take this a step further by providing what other buyers pair the product with and personalized recommendations based on user history. Another effective way of cross-selling is by recommending a product after the order confirmation at a limited time period discount.

    3. Upsell

    Upsell means selling an upgraded version of the product. It can mean recommending a higher version of a product or a larger size.

    For instance, you can recommend a more expensive camera model for added features and better utility.

    Upselling occurs in two ways: upgrading to an expensive model or high-profit margin services such as an extended warranty.

    You can offer a comparison chart like this on the product page itself. It should clearly communicate why the upgrade is worth those pennies.

    Comparison chart for upselling
    Comparison chart for upselling

    4. Create a Combo/ Bundle offers

    Let us say you enter a store to buy a printer. What if the seller offers you 4 cartridge ink and printing paper all together at a discounted rate? Would you not be tempted to buy it all?

    Similarly, you could create bundles or combo offers with related products to make a higher value sale. You could also provide custom combos/bundles to make it more engaging and relevant.

    Combos/ Bundles
    Combos/ Bundles

    These bundles really work well in case you see multiple small purchases in the store. This one again ensures the purchase of related items all from your store instead of different stores.

    WIDGET: leadform | CAMPAIGN: undefined

    5. Offer Discounts on Bulk Orders

    One of the best ways to increase basket size is to offer great discounts on bulk orders.

    Display clearly the savings on placing a bulk order. It is similar to wholesale orders where customers get an added discount due to bulk purchases. These bulk orders could be customizable, which would further enhance the ROI of the strategy.

    Here is a WooCommerce plugin to add discounts to your bulk orders.

    WooCommerce Plugin
    WooCommerce Plugin

    6. Loyalty Programme

    Many brands have loyalty programs for their customers. It aims to encourage regular customers to purchase from the brand in exchange for various perks.

    They work great to increase repeated orders. Also, repeated customers tend to spend more on the store compared to new customers.

    You could offer benefits such as a lower free shipping threshold, early access to sales, 24/7 customer support, cashback, bonus points, free samples on each purchase, and much more.

    Loyalty program
    Loyalty program

    7. Personalized Experience

    A personalized shopping experience can enhance the customer’s experience via curated recommendations. It generally eases the process of navigating through the website.

    You can personalize product recommendations based on their search history. You can offer custom bundle offers depending upon their activity on the website. You could also recommend product refills and repeat purchases based on the order history.

    Personalized product recommendations
    Personalized product recommendations

    Is Amazon Killing Small Businesses? [Case Study]
    Is Amazon killing small businesses or is it helping them?. If you are a small business owner should you trust Amazon for selling your products?. Let’s find out.
    StartupTalkyPratyusha Srivastava

    8. Time-Sensitive Offers

    Provide limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency among the buyers. Time-sensitive offers combined with dedicated product discounts could boost the average order value.

    Offer product discounts, remove the free shipping threshold, provide discounted bundles, or any other incentive to encourage people to purchase.

    Highlight special offers on the product page, homepage, and cart to make sure that people know about the limited-time deal.

    Limited Time Offers
    Limited Time Offers

    9. Add Social Proof

    Social proof is crucial to stimulate sales for any store. But, how would it impact the average order value?

    Add customer reviews and ratings to the complementary products while cross-selling and upselling. Also, add pictures and other social proof on your website to ensure trust and build credibility.

    There are many products on Amazon that do not sell only due to the absence of reviews and any other social proof. Hence, testimonials and social proof are really important to encourage sales and average order value.

    Provide Social Proof
    Provide Social Proof

    10. Free Gift

    Offer Free Gifts
    Offer Free Gifts

    Offering gifts to your customers can be a great incentive. You could offer free samples or gift cards at a certain threshold. This would increase the average order value. Free samples, as well as gift cards, could also stimulate future purchases.

    Keep in mind your margins decide the value of the gift. You do not want to bear the cost of free items.

    For free samples, pick items or variants that don’t generally perform well to keep the inventory running. You could also give special offers on special occasions and boost sales.

    11. Incentivize First Purchase

    For a new eCommerce store, it is crucial to get the first hundred/ thousand purchases. You can motivate people to make their first purchase by offering them discounts, offers, and other perks on their first purchase.

    Most of the stores offer a 10 to 20% discount on the first purchase from the website or their application.

    In this image as you can see, Amazon goes a step further and offers free shipping on the first order but in a particular category. This would motivate customers to purchase from different categories. It’s a great strategy in case you do not see sales in a particular section of your store.

    However, ensure to promote the offer to your customers effectively to ensure order placement.

    Offer on first-time purchase
    Offer on first-time purchase

    12. Build Trust and Authority

    Building trust and authority is crucial for eCommerce stores. People might avoid placing orders or not come back if they do not find your store reliable.

    Mention the policies very clearly and have FAQs in different sections of your stores. Use live chatbot and other customer care services to ensure credibility and security. These things do not affect average order value directly but play a major role in impacting customer psychology.

    Simple things like a dedicated domain name, customer reviews, and contact details make a huge difference.

    13. Flexible Return Policy

    For the longest time, people did not purchase from online stores due to a lack of trust and quality assurance. People prefer offline stores as they can return the items in case of defects or any other discrepancy.

    Offering a flexible return policy helps your store build that trust and encourages people to make their first purchase.

    Today, most eCommerce stores offer a return policy of 15-30 days. As a result people also purchase more products as they are assured that they can return the products if something has to happen.

    Flexible return policy
    Flexible return policy

    14. Coupons (Product Discounts)

    Buy 2, Get 2 Free!

    We all get tempted to buy 2 products and pick 4 products in total to avail of such an offer. It helps companies clear the inventory, increase order value and enhance brand image.

    Coupons that offer product discounts are well received. Offers such as:

    • ₹500 off on the purchase of ₹2499
    • Buy 3, Get 1
    • Flat 20%
    • 25% off on purchase of ₹3599
    • Cashback of ₹350 on purchase of over ₹2499

    These offers encourage customers to increase their order value automatically. All these discounts need to be tactfully placed to ensure margins and sell off more products.

    Offer Coupons
    Offer Coupons

    15. Downsell Add-ons

    We do not think twice before picking up chocolate or candy at the checkout counter of a supermarket. Why? Because it is cheap.

    Similarly, you can increase the average order value by offering a complementary product that is inexpensive. It becomes a no-brainer to add a product that doesn’t cost much and pairs well with the item purchased. For instance, offering batteries with the clock.

    It is easier to incentivize the customer and at the same time increase order value.

    Offer a complimentary product
    Offer a complimentary product

    All of these strategies would enhance the ROI and get more profit. However, ensure to implement one strategy at a time and not all together. This way you can track which ones are the most beneficial and double down on those tactics.

    Also, you should clearly communicate these offers and discounts to your customers. What’s the benefit if your customers are not aware of these incentives?

    These strategies would have different effects on different stores. Hence, you need to do an A/B test and find the right way to promote the average order value.

    What is Buy Now Pay Later Business Model and Why e-commerce companies are adopting this model
    As the Buy Now, Pay Later is growing and many companies adopting it. Let’s understand its business model and How Buy Now, Pay Later companies make money.
    StartupTalkyPratyusha Srivastava

    3 Bonus Tips to Increase Average Order Value

    The average order value impacts your profit and your revenue. More AOV implies more profit without having to spend more. Apart from trying to sell more and encouraging customers, here are some simple ways to enhance your average order value.

    Firstly, take an analytical approach to the average order value. This involves segmenting your audience based on the amount spent by them. Start by cross-selling to the customers that spend less.

    Alternatively, customers that spend more would find loyalty programs appealing. Further, you could move on to free shipping, providing coupons, and other incentives.

    Secondly, ensure to provide a smooth website experience. A website with a lot of pop-ups, slow loading speed, lots of lag, or frequent crashes would negatively impact customer experience. In this case, you might not be able to sell at all and drive customers away!

    Lastly, understand your audience to provide a relevant and personalized experience. Consider what your audience needs and map out the customer journey. Find the motivation points for your customers by talking to them, looking at competitors, and analyzing past campaigns.

    Conclusion

    So, It all narrows down to understanding your customers, segmenting them, and providing suitable incentives to increase average order value. It acts as a window into the purchasing behavior of the customers. Hence, a higher average order value can attract added profit and revenue without extra cost.

    FAQs

    How do you increase the average value of a basket?

    Upsell your products, provide free shipping, keep time-sensitive offers, personalise customers’ experience, and provide bundle offers.

    How is the average order value calculated?

    You can calculate your average order value by simply dividing total revenue by the number of orders. For instance, in a month, your store gets 500 orders and generates ₹50,000. Then, the average order value is ₹100 for your store.

    How can I increase my eCommerce AOV?

    Provide bundle, provide limited time offers, offer free shipping on minimum orders, and keep a flexible return policy.

  • Instagram tips to boost your eCommerce sales [By Scarlet Relations Founder – Mehar Gulati]

    Want to boost your eCommerce sales via Instagram? This post is just for you!

    With the vast number of options and strategies present on an otherwise easy to use an app like Instagram to establish yourself, it sure can become overwhelming. Here are a few tips by Mehar Gulati (Founder of Scarlet Relations) to help you take things easily in reaching your goal of boosting e-commerce sales on Instagram:

    1. Post Intriguing Images
    2. Hold Contests
    3. Instagram Videos Guide
    4. Give Exclusive Content with Stories
    5. The Guide Feature
    6. #UseHashtags
    7. Attach Swipe-up Links
    8. Influencer Marketing
    9. Use Emojis
    10. Run Ad Campaigns

    Tips on using Instagram for Ecommerce brands
    Mehar Gulati – Founder, Scarlet Relations

    Post Intriguing Images

    ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’- These words are sure to make you panic-stricken. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be a professional to capture the perfect photos. All you need to do is use a phone with a good camera and keep in mind the following tips:

    • Use natural light
    • Avoid overexposure while taking photos (to do this, tap the brightest part of your frame on your phone before taking the photo).
    • Take photos from different angles.
    • Use image editing apps such as VSCO to enhance your images.

    Also Read: How to start an e-commerce business in India

    Hold Contests

    One of the easiest ways of increasing followers is by running contests and having users do the following:

    • Like, comment, and follow – Users like your post, add a comment to it and follow you to enter your contest.
    • Tag a friend – Users get one entry for every friend they tag in your post.
    • User-Generated Contest (UGC) – Your audience creates their own unique posts and tags your business profile or uses a hashtag you created.

    Instagram Videos Guide

    Instagram videos tend to receive twice the engagement of other posts

    Here’s a quick guide to Instagram videos:

    • Keep your videos short
    • Grab your viewers’ attention with movement in the first few seconds of your clip
    • Add captions
    • Plan your videos with a specific goal in mind (e.g. drive traffic to your website, have a wider reach, gain new followers, or educate your audience).
    • To get you started, check out these 10 Best Video Editing Tools for Your Business
    • Capture your products being used by customers

    How to use Instagram for Business | Best Instagram Practice for Startups
    Instagram is one of the most widely used websites and can help in creating a strong buyer base. This is how you can easily use Instagram for your business,
    StartupTalkyNiku Mandal

    Give Exclusive Content with Stories

    The world is your stage and what you choose to show your followers about your brand is completely up to you. However, don’t be afraid to show them the real you- behind the scenes working of your brand, your team, your inspiration, a post you like, anything personal-just about everything works. At the end of the day, people feel more connected with you and your brand when you show them a more human side.

    The Guide Feature

    Ecommerce brands can use the guide feature to make catalogs for their viewers, be it a gifting range or different product ranges – this feature can make your customer choose what they want easily and also help them understand your range better and in a systematic way!

    #UseHashtags

    Using hashtags is a great way to expand your Instagram audience as they make your posts appear in the pages of hashtags you use. Make use of up to 30 hashtags per post offered by Instagram by starting out with the most popular hashtags like #instagram and then building it up to your brand’s own personal hashtag. Here’s a complete Guide to Hashtag Marketing Strategies.

    Don’t forget to attach links in your stories or bio to your website for more social traffic.

    How To Get More Instagram Followers For Free?
    Struggling to grow your brand on Instagram? Check out this post to know how to increase followers on Instagram for free.
    StartupTalkyParnas Ghosh

    Influencer Marketing

    Reaching out to influencers that-

    • Have followers who will benefit from what you’re selling
    • Have real influence in their area
    • Do something relevant to your product

    Can prove to be an advantageous strategy for your brand.

    Here’s The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing In India in 2021

    Use Emojis

    Make use of emojis because life doesn’t always have to be serious! Rather these will help you to interact and connect with your audience.

    How Facebook-owned Instagram is Monetizing Instagram Reels
    From Ads in Instagram Reels to the introduction of new features like Sticker Ads, Let’s see Facebook’s plans to monetize its Instagram Reels Videos platform
    StartupTalkyAlan Joseph

    Run Ad Campaigns

    Set up Ads Manager in Instagram account settings.

    Next, set your goal- it could be to drive traffic to your website, get views for a new product, increase brand awareness or increase sales. Then set your daily ad budget.  On the basis of your goal and on the basis of what your target audience likes to see, you can choose the best ad format suited for you. For example, Stories, IGTvs, and Reels Ads are better for driving video views while shopping ads are better for driving eCommerce sales. There are various Social Media Management Tools that can help you get started!

    Conclusion

    Hope these Instagram-related tips will help you boost your eCommerce sales. Remember Instagram has become a crucial marketing tool for various businesses, so crack the strategy & get it right to your audience!