What is eCommerce Marketing? Best Digital Marketing Strategies, Platforms & Tools

What is E-commerce?

E-commerce is internet-based selling or purchasing that includes search, discovery and pay for the product online. It also includes selling services online, B2B selling, and mobile commerce.

E-commerce is now a dominant market force with over $6.3 trillion (about $19,000 per person in the US) in retail sales in 2024. And it’s growing faster than ever.

Importance of E-commerce in Today’s Business Landscape

This furious growth of online shopping is proving the importance of e-commerce in today’s business landscape. By 2026, there will be around 2.71 billion online shoppers.

Wider Market Reach:

E-commerce offers a broad market reach for businesses. For local businesses, it helps to reach more customers than it will ever reach in brick-and-mortar stores. And for international shops, the potential is beyond imagination.

Increased Convenience and Cost Effectiveness:

E-commerce is more convenient than general commerce in terms of product searching, shopping, and delivery. For shoppers, it’s easy to go through hundreds of items before making a purchase. For sellers, it’s easier to showcase thousands of products in one store while keeping them categorized according to customer interests.

Expanded Product Range:

As e-commerce sellers get access to a huge set of storable customer data, they can use data analytics and personalization to expand their product range and use personalization in their products.

Scalability and Growth Potential:

E-commerce is more scalable than contemporary business models. It’s easier and faster to build online stores, add new products, and provide top-notch customer service with e-commerce. The overall ease and convenience of e-commerce increases the scalability and growth potential of a business.

Enhanced Customer Engagement:

With enhanced tools for customer engagement, e-commerce offers a robust interactive environment for users and customers. Ecommerce management tools like Shopify offer robust features like order management, order tracking, customer communication, and more that provide customers with a better shopping experience.

Integration of Online and Offline Channels:

Ecommerce offers a streamlined integration for businesses, as you can share your products online, welcome customers to your physical stores, and share the latest product announcements, deals, offers, and other updates online. Mobile apps for your enterprise business let you connect with your customers on a different level, as almost every individual uses a smartphone and average screen time is hitting the highest in every quarter.

4 Models of Ecommerce Business

The e-commerce business has four dominant models. Understanding these models will help you understand the e-commerce landscape. We are shedding light on these models below.

B2C (Business-to-Consumer) Ecommerce

Business-to-consumer (B2C) is the most popular type of e-commerce. This type of ecommerce encompasses all online businesses that sell products or services directly to consumers. The global B2C e-commerce market was valued at around USD 5.8 trillion in 2023. The B2C model integrates direct sellers, online intermediaries, advertising-based B2C, community-based, and fee-based online businesses, with over 2 million active businesses in the model. Amazon, Jingdong, and Alibaba are some of the key B2C players in the world.

B2B (Business-to-Business) Ecommerce

Business-to-business (B2B) E-commerce is another popular type of online or e-commerce business. It refers to selling products or services directly between two businesses. The global B2B e-commerce market is predicted to reach $36 trillion by 2031. Amazon, Alibaba, and eBay are some of the largest B2B e-commerce businesses right now.

C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) Ecommerce

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce is a business model in which consumers sell products or services to other consumers through an online marketplace. The online marketplace provides a platform for buyers and sellers to connect and transact. Etsy, Airbnb, Inc., and Auctions.com are some of the biggest C2C e-commerce platforms.

C2B (Consumer-to-Business) Ecommerce

In the consumer-to-business (C2B) model, consumers create value, and businesses consume that value. The C2B model sometimes caters to independent workers and freelancers who accomplish paid tasks for a business. Independent workers offer their services or products on a website created for C2B e-commerce.

Top 6 E-commerce Platforms

With the growth of the e-commerce business, many effective e-commerce platforms emerged. They have robust features and functionalities for starting and managing e-commerce businesses. They also incorporate features for inventory management, order management, customer analytics, and more. Let’s look at the top 10 e-commerce platforms in 2024.

1. Shopify

Shopify has been an e-commerce market leader with 26.2% share in the ecommerce platform market.

Shopify Features:

• Order management
• Secure payments
• Mobile commerce
• Analytics tools
• SEO tools
• Customer Management Tools
• Drop shipping tools
• Payment tools

Advantages of Shopify Ecommerce:

• Shopify is a secure e-commerce platform.
• It has vast personalization options.
• It’s easy to build and manage e-commerce stores with Shopify.
• It has a diverse set of ecommerce marketing tools.
• It has a robust payment system.
• The Shopify theme store is diverse, and it has mobile-friendly themes.

Shopify Pricing

Starting From $19/month.

 2. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is the second-most-used e-commerce platform, with a 20.1% market share.

WooCommerce Features:

• Content management
• WordPress plugins
• Membership site
• Inventory management 
• Shop Managers
• Subscription-based store 
• 400+ official extensions
• Payment Processing

Advantages of WooCommerce:

• Cost-effective with many free features
• Highly customizable stores
• Secure and reliable store
• User-friendly and easy analytics
• Easy customer and community management

WooCommerce Pricing

The cost of your WooCommerce store depends on your requirements.

3. Wix

Wix is a drag-and-drop e-commerce store-building platform that has gained popularity for its aesthetic themes. Wix stores are often known for their ease of building ecommerce marketing funnels.

Wix Features 

• Free templates
• Template editor
• Inventory management 
• Customer management
• Order management
• Inbuilt payment processor

Advantages of Wix Ecommerce

• Beautiful and user-friendly ecommerce themes
• Unlimited customization options
• Wide set of integrations helping different eCommerce marketing strategies
• SEO optimization features
• Wide range of payment options for ecommerce businesses

Wix Pricing

It starts at $17 per month.

4. Squarespace Online Stores

Squarespace is increasingly becoming an e-commerce business platform for its modern UI and integrations. Around 71.8% of Squarespace’s overall earnings are generated in the United States.

Squarespace Ecommerce Features

• Website Builder 
• Design Tools
• Passwords & Page Locks
• Built-in Mobile Websites
• Squarespace App

Advantages of Squarespace

• 100+ Mobile responsive all-purpose templates
• Unlimited storage and bandwidth
• Free SSL with all plans
• Solid built-in tools for ecommerce content marketing, SEO, and other.

Squarespace Pricing

It starts at $16 per month.

 5. Weebly

Weebly is another popular e-commerce platform. This e-commerce platform is known for building high-speed e-commerce websites with less optimization needed.

Weebly Ecommerce Features

• Drag-and-drop website builder
• Design elements
• Integrated Shopping Cart
• Secure Checkout
• Inventory tracking and management
• Product search

Weebly Advantages

• Fast and mobile-optimized templates
• Secure e-commerce management 
• Robust e-commerce marketing integrations
• Advanced product search for a better customer experience

Weebly Pricing

Weebly starts free. Premium plans start from $10.

6. Big Commerce

Big Commerce is another e-commerce company with the best ecommerce product marketing tools. Big Commerce is ideal for sellers requiring adaptability, low upkeep, and an effortless shopping journey, making it perfectly matched for extensive B2B retailers that operate solely on the internet.

Big Commerce Features

• Scalable catalog
• Order management
• Shipping management
• Multi-currency
• Fully customizable web storefront
• Mobile optimization

Big Commerce Advantages

• Unlimited products, file storage, and bandwidth
• Robust CMS functionality
• Product management automation
• Bulk product update
• Customer management
• Customer filtering and segmentation
• 25+ performance reports

Big Commerce Pricing

Big Commerce pricing starts at $29/month.

Understanding E-commerce Marketing

Unlike physical stores, the e-commerce business also has marketing requirements. But e-commerce marketing is different from contemporary business marketing practices. In this section, we are going to share a little about eCommerce marketing.

What is eCommerce marketing?

Ecommerce marketing is a way of promoting a business that sells its products or services through the Internet. The goal of eCommerce marketing is to drive traffic to the online store, convert visitors into customers, and build a long-term relationship with the customers.

Importance of Effective Marketing Strategies for E-commerce

Effective e-commerce marketing depends on building strategies first. with a well-crafted strategy in place.

1. You understand the competition in your industry and prepare for it.
2. Identify the right audience to market your product.
3. Identify the right marketing channel for your products and ideal customers.
4. Identify the budget for your marketing campaigns.
5. Set realistic and achievably high goals for your sales and other business growth statistics.

But what strategies should we depend on? For building successful marketing strategies, you need to look at three things:

• Your product
• Market Competition
• Marketing Budget
• Marketing Platforms
• Campaign Goals

As you understand these key factors of your e-commerce business, you can start developing your e-commerce marketing strategy with an ecommerce marketing plan and e-commerce marketing tools. Let’s check out the top elements of an e-commerce marketing strategy.

Top 10 Key Elements of an E-commerce Marketing Strategy

There are many market-proven strategies for e-commerce marketing. While every business finds its sweet spot for marketing success, a basic understanding of common strategies will help you decide which will be the best way to market your e-commerce business.

1. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one of the most popular strategies for e-commerce marketing. As the largest social media platform on the planet, it can be an ideal platform for most B2C e-commerce and many B2B e-commerce.

2. Paid Advertising

Paid advertising has become an integral part of all e-commerce promotion across industries. There are different effective advertising campaigns for eCommerce marketing, including PPC, Facebook ads, search engine ads, shopping ads, local search ads, dynamic ads, and more. You need to identify the best ad types for your online business marketing and create a mix of effective ad types with A/B testing.

3. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization is optimizing your store and product pages to increase your e-commerce conversion rate. CRO activities include enhancing your product title, product description, product image optimization, product tag optimization, cart and checkout page optimization, etc. Conversion rate optimization is often used in multi-vendor e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, and more.

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

SEO lets your online store rank higher in search engine results pages. Nearly 80% of people who shop in stores look up information on the internet before making a purchase. Thus, it’s important to optimize your store for search queries with proper keyword implementation in the product name and product description, as well as within the meta description. SEO also has a technical aspect where you need to make sure your eCommerce store is fast-loading, responsive, and has proper header optimization.

5. Content Marketing

Content is not only the king; often, it has become the kingmaker for e-commerce businesses. According to the blog, screen time for American adults has increased by over 60%. And a large portion of these hours are used to consume social media content in different formats. Short-length videos are now more popular than ever. E-commerce businesses should also leverage the power of content to educate and convert their customers with a content marketing strategy.

6. Email Marketing for Ecommerce

Email marketing is still considered the highest ROI marketing channel. You can plan and run optimized email campaigns to share your latest product launches, promotions, and upcoming deals with your customers. While around 80% of all marketing emails are never opened, it’s important to craft your emails with attractive subjects and craft engaging and persuasive copy in your email.

7. Influencer Marketing

With the immense popularity of social media content, successful content creators are now known as influencers. And they can be an effective way of eCommerce marketing. A recent study shows that 45% of European Gen Zer’s trust influencers more than celebrities. While TikTok has become the most effective channel for influencer marketing, Facebook and YouTube are also considered effective for such campaigns.

8. Retargeting Campaigns

Using retargeting has been shown to greatly increase the success of paid advertising efforts. A well-crafted retargeting strategy for e-commerce can help the conversion rate increase to 60–80%. There are different types of retargeting campaigns, including pixel-based retargeting, list-based retargeting, etc. The main goals of retargeting campaigns are to generate awareness, drive conversion, complete the buyer’s journey, increase customer lifetime value, and more.

9. Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing strategies include SMS marketing, mobile app marketing, in-app advertising, and more mobile device-enabled marketing options for e-commerce. According to a SEMrush blog, 31% of retail spending was made on mobile devices in the U.S. An effective mobile marketing strategy for retail e-commerce businesses includes crafting a mobile buying persona, exploring and texting different mobile marketing channels, voice search optimization, video marketing, and personalization plans.

10. Customer Service and Support

In addition to all the strategies we mentioned, a robust customer service and support plan should be a part of your ecommerce marketing strategy, as 83% of online shoppers need assistance to complete an order. A helpful customer service and support service makes your e-commerce store more reliable and trustworthy to your shoppers. And it helps you grow a loyal customer base. Poor customer service, on the other hand, can result in the opposite and discourage people from shopping with you.

Marketing Analytics and Strategic Optimization

When you begin to apply various marketing tactics for your online store, it’s crucial to monitor your marketing metrics closely and examine in detail how various marketing platforms are performing. This process will guide you in making well-informed choices regarding strategic adjustments in your marketing strategies.

Reasons Why You Should Track Ecommerce Marketing Analytics

1. Measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. 
2. It helps you identify customer behavior and buying patterns.
3. Makes up sales and cross-sales easier with customer insights.
4. Identify the latest trends and changes in consumer preferences.
5. Find the most promising marketing channel for your ecommerce marketing.

Importance of continuous optimization and adaptation in e-commerce marketing

The e-commerce landscape is highly scalable, as we mentioned earlier, and that makes it drastically more competitive than contemporary business models. Market trends, buyer personas, and buying patterns can change faster than you think, and to get targeted results from your marketing, continuous optimization and adaptation are vital. Here are the steps for continuous optimization and adaptation:

1. keyword research

Search terms your users may change over time. Finding the latest keywords and key phrases is important to keep your product name and other content relevant.

2. Ad Copies

The search terms your users use may change over time. Finding the latest keywords and key phrases is important to keep your product name and other content relevant.

3. Advertising Budget and Bid Optimization

Your advertising budget and bids will determine the success of an advertising campaign. As we earlier said, the budget of your ad campaign should be flexible according to your updated campaign goals.

4. Automation and Personalization

Marketing automation has changed the way marketing has been done in the past days. There are now dozens of tools to make your marketing campaigns more effective. Adopting these tools and exploring the benefits of using them should be on your priority list.

5. Improvements from Feedback

Your customers can be the best navigators for your success. Carefully listening to them is the best way to improve your products, services, stores, and overall customer experience.

It’s Your Turn

We have covered everything you need to know about ecommerce marketing in brief. Now it’s your turn to start your ecommerce business or turn your existing ecommerce business a profitable one.

We are offering a 1 Hour free Consultation from E-commerce Marketing Experts exclusively for ecommerce entrepreneurs.

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