How to Create a Successful Ecommerce Retail Strategy
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, when almost everyone started buying things online, e-commerce has grown tremendously. Retailers are currently vying for the customer loyalty of digital-first consumers, who demand a seamless and personalised online experience. The changing tides of online retail highlight the shift in consumer expectations.
The value of Internet retail sales in Great Britain was around 2.3 billion British pounds (GBP) in August 2024, differing only slightly month-over-month but providing further indication of the high demand for online retail. Considering that e-commerce market share is expected to represent an increasingly larger portion of total retail sales worldwide (38.1% in the UK alone by 2025), a successful first-rate e-commerce retail strategy can no longer be treated as a bonus but rather a necessity to keep up with competitors.
An ecommerce strategy must not only be an additional structure to support your online sales, but it should almost work hand-in-hand with in-store shopping. Online sales are the lifeblood of the omnichannel retail model and one of the biggest retail trends to watch. Integrating e-commerce into your store’s digital transformation strategy is crucial.
Therefore, let’s delve into the fundamentals of an ecommerce retail strategy that propels your business to long-term growth and agility in this digital era.
What is an ecommerce retail strategy?
An ecommerce retail strategy is a roadmap that your ecommerce store uses to promote itself, attract customers, and ramp up revenue on the interwebs. Included in this strategy are the techniques that span every stage of the customer journey from awareness to loyalty. This usually involves targeted digital marketing campaigns, personalised email, SMS outreach practices, and cart abandonment strategies.
From a new retailer stepping into the ecommerce world for the first time to an experienced brand looking to grow your online presence, a carefully crafted ecommerce business retail strategy is everything you need to stand out in the dynamic retail market.
Why is an ecommerce retail strategy important?
With so many people buying online, the internet has become the primary arena for retail success. It is true that there are many digital transformation challenges when it comes to retail, but businesses need to adapt to the new computer-dominated era, and an ecommerce strategy is a fantastic starting point for achieving success. After all, digital transformation is essential to creating an omnichannel customer journey that can enhance customer experience by seamlessly integrating online and offline interactions.
With a robust strategy, retailers can gain a competitive advantage by consistently attracting new customers, entering new markets and effectively transforming first-time buyers into loyal customers. For many retailers, incorporating an ecommerce approach into a more comprehensive digital transformation strategy has become a necessity considering the impact of online shopping on the high street.
How to create a successful ecommerce retail strategy
An effective digital strategy does not just act as a building block; it ties all the pieces together, from your market research to customer retention, into a plan to make the most of what your brand can do online. A targeted strategic approach designed to fit your brand and its customers will allow your retail business the flexibility to evolve and thrive in any wind.
Here are the essential steps to create a successful ecommerce strategy that meets today’s digital-first customer:
- Define your target audience and segment your customers
- Conduct market research
- Perform a swot analysis
- Set clear and measurable goals
- Budget and resource planning
- Choose the right ecommerce platform
- Focus on the key stages of the buyer journey
1. Define your target audience and segment your customers
Anyone with a basic grasp of ecommerce knows that an effective strategy begins by gaining a full understanding of your target customers. To go beyond demographics like age, geography, and spending patterns, think psychographics—customer interests, values, and shopping motivations.
You can use this data to build out buyer personas—imaginary representations of your perfect customers. They help direct marketing efforts to the right audience, ensuring that your messaging and viable offers are a proper fit across all segments of the audience. On top of that segmentation, personalisation empowers you to personalise products, recommendations, marketing messages, and even your ecommerce site layout for every cohort, which encourages engagement, thereby leading to an increase in conversion rates.
2. Conduct market research
Market research is the foundation of well-informed and deft decision-making. It helps you pinpoint your customers, their needs—and how to be able to serve them better than anyone else. The strategies your competitors are implementing, including their product descriptions, pricing, and customer engagement tactics, can help you pinpoint areas where your own strategy may be missing opportunities. For instance, a recent beauty and cosmetics consumer survey shows insights into online shopping preferences in specific markets.
Analysing trends within your industry also aids in refining and enhancing product offerings, relevant marketing channels, and pricing models, ultimately maintaining your brand’s prominence in a crowded market and drawing in customers who are increasingly familiar with online shopping.
3. Perform a swot analysis
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis (SWOT) gives you an overview of your business at present and identifies the areas that need improvement. Strengths may include unique products, strong reputation brands, or excellent customer service. Weaknesses could be in regard to the quantity of delivery options and accessibility that discourages clients.
Opportunities might be in the form of emerging markets or an increase in demand for sustainable products. On the other hand, a rise in the number of competitors or changes in digital ad pricing may pose threats.
Understanding these will help you make adjustments to minimise risk and maximise growth opportunities, making sure your strategy is robust and flexible.
Other examples:
- Strength: Unique inventory from exclusive supply contracts
- Weakness: Lack of expertise in digital marketing or limited availability of international payment options.
- Opportunity: Virtual shopping experiences through AR are becoming popular.
- Threat: Changing data privacy laws affect how companies collect customer insights.
4. Set clear and measurable goals
You also need to define metrics of success that will help you track and then modify your marketing strategy. An acronym that you can find handy in creating details of what success means to your brand is SMART, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
Examples of SMART goals in retail ecommerce could be:
- Sales goals to increase online sales by 20% in the next quarter.
- Customer acquisition could be to get 500 new customers each month.
- Engagement could be to reduce the cart abandonment rate by 15% in the next 2 months.
The different metrics you can track (website traffic, assessment cost, customer lifetime value, etc.) help you assess and optimise your retail ecommerce strategy for maximum effectiveness.
5. Budget and resource planning
To implement and sustain a successful ecommerce strategy, you need to budget and allocate resources accordingly. Consider the expenses of maintaining your online store, keeping inventory, executing digital marketing campaigns, and providing customer support. Beyond capital, you will also need to account for the retail HR staff that will have to hire new talent. From digital marketers that can drive traffic to your website, customer service representatives to field online questions, and institutional IT support to keep everything humming along.
If you can balance both, then your plan will be practical and sustainable. Spend only what needs to be spent, invest where there is a high risk/reward ratio, and reset both and prepare for future growth, all behind an open books approach.
6. Choose the right ecommerce platform
Choosing the appropriate ecommerce platform is a crucial choice that can define your business’s online impression. Explore options such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento that provide various tools, customer engagement software, and functionalities. Pick one that suits your business, helps manage product catalogues, and offers Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with mobile-friendliness. Integration with payment solutions, inventory, and analytics tools should also be easily approachable on your platform.
As your business expands, a flexible and scalable platform will accommodate new development (more features, plug-ins, or capacity), and your growth strategy can rise along with your brand.
7. Focus on the key stages of the buyer journey
Attracting customers with a buyer journey—awareness, consideration, purchase, and loyalty—is the cornerstone of a functional ecommerce strategy. For this, start from the awareness stage. Tools such as social media platforms and search ads, along with influencer marketing, can be an excellent way to introduce your brand. In the consideration phase, build trust with thorough product pages, reviews, and user-generated content (UGC). When it comes to converting, sprinkle in free shipping and payment options your customers are familiar with and keep the checkout process simple. Finally, implement retail loyalty programmes with discounts for future purchases and use email marketing to turn customers into brand ambassadors.
Final thoughts
An e-commerce retail strategy cannot be improvised but requires careful planning and should be integrated as a key component of your broader digital marketing strategy. The most effective approach is to support your ecommerce strategy with a comprehensive multichannel retail marketing approach, including social media marketing, influencer partnerships, and the right in-store technology to ensure a personalised omnichannel experience.
In summary, consider the customer and market that you want to serve as you take those first steps in sound ecommerce retail strategy development. Everything from defining the audience to optimising the buyer journey needs to be data-driven and agile in order to keep pace with the breathtaking speed of online retail.
To remain competitive, you have to continuously enhance your strategies, keep up with developments in your sector, and look for opportunities to make your customers more satisfied and loyal. Check out a recent interview with Lightspeed which offers insights into key success factors for digital transformation in retail.
To stay ahead and future-proof your ecommerce approach, don’t miss Ecom North—the must-attend event for all things ecommerce. Connect with industry leaders, explore innovations, and gain insights that can drive your strategy forward. Register today to stay at the forefront of retail tech trends and innovations.
