How Has e-Commerce Affected The Way We Market Products?
E-commerce has had a significant effect on how companies market their products today, and it is almost impossible to imagine that it could ever return to a pre-internet era. The retail world has been revolutionized by e-commerce is so many ways, and not all of these have been changes that were imposed from the top and trickled down. In fact, many companies, producers, manufacturers, product designers and retailers themselves have had to adapt to the way that customers and consumers have dictated the terms with their changing behaviors.
Online Living
You are probably one of the millions of people worldwide who own a smartphone, although the extent to which it has embedded itself into your life may vary. Some people still use their device primarily as a direct communications tool, sending SMS messages, checking emails and yes, even having a phone conversation on it. For many others however, their cell phone is becoming an indispensable mixture of internet browser, personal assistant, pocket computer, camera and financial management tool. It is no surprise that the way products are marketed has had to evolve and mutate to take into account how people now make their purchase decisions based on a wide range of factors and considerations.
Online Marketing
The result is that some of the strategies which are now employed to market products simply didn’t exist a few years ago. In order to reach online audiences, marketers have to be aware of changing demographics, customer actions and requirements, innovations in technology, and the constantly changing face of the internet itself. This means coming to terms with the fact that ‘word of mouth’ has been to a great extent replaced by ‘word of social media’ and that people are able to make instant price comparisons 24/7 wherever they may be located. Not only that, consumers in general are now far more used to being able to make direct contact with a retailer or supplier and have questions and queries answered in real time at their own convenience, rather than operating within hours dictated by store opening and closing times.
Shopping Experience
The long term effects of these changes are already being seen, as consumers become more demanding and less willing to put up with bad service. A seamless shopping experience is the aim for both sides, but the onus to improve interaction lies with the retailer. This could be something as simple as managing the customer journey on different devices over time, but that could also be the make or break difference between sealing a deal, or losing a sale.
A Mix of Old and New
Having taken all of this into account, you might be wondering if any of the more traditional approaches to marketing still hold any validity at all? The truth is that no matter how revolutionary e-commerce has been, the best campaigns actually use a clever mixture of older techniques alongside the newer ones. Blending e-commerce with traditional marketing channels is an art in itself and one that is perfectly illustrated in the way that As Seen on TV sets itself apart from its competitors. This is because the company understands that it is vital to make a link between offline and online branding in order to drive visitors to online shopping points. By making this connection, you can build a modern marketing strategy that essentially uses the best of both worlds and builds on established methods and models while integrating them with emerging platforms.
The Future of e-Commerce
Although you might be wondering what the future of e-Commerce will look like, the answer is probably that e-Commerce actually is the future of marketing itself. However, this doesn’t mean that traditional methods that have been tried and tested over the years will simply fall into disuse. Rather, online marketing will adapt and evolve into running parallel with older models so that both work to each other’s advantage.
This could mean that the physical store of the future may be something completely different from those that we are used to today, with pop-up shops evolving into whole pop-up malls, or traditional stores becoming hosts for a series of events and installations that crossover into the world of entertainment, rather than being a series of racks and shelving units. Home delivery is now so common that the idea of going to a shop and coming home with a big bag might become obsolete, as it will simply become a place to engage with retailers and products in new and as yet unimagined ways.
