Are you struggling to understand digital commerce and want to become an expert? Is your aim optimizing every touchpoint throughout your online customer journey? In that case, this post is targeted at you and will help you to easily and clearly understand the initial steps to take into account to become an expert in digital commerce. The following topics will be discussed for you to gain all the information needed to set you on the right track to becoming the true expert you are:
- What is digital commerce and why is it important
- Difference between digital commerce & e-commerce
- What are the challenges of digital commerce
- Digital commerce in the business environment
- Tips to improve digital commerce
What is digital commerce and why is it important?
The essence of digital commerce is providing an interactive and efficient self-service experience to customers, allowing them to buy products & services online. As of this day and age, digital commerce is a must in our ever-growing digitalized world. Continue reading to see how to satisfy your customer needs best and create an engaging online experience.
Difference between digital commerce & e-commerce
The principal difference to understand between digital commerce and e-commerce is the following:
- Digital commerce focuses on the online strategy to make the experience customers go through, also known as UX (user experience), as efficient and engaging as possible.
- While e-commerce, on the other hand, focuses only on selling goods and services online and its according technical actions.
What are the challenges of digital commerce
One of the main challenges of digital commerce is online security. Indeed, more and more people nowadays are able to navigate the Internet and even carry out malicious actions. Moreover, the customers’ data is supposed to remain confidential, just like the banking coordinates. It will therefore be essential to ensure that all necessary certificates are obtained, such as the https protocol, to ensure a secure website.
Another challenge of digital commerce is finding your ideal customer who wants to buy your products and will be determined enough to make a purchase when they enter your platform.
Furthermore, a significant challenge of digital commerce will also be to offer an unforgettable customer experience by working on the speed of your site, for example. As a result, the customer experience will be more pleasant.
Another objective of digital commerce will be the sole satisfaction of the customer, which will then lead to their loyalty, in turn increasing future sales. Indeed, it is essential to know that it is easier to make a sale from a customer who has already made a transaction with you rather than a new customer. Customer relationships and loyalty will be a challenge to master for digital commerce.
Being in a globalized area, we can find many digital commerce sites. Therefore, it is vital to analyze the competition on the Web to position ourselves and stand out from others.
The position that we will hold concerning our policy of delivery, refund and our principles of after-sales assistance are also part of the main challenges of digital commerce. Relying on chatbots can help offer ultra-fast and personalized assistance.
Digital commerce in the business environment
In general, digital commerce in the business environment operates in four categories of business models:
- Model B2B
Businesses sell products to other businesses through the platforms without human intervention. Those deals are usually large and less frequent, which is why some companies provide monthly and/or annual subscriptions that automatically renew.
- Model B2C
Business to consumer in digital commerce is very similar to the B2B model, but the customer is individually buying products or services for personal consumption.
- Model C2C
The customer-to-customer digital marketing model is all about selling products on platforms such as Shopify, Amazon, and Etsy. These platforms sell digital products on the marketplace, which is fully automated. The customer can purchase on platforms and receive it at home or in a delivery box.
- Model C2B
The consumer-to-business digital commerce model is one of the best and most advantageous models for businesses, as the platforms automatically generate review requests. Then consumers are rewarded with badges and cash-back points for helpful reviews. For example, Shein gives customers coins per review, so the value of Shein’s transaction is extracted from the customer because detailed feedback can generate more revenue for the business. The transfer of value occurs from the consumer to the business making it C2B
Tips to improve Digital Commerce
In other words, one needs to have a strategic SEO strategy to be able to have a high-ranking place in the market. To be sure to improve the digital business, the company in question can perform an SEO audit.
It will be a question of resolving all the problems concerning the opening speed of your site or application and the positioning it has on the SERPs. Thus, leading to a good indexation and better results for the digital business.
To do this, you can carry out a study on the keywords used in your digital site and thus identify the weak and strong points. A factor that can improve your digital commerce will be the inclusion of videos on your site. Indeed, users and consumers of content through digital commerce will prefer to have a video rather than read a long description. This tip will be facilitated using mobile devices in most cases, offering ease of reading.
Another tip to improve digital commerce will be the use of social networks. This will allow you to have a broader and more personalized contact with your customers, to understand better what they expect from you and what they would like to see improved. As a result, it will be easier for you to provide them with answers and, at the same time, strengthen your digital business.
Conclusion
Digital commerce is essential for the growth of your business; however, it can seem complicated at first. Therefore, we suggest you consider the points discussed in this post and encourage you to continue your research on the topic to improve your practice and become a true digital expert.
Authors:
Harold Puttaert, Arthur Guisse, Oleksandra Nikolaienko