What is E-Commerce Consulting?
E-Commerce Consulting is a comprehensive service that offers advice and guidance to businesses in order to maximize their digital presence and increase sales through various digital channels. The dynamics provided by digital media, from paid media (advertising channels) to online marketplaces, vary significantly depending on the nature of the business and the industry in which it operates.
As professional consultants, we have the experience and knowledge to guide every business towards the right strategic choice. For example, the needs of an apparel e-shop are different from those of a company selling electronic devices or products with a high technical background. This differentiation in strategy has to do with choosing the right advertising channels and leveraging marketplaces to enable each business to establish its online presence and increase its market share.
In addition, the guidance we provide enables businesses to understand how they can improve their market position, identify industry trends and invest in the right digital tools. Regardless of whether a strategy is developed for social media, search engines or marketplaces, the important thing is to make the best use of the available platforms, offering the maximum return on each investment.
In short, we can offer a full range of services, from optimising your presence in online marketplaces to properly managing your advertising strategy in the appropriate channels. This allows businesses to build a successful digital strategy, tailored to their needs and capabilities!
Choosing the Right Advertising Channels
Selecting the right advertising channels is essential for any business. Depending on the industry in which a business operates, choosing the appropriate digital channels is crucial for achieving effective promotion.
Paid Social vs. Paid Search
Paid social typically employs outreach techniques, aiming to reach users effectively. These campaigns are primarily positioned in the initial stages of the sales funnel, focusing on brand awareness and consideration. This approach helps businesses create an experience where potential customers begin to recognize the brand and consider purchasing its products or services. Social media ads are specifically designed to introduce a business’s products to prospective consumers, even if they have not actively sought out this information.
In contrast, paid search focuses on platforms like Google, targeting users at the consideration and decision-making stages. At this point, users exhibit higher purchase intent as they are actively searching for specific products or services. This provides businesses with the opportunity to reach their audience at the optimal moment—when they are most likely to make a purchase with clear intent and determination.
Allocating Advertising Budgets
Understanding the differences between paid social and paid search is vital for correctly allocating advertising budgets. Businesses need to invest in the right channels to match their industry dynamics.
- For Example:
An apparel and footwear e-shop may achieve the best results through social media, leveraging visualized ads that grab the audience’s attention.
Conversely, an electrical appliance e-shop may find greater success by focusing on search engines, as consumers often search directly for the appliances they need on platforms like Google.
The Role of Recognized Brands
Another important consideration is whether the business markets recognized brands. For companies offering branded products with a strong market presence, search engine campaigns (e.g., Google Ads) can be highly effective. Users with specific preferences actively search for these brands, making search engines the ideal channel to drive consumers to the purchase stage. These campaigns capitalize on high purchase intent, as users are directly searching for products they are interested in.
The Power of Social Media for Visual Industries
In contrast, for industries like fashion, social media provides a powerful environment for promoting products. Visual representation plays a crucial role in engaging the audience. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook allow businesses to create rich visual content—photos and videos that capture consumers’ attention and inspire them to explore the market further.
This is especially critical for products requiring a strong aesthetic presence, such as clothing, accessories, and jewelry. Visual content enhances the presentation of these products, making them more appealing and relatable to the target audience.
Conclusion:
By understanding the distinct roles of paid social and paid search, businesses can strategically allocate their advertising budgets to maximize results. Whether it’s creating visually engaging campaigns on social media or high-intent targeting through search engines, aligning the strategy with the nature of the industry ensures success in reaching the right audience at the right time.
Optimizing Presence in Marketplaces
Presence on major Greek marketplaces, such as Skroutz, BestPrice, and Shopflix, is a crucial factor for the success of an e-commerce store. Businesses should maximize these channels by customizing their product catalogs and leveraging the features offered by the marketplaces. Our team has the experience and knowledge to guide you not only in optimizing your presence in major Greek marketplaces, but also in selecting new ones. In addition to local marketplaces, we have the expertise to help you expand into growing and international marketplaces in Europe.
Key points for optimization in marketplaces:
- Product Selection: Strategically, it is important to select which products to upload via XMLs feeds either based on their popularity or on the basis of the highest profit margin. These products act as “hooks” that attract buyers, increasing interest in other products.
- Pro Seller Function: Registering as a pro seller enhances the credibility and image of your business, providing advantages over competitors, such as greater visibility and preferential positions in store rankings.
- Use of Promoted Ads: Marketplaces now offer the possibility of promoted ads, allowing us to show stores higher in the ranking results than competitors.
- Express Delivery: if the marketplace offers features such as express delivery, it is important to take advantage of it, offering customers faster and more reliable delivery services. This improves the consumer experience and leaves a positive impact.
On-Site Enhancement
In addition to external channels, optimising the e-shop itself is essential to ensure that a business ensures that its customers have a user-friendly and enjoyable shopping experience.
- Couriers and delivery time: It is important to offer multiple delivery options, such as next day express delivery, a variety of choices in delivery options so that the customer can choose the one that suits him best and definitely options such as “Box Now” for parcel pick-up points.
- Marketing personalization: Customize your customers’ experience through personalized product recommendations using algorithms that recommend different products to each user based on their browsing history and previous purchases. Collaborations with 3rd party providers that we can recommend as partners help significantly in forming a personalized visitor’s website navigation experience.
- Smart search bar: Use smart search tools that suggest products as the user types, improving the navigation experience.
- Pop-ups and side bars: Create special offers for new visitors or customers who have completed their first purchase, through pop-ups and side bars.
- Loyalty programs: Implement loyalty programs with points or discounts for the most loyal customers, rewarding them for their continued preference for your business.
- Automated Flows: Create automated communication flows, such as transactional emails, sms and push notifications, to strengthen your relationship with customers and increase sales.
Book a Free Consultation
Developing a successful e-commerce strategy requires a combination of the right advertising channels and the optimization of the e-shop itself. Our team is here to advise you and help you understand how you can make the most of your e-shop’s potential, increase sales and grow in the best possible way.
Book a free online session with us to discuss your business needs and design a personalized strategy that will meet your requirements.