Harnessing the power of the online marketplace

Ecommerce Optimization and Integration

Ecommerce is such an integral part of our daily lives, most of us hardly remember a time when we couldn’t, with the click of a mouse or a tap on a smartphone screen, have virtually anything we want at our doorstep in days or even hours. 

Whether business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer, or consumer-to-business, ecommerce—buying and selling goods and services over the Internet—changed everything.

Derived from 1960s technology—Electronic Data Interchange, which facilitated the transfer of documents (the first sale transaction didn’t take place until 1994)—ecommerce has been an extraordinarily disruptive technology. In a relatively short span of time (just over 25 years) ecommerce innovations have impacted nearly every aspect of the way we do business.

It has created behemoths like Amazon, which have made it challenging for small businesses, and even major retailers, to compete. At the same time, by providing entirely new avenues and multiple channels for selling anything anywhere anytime, ecommerce has enormously increased opportunities for “mom and pop” outfits to reach markets that were previously inaccessible. 

Ecommerce is constantly evolving, and over the last two years, the global Covid-19 pandemic has had an outsized effect on accelerating trends. Countless small companies have been forced to rethink their business models (and talent needs) entirely, on the fly—not just to stay relevant, but to stay afloat. In 2020, with many types of businesses closed to in-person sales for months at a time, and stay-at-home orders in place, customers ordered everything from grocery essentials to luxury goods online.

A 2018 NPR/Marist poll revealed that 69%, more than two-thirds, of Americans had made an online purchase, and 92% of online consumers had bought something from Amazon. By late 2020, CNN Business reported, “The coronavirus crisis has divided retail companies into two distinct groups: those with functioning e-commerce businesses, and those without. Many of the have-nots won't survive.”

Although more sales are still made at brick-and-mortar stores (over 80%), online retail is growing more rapidly. Insider Intelligence’s Emarketer.com projects that “Total US retail sales will increase 2.5% year over year (YoY) in 2022 to $6.624 trillion. Ecommerce sales will grow 16.1%, while growth for in-store sales—which will account for more than 80% of total retail sales—will be close to flat.”

Here are three vital areas of ecommerce optimization for your company:

Optimizing Your Sales Funnel
Make sure your customers visit an exquisite, modern website (optimized for mobile) that represents your brand to the fullest. A content management system (CMS) is software that can help you create, manage, and enhance your customers' digital experience. 

• Know your customer,  (who, what they’re looking for, how they shop)
• Create great content that includes strong SEO
• Capture visitors’ email addresses
• Feature your great reviews and customer testimonials
• Use strong CTAs
• Provide a smooth checkout and return process 
• Be available to answer questions and provide great customer service

Multi-Channel Sales
Today’s digital buyers shop in many different places. In addition to your website, multi-channel retailing through marketplaces such Target, Walmart, and Amazon can help you reach your customer no matter where they are in their shopping journey (from social media scrolling to serious comparison shopping), and whatever device they’re using. Amazon offers several options for outsourcing order fulfillment, including FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) and 3PL (third-party logistics); choose the best strategy for your company.

Digital Wallets

• Fast payments bring cash to your business in real-time
• Offering multiple payment options increases conversion
• Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are the top three digital wallets. Venmo and PayPal can also be used as digital wallets, in-store and online.

At Lukasa, we’re experts in process analysis and improvement, innovative technology, and digital transformation for every aspect of your business—including ecommerce. From developing and implementing fully integrated and customized ERP, to creating connectors and integrating the most valuable sales channels, to offering logistics support, we work as part of your team to keep your business modern, agile, and profitable—and to supercharge your growth in a rapidly evolving digital economy. 

About Lukasa - lukasa.com
Lukasa empowers small-to-medium-sized businesses by designing and implementing custom business and technology solutions that drive efficiency, productivity, and innovation, enabling them to stay ahead in today’s rapidly-changing competitive landscape.