Ecommerce is experiencing explosive growth. The market is projected to reach $57.22 trillion in global sales by 2032, according to eMarketer. Mind you, brick-and-mortar still accounts for most retail sales in the U.S.
Yet online channels are growing five times faster than offline purchases.
That's a big opportunity for retailers to tap into surging digital demand. They can do so by optimizing their online marketing strategies.
This article will provide research-backed online marketing tactics for retailers. The goals are to acquire new customers, drive sales, and build market share digitally.
As mentioned above, the tides of retail are shifting. Ecommerce may still be the minority, but its fast growth shows where retail is headed.
Forward-thinking retailers know an effective online marketing strategy is now a must, not a luxury. This strategy lets them engage tech-oriented consumers anytime and anywhere they shop. No longer limited by location or hours, they can connect with modern customers on their schedule.
Retailers without a digital strategy will miss out on this growing segment. By using targeted online campaigns, retailers can enjoy surging ecommerce growth.
So, how does one go about creating an online retail marketing strategy? It's not as simple as throwing up a website and waiting for customers to come. It requires a well-thought-out plan of action.
The following digital marketing strategies for retailers have proven effective. Follow them to find and retain digital-focused customers:
A retailer's website is the heart of its digital presence. It serves as a 24/7 destination for consumers to browse, research, and buy products. As such, you need a smooth user experience to convert visitors into paying customers. The more savvy the average customer becomes, the less you can get away with.
Your website must be on par, if not better, than any of your competitors. Of course, it must look good. That can easily be achieved with a premade theme and quality design. However, there is much more to the User Experience (UX) of online shoppers.
Here are some common elements shoppers expect to find on an optimized shopping website:
The aim is to remove friction in finding and buying products. Try to eliminate any barriers between customers and checkout.
Before you can get to show off that amazing website, you must first lure visitors to it. There are plenty of valid lead-generation tactics to achieve this, including email. You might be thinking that email is outdated or that people don't use it as much anymore, but you would be wrong. Email retains one of the highest ROIs ($36 for every dollar spent) across marketing channels, even all these years later.
Email marketing effectively engages both existing and prospective customers. A good practice is segmenting email lists. Separate recipients based on behaviors and attributes. You can then send highly relevant communications tailored to each subscriber's needs.
Effective retail market segmentation and strategies include:
You can also take a page out of Amazon's playbook and offer personalized recommendations based on history and behaviors. Personalized emails matched to the customer journey produce much higher open and click rates, driving more sales.
With over 4.89 billion active social media users worldwide, this avenue allows unmatched targeting. Naturally, it becomes much harder to stand out in all that noise. But retailers can tailor paid social campaigns to reach users likely to convert. Note that organic social media marketing can also be a very effective channel for building a brand.
Still, paid advertising, like boosted posts and display ads, will provide the quickest results. For instance, a retailer might serve ads to lookalike audiences. These are simply people similar to their best customers. It expands its reach to high-value segments.
Retargeting is another proven tactic. It entails reaching out to past visitors or buyers as they browse around the web to get follow-on sales.
As for analytics, split testing creatives are crucial for optimization. Use A/B testing to see which version of ads performs best. Then, optimize visuals, captions, and calls to action, ultimately improving cost per conversion.
Used strategically, paid social provides phenomenal returns on ad spend through hyper-targeted exposure to hot prospects.
The best leads are those that cost next to nothing. Capturing organic search visibility does just that for retailers. Ranking highly for relevant queries earns significant traffic and conversions.
SEO means optimizing content and websites for search engines. By focusing on SEO, retailers can connect with consumers, researching and evaluating products.
Organic search marketing strategies for retail stores include:
While SEO focuses on elevating organic rankings, paid search ads let you cut to the front of SERPs. Retailers only pay when users click their ads. This allows immediate visibility alongside organic results.
Very similar to paid social ads, a tactical approach is required to get optimal ROAS. Tactical applications of paid search include:
As a complement to SEO, paid search amplifies visibility for bottom-funnel commercial searches. Intent may directly align with conversion.
People love getting rewarded for spending money. It justifies their purchases. Loyalty programs incentivize repeat purchases by providing members with exclusive perks and personalized value. As a result, you may increase the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) of your customer base.
The most popular loyalty program is the points-based system. It rewards engagement, motivating customers to stick around and spend more over time. There are also tiered rewards based on lifetime value, with big spenders getting VIP treatment and perks.
Other programs revolve around early access to sales or special discounts. Members-only promotions are sure to make members feel valued. Another common practice is free shipping. Less common, yet still effective, are birthday gifts and surprise rewards to delight loyal customers.
Studies show that referrals convert much better than traditional marketing. That's because they are powered by the built-in trust of a friend’s recommendation, which is often stronger than corporate messages. Smart retailers actively encourage referrals. You should make it simple for satisfied customers to share their brand within their networks.
For instance, refer-a-friend promotions give discounts or credits as incentives for both parties. Simply provide customers with special referral codes or unique links to easily share deals.
Partnerships with relevant content creators and micro-influencers are also on the rise. Entice them to integrate products naturally on their channels. In exchange, they get a commission on all the sales they generate.
Referral marketing harnesses word-of-mouth at scale to acquire new customers and increase ROI. Plenty of solutions exist to help you track and pay these affiliates and referrers.
As you can see, extending beyond the storefront can have tremendous benefits. While the preceding focuses on digital tactics, today’s customer journey blends online and offline touchpoints. Retailers must connect experiences across channels to meet consumers however they engage.
The true omnichannel retail strategy emphasizes consistency across channels regarding:
At the heart of your strategy lies data. Once online marketing campaigns launch, using analytics is crucial to understand what's working. You must closely track key performance indicators (KPIs). Skilled marketers can identify the highest converting platforms and campaigns to double down on while refining underperforming areas.
Important ecommerce KPIs to track include:
Unfortunately, even with all that data, it can be hard to know where you stand. You might see improvements internally, but that doesn't mean the rest of the market is keeping pace. That's where benchmarking comes in.
Benchmarking allows you to compare your performance to industry standards and competitors. With a platform like Varos, you can clearly view how industry peers are fairing and see where you fall short or excel.
The retail landscape is transforming quickly. Consumers are flocking online to discover and buy products, and retailers must capitalize on this trend. The best way to keep up is by implementing data-driven digital marketing strategies for retail stores that engage customers throughout their journey.
The omni-channel strategies outlined above provide a blueprint for reaching the modern digital shopper. Combined with a comprehensive benchmarking framework, they can help you to identify growing trends and stay ahead of the curve.
Don't fall behind in the digital age. Embrace the power of data with Varos today.
About the Author
Sarah Clowes-Walker
Head of Marketing at Varos
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Bottom line: I’m recommending Varos to you all because it’s FREE (for now) and it’s already added a ton of value for myself and my clients.Check it out 👇
I would definitely recommend checking out Varos. With Varos you can easily see how your peers are performing, for free. You get insights into not only TikTok Ads benchmarks, but also similar data for Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and more. #VarosAmbassador
Varos allows thousands merchants to upload anonymize marketing data across meta and google and aggregating it to show what the average is across different categories and ad spend
With varos.com, I can see exactly how our performance across channels stacks up against our competitors in our space.
Compare your ad performance to benchmarks of companies just like yours, anonymously.
I would've killed for this tool years ago and now it's here and oh it's free. Amazing.
I've been seeing some content about @Varos_com so we decided to check it out.
One underrated feature of theirs is the Shopify Benchmarking, which is FREE btw.
Literally impossible to access this data anywhere else. Check out what we're seeing at @my_obvi 👇
I'm loving what @Varos_com is doing with providing much more relevant benchmarks for #ecommerce... especially since it shows that we are absolutely DOMINATING @Elumynt on #facebookads!
This is in the Baby and Children vertical.#fbads #ppcchat #retail #dtc
Bottom line: I’m recommending Varos to you all because it’s FREE (for now) and it’s already added a ton of value for myself and my clients.Check it out 👇
I would definitely recommend checking out Varos. With Varos you can easily see how your peers are performing, for free. You get insights into not only TikTok Ads benchmarks, but also similar data for Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and more. #VarosAmbassador
Varos allows thousands merchants to upload anonymize marketing data across meta and google and aggregating it to show what the average is across different categories and ad spend
With varos.com, I can see exactly how our performance across channels stacks up against our competitors in our space.
Compare your ad performance to benchmarks of companies just like yours, anonymously.
I would've killed for this tool years ago and now it's here and oh it's free. Amazing.
I've been seeing some content about @Varos_com so we decided to check it out.
One underrated feature of theirs is the Shopify Benchmarking, which is FREE btw.
Literally impossible to access this data anywhere else. Check out what we're seeing at @my_obvi 👇
I'm loving what @Varos_com is doing with providing much more relevant benchmarks for #ecommerce... especially since it shows that we are absolutely DOMINATING @Elumynt on #facebookads!
This is in the Baby and Children vertical.#fbads #ppcchat #retail #dtc
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