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Why Facebook Has a Better Shot at E-Commerce This Time

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By Donna Fuscaldo

Online shopping is seeing a surge amid the pandemic, presenting Facebook with a big opportunity if it can succeed in a market that has long been out of its reach.

“Been there, done that unsuccessfully.” That’s what some investors may be thinking about Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) new e-commerce push. The tech stock has made online shopping missteps in the past, and it still has trust issues even if its user base continues to grow. But with online shopping increasing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and with a potential shopping base of more than 2.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook has a real shot at succeeding this time around.

The pandemic is changing the way we shop, potentially forever

Shopping online was already a big story prior to the pandemic, but with stores shuttered and stay-at-home orders still in place in some cities, consumers have been turning to e-commerce to get their goods. At the same time, small businesses, many of which remain closed, have to find alternative ways to get products in front of customers — thus the increase in online shopping.

Those trends alone don’t ensure that Facebook will be a winner. It has to offer an easy and hassle-free way to shop in order for it to take off with the masses. If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that loyalty can only go so far — consumers want service. With delivery delays hurting Amazon‘s ability to get products to customers in under two days during the pandemic, shoppers turned to alternatives. That’s helped drive sales at retailers that offered same day pickup and delivery.

So how does the tech stock plan to make its offering superior to one-click shopping pioneered by Amazon? By not requiring small businesses and consumers to jump through hoops to buy and sell across its rather sticky platforms.

Facebook Shops, which are free for small businesses to create, live on their existing Facebook and Instagram accounts. That means small businesses won’t have to learn a new application or create a new page to get up and running.

On the consumer side, users will either be able to purchase directly from Facebook and Instagram, or they’ll be taken to the business’s website to complete the transaction. Thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning, Facebook will soon be able to automatically tag items users may like and place them in their feeds. That could encourage impulse shopping, particularly if it only takes a couple of clicks.

coming soon will be the ability to tag and purchase items from users’ feeds. To make the process easy for small businesses, Facebook is partnering with Shopify, Bigcommerce, and other third-party providers to power Facebook Shops.

Facebook has the base

In addition to making shopping easy, Facebook needs a large base of merchants for its efforts to take off in a meaningful way. The more e-commerce sales it does, the more advertisers will flock to Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook makes money off of ads as well as transaction fees when users purchase on its platform. It plans on adding Facebook Shops to Messenger and WhatsApp in the near future.

The social media giant is no Amazon when it comes to online shopping, but it does have more than 2.5 billion monthly active users that could turn into potential shoppers. It also plans to promote merchants’ products with dedicated shopping tabs and eventually enable real-time shopping events. That provides small businesses with a new opportunity to reach existing and potential customers without much effort.

It’s not a slam dunk

In order for Facebook to be successful and realize even a fraction of the tens of billions of dollars Wall Street thinks may await the company , it will have to win consumers’ trust, especially if it’s storing payment information. That could be a hard sell given its history with data leaks and privacy breaches.

It also has regulators and now the White House breathing down its neck. Any negative publicity could erode trust even further. Facebook has been trying to win back trust by blocking misinformation during the pandemic and supporting struggling small businesses. It’s also proven it can still grow even with a battered and bruised reputation.

This isn’t Facebook’s first rodeo. It tried several times before with shopping on its platforms but it failed to take off. The company tried launching Facebook stores with big brands back in 2009; it fizzled. An online gift shop dubbed Facebook Gifts was unsuccessful. And it has also tested a Buy button directly in ads that show up in Newsfeeds. None of the shopping features resonated with users, in part because consumers haven’t been too willing to store sensitive data on its platforms.

The timing is different now, thanks to the pandemic. If Facebook can deliver an easy-to-use experience and protect customers’ sensitive information, the social media giant has a good chance of becoming a real player in the post-COVID-19 e-commerce marketplace.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Donna Fuscaldo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Facebook, and Shopify and recommends the following options: short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon and long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Donna Fuscaldo

Sourced from The Motley Fool

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Here’s How Online Shopping Has Changed the Fundamentals of Fashion-Oriented Businesses

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By Sanjeev Mukhija

The fashion market in India is currently pegged at $70 billion out of which online accounts for only 5per cent and by 2020, about $30bn of this market will be digitally influenced.

Online shopping is often perceived as a threat to brick and mortar businesses. While it is true that e-commerce is the future of retail, it isn’t necessarily a threat to traditional retail. With the rise of omnichannel retail, e-commerce is supplementing traditional retail by enabling businesses to reach out to customers at several touch points. It is no different when it comes to fashion-oriented businesses.

The fashion industry in India is slowly but surely warming up to e-commerce. The findings of a research conducted by Myntra revealed that the number of online fashion shoppers, pegged at 60Mn currently, is projected to grow to 120Mn by 2020. With the advent of online shopping, India has witnessed a considerable change in the buying behaviour of consumers over the years. This has caused a shift in the market dynamics for fashion based businesses.

What Has Changed?

Non-Urban India Has Become an Emerging Market:
Consumers from smaller towns and cities of urban and semi-urban India have arrived. The availability of cheap data packs and vernacular content has made them less sceptical about shopping online. With exposure to media, the masses have become more aspirational with respect to fashion. The limited accessibility to offline brand retail outlets in non-urban India coupled with attractive offers and discounts that online marketplaces provide, they are increasingly looking at using online channel for shopping.

Increased Demand for Premium Brands:
With the increasing popularity of e-commerce, the fashion and lifestyle segment has seen a rise in the demand for fast fashion and premium brands. Thanks to higher disposable incomes and exposure to media, today’s average consumer has evolved and are ready to buy global and luxury brands.

How Can Brands Adapt?

Brands Need to Become Social and Digital First:

The era of mass media marketing is a thing of the past. In today’s digital era, digital marketers reach out to consumers where they spend most of their time – online. It is important for fashion businesses to identify the channels and platforms that their target group uses the most and design their digital marketing campaigns around them. Brands today tailor their marketing campaigns around the interests and buying behaviour of customers and fashion-based businesses need to adapt to it too. Digital influencers have also emerged as powerful marketing partners and brand looking to reach their target group have to explore influencer marketing to complement their other digital marketing efforts.

Businesses Have to Personalize Customer Experience:
Customers today expect and appreciate personalized shopping experiences. Whether it is an app notification or a social media ad, targeting consumers at the right place and right time has become essential for eCommerce businesses. Convenience tops the list of priorities of today’s busy consumer and brands that reach out to consumers right where they are, playing a huge role in conversions.

Fashion brands today need to think global and act locally. They need to adapt to newer formats of marketing such as beefing up their digital presence across social platforms. Brands can effectively serve the local market by striking a balance between offline and online presence. On the logistics end, businesses should work on effective sourcing and supply chain for shorter go to market cycles.

Marketers today have access to a vast ocean of customer data that gives them unparalleled insight into customer preferences and behaviour. Businesses can leverage this data to provide a personalized customer experience across touchpoints. This allows consumers to shop on channels that are most convenient to them and helps businesses augment their reach beyond traditional retail outlets. Omnichannel shopping enables consumers to mix and match channels based on their needs.

The fashion market in India is currently pegged at $70 billion out of which online accounts for only 5per cent. By 2020, about $30bn of this market will be digitally influenced. As the eCommerce market continues to grow, fashion-based businesses need to constantly evolve to tap into the existing and emerging market for online shopping.

Feature Image credit: Shutterstock 

By Sanjeev Mukhija

Managing Director, Breakbounce

Sourced from Entrepreneur India

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Why do Online Shoppers Abandon Their Carts Right Before Paying?

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By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Shoppers hoping to bag a bargain in the post-Christmas sales are much less likely to go through with their purchases if they are using phones and tablets to buy goods online. This is because consumers often worry they are not seeing the full picture on a mobile app or that they could be missing out on special offers or overlooking hidden costs, according to new research. Concerns about privacy and security can also motivate people to put items into their shopping baskets but then quit without paying.

Although mobile apps are rapidly becoming among the most popular ways to shop online, the phenomenon of shopping cart abandonment is much higher than for desktop-based online shopping. According to Market Research firm Criteo, the share of e-commerce traffic from mobile devices increased to 46% of global e-commerce traffic in Q2 2016. However, only 27% of purchases initiated on this channel were finalised and conversion rates significantly lagged behind desktop initiated purchases.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) investigating why this is so say it represents a huge challenge for online retailers, who are investing heavily in mobile shopping, but not reaping the rewards in successful sales.

“Our study results revealed a paradox,” said Dr Nikolaos Korfiatis, of Norwich Business School at UEA. “Mobile shopping is supposed to make the process easier, and yet concerns about making the right choice, or about whether the site is secure enough leads to an ’emotional ambivalence’ about the transaction – and that means customers are much more likely to simply abandon their shopping carts without completing a purchase.”

The researchers studied online shopping data from 2016-2017 from consumers in Taiwan and the US. They found that the reasons for hesitation at the checkout stage were broadly the same in both countries. In addition, shoppers are much more likely use mobile apps as a way of researching and organising goods, rather than as a purchasing tool, and this also contributes to checkout hesitation.

“People think differently when they use their mobile phones to make purchases,” said Dr Korfiatis. “The smaller screen size and uncertainty about missing important details about the purchase make you much more ambivalent about completing the transaction than when you are looking at a big screen.”

Flora Huang, the study’s lead author, added, “This is a phenomenon that has not been well researched, yet it represents a huge opportunity for retailers. Companies spend a lot of money on tactics such as pay-per-click advertising to bring consumers into online stores – but if those consumers come in via mobile apps and then are not finalising their purchases, a lot of that money will be wasted.”

The team’s results, published in the Journal of Business Research, showed that consumers are much less likely to abandon their shopping baskets if they are satisfied with the choice process. App designers can help by minimising clutter to include only necessary elements on the device’s limited screen space and organising sites via effective product categorisation or filter options so consumers can find products more easily.

Other strategies that might prompt a shopper to complete a purchase include adding special offers, or coupons for a nearby store at the checkout stage.

“Retailers need to invest in technology, but they need to do it in the right way, so the investment pays off,” added Dr Korfiatis. “Customers are becoming more and more demanding and, with mobile shopping in particular, they don’t forgive failures so offering a streamlined, integrated service is really important.”

 

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Want to Sell More Online Products? Make Delivery Free

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This is fascinating stuff.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

A new study has revealed the true cost of delivery to retailers, with more than half (54%) of shoppers surveyed saying they have abandoned a purchase online because delivery was too expensive.

-83% of online shoppers said free delivery was the most important factor when ordering online

-More than half (54%) have abandoned online shopping baskets because of delivery costs

-A quarter cancelled orders because delivery wasn’t fast enough for their needs.

The original research of 2,000 shoppers by Arvato found that the majority (83%) said free delivery was the most important factor when it comes to fulfillment of online orders, followed by speed of delivery (53%) and free returns (52%).

This rang true for basket abandonment too, with nearly a quarter (24%) of shoppers saying they had cancelled an order because of slow delivery speeds, while 26% said that the product had been out of stock and, with no indication of when it would be available, they decided not to proceed with their purchase or shop with another retailer.

When it comes to fulfillment, 45% said that convenience was the most important factor, with 17% saying they liked to be offered multiple delivery options. 56% of shoppers already use the ‘buy online pick-up instore’ (BOPIS) option, but while only 11% currently use two hour BOPIS options offered by retailers, 32% said they would like to see more retailers offering one or two hour collection spots for BOPIS purchases going forward.

Ferka Vukel at Arvato said: “Delivery isn’t just about fulfillment but an integral part of the decision-making process for the online shopper. Those retailers who are not offering a fast, convenient and, crucially, free delivery service are at risk of losing out. With retailers having to balance the rising cost of fulfillment against the cost of losing an order, there is no easy answer, however one thing all retailers can do is to be transparent, giving customers an estimated delivery cost from the outset to avoid frustration at the end of the shopping journey.”

According to Vukel, the importance of delivery will not diminish over time and may, in fact, become even more significant to buyer behaviour in the future.

She explained: “Our research shows that within five years, shoppers expect retailers to offer up increasingly innovative delivery solutions – 7% wanted to see driverless vehicles or Uber drivers doubling up as carriers to get their products to them and a further 17% want orders from multiple retailers to be delivered in one go.”

Amazon’s Prime Air has also captured the imagination with 13% of shoppers wanting to see adoption of drone deliveries from retailers, while 11% wanted ‘drive thru’ collection lockers and 8% even thought that retailers should offer ‘to device’ delivery, where an item is delivered to a customer by using their smartphone or tablet to geo-locate them.

What’s more, 12% would be happy sharing their finger prints with retailers so they can ‘sign’ for deliveries with their finger print for more secure deliveries

“At the moment innovations such as drone delivery are more about capturing consumers imagination than reality, but what we are seeing from consumers is that speed, cost and convenience are imperative when choosing to shop online and that is something that is not going to change any time soon,” concluded Vukel.

 

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Most Online Shoppers Don’t Write Product Reviews, But Do Rely on Them When Considering a Purchase

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By MediaStreet Staff Writers

How can you get your customers to write more online reviews?

Most online shoppers (81%) do not write reviews of their purchases, according to a new survey by Clutch. However, many of those same online shoppers say they rely on product reviews when considering a purchase.

E-commerce businesses face the challenge of growing the approximately 20% of online shoppers who regularly write reviews, since online shoppers often rely on reviews to make purchasing decisions. The study suggests the gap is an opportunity for e-commerce businesses to engage more online shoppers and address the reasons why they typically don’t write reviews.

Email marketing is an effective strategy for garnering reviews, prompting nearly one quarter (23%) of shoppers to write reviews. However, online shoppers cite lack of time and incentives as key reasons for their unwillingness to write reviews.

E-commerce businesses can potentially reverse that unwillingness with simple changes to their review gathering process. For example, businesses should ensure that the review process is as efficient as possible by requesting specific feedback through guided questions or star ratings.

Incentives, such as a discount or contest entry, can also help secure more reviews. However, companies should be aware of any local laws that prohibit exchanging incentives for favourable reviews.

Timely and effective customer service, including resolving an order issue or complaints, can also increase the likelihood of garnering reviews. Shoppers are more motivated to write positive reviews than negative ones: One third (33%) of online shoppers who write reviews share an especially satisfying experience, compared to 2% who write about negative experiences, according to the survey.

Experts say companies should use the review-gathering process to give customers the opportunity to alert them early on to problems that could undermine their satisfaction.

“If any issues arise within that initial use of the product, you can usually remedy the situation and put a stop to anything that might put a damper on positive reviews,” said Dan Scalco, CEO of Digitalux, a digital marketing and SEO agency.

Let’s get those happy customers reviewing your products ASAP.

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