When the whole world literally came to a halt in 2020, but rather than causing any destruction in the retail world – it provided a boost to this industry in the online world. The entire volume of retail growth reallocated to the E-Commerce channels, which enjoyed an 18% bump in total growth. This growth cannot be accredited solely to the pandemic. The world has seen steady progress towards the online for well over a decade. In the aftermath of a year filled with social distancing and quarantines, the retail industry looks to emerge as a changed entity. Let’s look at what the future holds for the E-Commerce industry:
Voice commerce uses voice assistants such as Alexa or Siri to give shoppers a hands-free shopping experience. In a world of contactless and social distancing, voice shopping will be a great addition to E-Commerce.
Voice commerce has enjoyed success in the E-Commerce industry. However, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the older demographics, as they are required to adhere to strict quarantine measures. But they still need groceries and essential items. This will encourage the use of E-Commerce solutions and hence the use of voice commerce.
E-Commerce has undoubtedly been a life raft for many who were stuck at home. It’s probably been the only surviving tool. Although it is very convenient and quick, – at its core it is a very impersonal experience. E-Commerce and voice commerce will find its applications for enhancing online shopping experiences.
E-Commerce has become a significant retail channel. Technology does not stay static for long. Modern devices with advanced capabilities will enable a lot more AR functions. AR is one of the technologies that will be a game-changer for the E-Commerce industry in 2022.
Predictions cannot be 100% accurate, but it’s true that 2022 with set the stage for new and advanced features that will take E-Commerce experiences to the next level.
Today, it’s hard to imagine shopping without the help of ratings and reviews about the products and services. According to consumer research conducted by Deloitte and Touche LLP, the majority of shoppers (around 75%) use reviews to discover and evaluate products. From food and beverage and apparel, to health and beauty, reviews play an important role in the buying process for customers.
Shoppers today not only view ratings before they make a purchase, but also leave a review after they have purchased and used a product. Studies show that the number of reviews submitted increased nearly 11% year over year since 2019. With reviews, shoppers are not only converting faster, but are known to spend more money too. This lift in revenues per visitor has seen a steep rise in recent years. But, increasing sales and profits aren’t the only thing that reviews can improve for your business. Brand retailers have reported that reviews have an impact beyond the product pages online. Many times a good review directly converts into increased in-store sales too.
A vast majority of shoppers research products online before going to the store to purchase them. Consumers often turn to ratings and reviews when they are in the decision making phase of the final purchase. Reading a positive review from an existing customer gives them the confidence that the product they chose is working well for others too. Studies have also shown that reviews have the ability to influence consumers to buy a more expensive product than they had planned.
Don’t forget to check: Gain Greater Business Reach With Lokaly Buyer App
You may be surprised to find that it’s not only the positive reviews that influence purchases. Many shoppers say that negative reviews are just as important in their decision to buy. It helps them build a pros and cons list (mentally, subconsciously) and the final decision to buy a product is based on complete information. This increases their confidence in their purchase and your product.
Having reviews displayed on your site is a great first step to winning over your customers. It improves one of the most valuable assets a business can have in today’s retail landscape – trustworthiness.
One of the biggest decisions you will make for your business is the choice of the eCommerce platform that is scalable and will ensure long term growth. The platform should also help customers that are engaging with your brand to reduce friction while they’re getting the product they need. Ensuring employees have what they need to implement campaign strategies and at the same time be ready to use without add on cost for maintenance and installation.
Whether you are a brick and mortar store with a strong local presence or are looking for an enterprise eCommerce solution, building one from scratch is out of the question! The time frame and the cost is simply too high for such an endeavour.
The good news is that there are a number of ready to use eCommerce solutions such as Lokaly that enable you to go online instantly. These solutions are highly customisable too. Being white labelled, you need not worry about how it will ‘look’ for your brand.
Lokaly is ready to use, white labelled eCommerce solution. It enables local stores to quickly go online by quickly upload the products and begin selling.
Lokaly can be completely customised to suit your business requirements. It’s the easiest and fastest way to reach your customers where they are – online. It not only helps you keep up with the latest in the online world, but also helps keep in compliance with the latest no contact delivery policies for the covid 19 rules. With customisations, you can make the app look, feel and serve your customers as your business requirements.
White labelling simplifies branding policies for marketeers while presenting high-value products to end users. It is a strategy used extensively in businesses dealing with both products and services.
Boost to branding: With a ready-made product in hand attention can be devoted exclusively to product branding. This frees up need to allocate resources on aspects not related to market impact and devoting time and energy to product promotion. In case of multiple third-party products, white labelling increases brand visibility too.
Customer loyalty: Customer loyalty increases with more products carrying a brand name. Customers trust brands that offer a wide range of products once they find a good product from a brand. White labelling puts the brand name on a variety of products.
Leverage Expertise: Experts in individual product development make the products and the company name appears on the label. It is a win-win situation for both the product developer and the company.
Ready-made refined products: During the development stage experts take the pain of rigorously testing products and ironing out issues that undermine the value of their product. The white labelled product thus comes with built in value.
Cost and time efficient: White labelling by passes cost involved in product development from scratch. No longer are dedicated teams needed for product development and research.
Decreased pressure on complaint redressal: Third-party tools take on the responsibility of dealing with complaints and for troubleshooting products.
Provides multiple alternate products under the same brand: Customer choice and needs differ. An array of alternate products serves to cater to these differing choices and needs.
Customer satisfaction is the aim of businesses. By white labelling products and services businesses develop an improved value chain that translates into more satisfied customers.
White label software comes as monthly or annual subscriptions. They are mostly available under the SaaS model. The seller company brands the model and offers it to clients and users as their own. Important tips for choosing the right software are given here.
White label Design and programming Products: web design products, website builders, and web app design programs fall under this category of software.
They range from lead generation tools to social media management, SEO tools, PPC tools, and reporting tools.
Look for shared values and beliefs in partner agencies. Successful partnership build-up depends on smooth interchange and exchange.
Be aware of the range of services you can access and how they integrate with your needs. Look for systems that allow direct communication in your name and on your domain.
Telephone conversations, online chats, and reports all carry your logo although they come from the parent agency.
A conference bridge plan provides a neutral interaction space without revealing contact numbers. Direct calling plans offer a special contact number that customers recognize as the company’s service number.
contractual obligation to maintain confidentiality during the contract and beyond. Look for a no poach clause.
All client interaction comes from the parent agency. There is no scope for outsourcing such interaction. The parent agency employs only trained professionals to interact with clients.
Professionals involved in client interaction are under the same non-disclosure contract as the agency.
We need to put referrer blocking systems in place for brand protection. Browser level blocking prevents source tracking. This ensures no trails are left for analytics to pick up.
Local departmental stores are the most popular businesses and dominate the market in a particular area. The main reason is their accessibility and simple approach, hassle free buying experiences, friendly behaviour and most importantly, emotional attachment of the customers.
Especially for regular customers, it’s a matter of trust and loyalty. However, this model of operation is highly contact-based.
Times have changed and there is a need to change this model of operation too. With the increasing emphasis on contactless operations for local businesses, how can local businesses maintain their existing customer base’s loyalty and trust?
The answer is – by offering them with easier and convenient means to contact them without actually visiting the store. Lokaly offers exactly this.
In a contactless safe distancing world, Lokaly helps take your local store online and helps keep your regular customers. You can instantly take your products online and accept online payments too.
Here’s what you get with Lokaly:
create your very own store. You can completely rebrand Lokaly with your specific branding requirements.
Although you can simply download and use it as-is, Lokaly can also be customized if needed. You can add your store specific features that caters to your customer base.
Many people believe that mobile applications are usually expensive. Lokaly challenges this notion by offering affordable alternatives. With Lokaly, you can pay as you go!
If your business requires features not built into the product, we can customize it to include the features you need.
Apart from your regular customers, a mobile store will enable you to increase your customer base and revenues!
Ensure your business continuity in the Lockdown or stay home period – sign up for a solution that can take your business online within a few clicks!
eCommerce has been around for quite some time now, but mCommerce has recently taken a dominating place. Mobile internet usage has exceeded desktop usage by 51% and over two-thirds of the world population owns a smartphone. As more and more people adopt smartphones, mobile commerce too accounts for a significant portion of the eCommerce market.
Evidently, mobile commerce or mCommerce is the future and businesses are hopping on the bandwagon to take advantage of this exponential growth. Well, the Majority of the customers are spending more and more time on mobile phones and mCommerce is the one way businesses can reach them – directly.
How can Lokaly keep you ready for a mobile future?
Lokaly is a mCommerce platform which enables store owners to quickly and conveniently create a mobile store and start selling! Moving from brick and mortar stores to a mobile commerce store was a huge challenge – simply because creating a strong and robust backend and a ready to use frontend was both times consuming and pricy. Many local stores and businesses hesitated to even think about the mobile option. But, Lokaly eliminates any hesitation the users may have while taking the leap from bricks to clicks.
Lokaly enables local departmental stores to quickly go mobile and reach out to their mobile customers. It also has convenient features for maintaining a khata (credit) for regular customers.
There’s no doubt that mobile is the future – not only for eCommerce but also for all businesses. The sooner businesses work on mobile solutions the better prepared they will be for the future. If you are a local business looking for a ready mobile commerce solution, take a look at our ready to go live product – Lokaly!
Lokaly’s multi-store feature enables local businesses to operate multiple stores within a single panel. Sellers can personalize many aspects of each of the stores and control the access for each of the websites separately. This feature allows you to publish multiple eCommerce stores from a single product database. Store owners can target niche markets, carve out special offerings from their products, and publish special products on each store.
Here are some of the ways in which Lokaly can offer multi-store configuration:
If your business is ready – Lokaly offers a ready to go live solution to go mobile quickly!
Ever since the world has been locked down, there has been a surge of businesses moving from physical stores to a completely online model of operation. The result? The competition has moved completely online. Every neighbourhood store and the local departmental store is finding ways and means to move online. The result? Many solution providers are trying to offer technology services that enable them to offer services online – as seamlessly as walking into a store, making a purchase, and walking out.
So, how do you set up a B2B online store?
There are a number of solutions available in the market – to go online. But if you are a B2B business, or a multi-brand, multi-store business, you need platforms that can specifically cater to your requirements. Some of the solutions like Lokaly can even help you set up at no cost. Ready solutions require very less time to go live.
How can Lokaly help set up your B2B online store?
Lokaly is your technology solution if you are dominating a locality in your geography, are a distributor or wholesaler for large product offerings, or are a multi-brand or multi-store business. You can offer digital access to your clients and customers via Lokaly.
Lokaly offers businesses with a quick and easy way to get online and ensure that their business stays ahead in this fiercely competitive world!
Customers who once flocked to brick and mortar stores are now crowding online. Shops and departmental stores are ditched and smartphones have been embraced. Even bank payments are replaced with digital wallets. The rapidly changing digitization and customer behaviour patterns, shopping trends have changed too. Customers are bidding farewell to traditional shopping ways and more and more online platforms have emerged. Let’s take a look at the must have features in an online solution for e-commerce:
Top e-commerce platforms offer businesses with lots of conveniences, ease to use, and quick to setup features!
Lokaly solution offers all these features that can provide your customers with an unmatched experience and easy to manage from the perspective of the owners.
