Sarah Elizabeth
Search engine optimization (SEO). Upselling and cross-selling. Minimizing shopping cart abandonment. Merchants employ countless strategies and best practices to grow their customer base and increase their online sales. But sometimes, it’s still not enough, and merchants look for new ways to up their game.
Merchants who think they’ve tried everything should implement these four strategies to stay ahead of competitors and on e-commerce’s cutting edge.
1. Utilize Mobile E-Commerce
Today’s smartphones are for much more than making calls and texting. They’re now for taking photos, socializing, doing research — and even for making purchases.
In 2015, mobile commerce (m-commerce), accounted for nearly 33% of all U.S. e-commerce sales. With that number continuing to grow, merchants must take advantage of m-commerce to diversify, expand and keep up with the competition.
Luckily, m-commerce tools have become more accessible and cost-effective, making it easy for even for the smallest merchants to quickly get up and running with a mobile app. And besides helping them reach new customers, merchants are finding that robust m-commerce apps can improve the entire customer experience and bolster the success of brick-and-mortar locations.
2. Accept New Payment Solutions
As m- and e-commerce evolve, so do payment options. Merchants should consider adding new payment alternatives to their sites to streamline the checkout process and make it easier for customers to make purchases.
Some of the most popular alternative payment solutions include:
- Google Wallet. This digital wallet stores payment details electronically, improving the checkout experience and reducing sign-in friction for customers.
- Android Pay and Apple Pay. Customers simply use the Android or Apple Pay buttons on a retailer’s site or app, and the transaction immediately processes — no need to create accounts or log in.
- With more than 210 million accounts active nationwide, PayPal is a payment favorite among merchants and customers. Customers appreciate that they don’t have to enter financial information every time they shop; merchants like the convenience and reliability.
- Amazon Pay. This solution offers a familiar, trusted way to check out, with a seamless mobile payment experience and a massive user-base. Customers can shop and check out ever leaving a merchant’s website to complete a payment.
- Visa Checkout and MasterPass. Because most people use at least one of these cards, these are trusted payment solutions among customers. And by offering a single sign-on that saves customers from having to re-enter payment and shipping data, Visa and MasterCard offer a simple, streamlined checkout process.
3. Encourage Cross-Border Sales
The cross-border market is growing quickly — reaching $900 billion in gross merchandise value by 2020 — and merchants must grow with it.
Cross-border purchases tend to be of greater value than those in domestic markets, and shoppers are increasingly willing to buy from international merchants who offer the products they can’t purchase locally.
Although international expansion isn’t easy — merchants must conduct thorough market research to understand the competitive landscape, local customs, languages and cultural differences — e-commerce businesses will find that it’s well-worth the effort.
4. Incorporate a Smart Fraud Protection Strategy
Whatever strategies are used to increase sales, no merchant should ever risk payment and data security. When merchants research fraud protection solutions to protect their transactions, they’ll want to select a comprehensive option that protects businesses against the latest trends in fraud behavior and stops cybercriminals before their fraudulent transactions are ever processed.
The most effective solution for e-commerce retailers is a hybrid one — one that combines machine-learning algorithms with a specialized staff that’s trained in fraud validation and transaction investigation. The result is a sophisticated system capable of analyzing fraud attack patterns and order behaviors and systematically increasing revenue, which is a great investment at any stage of business development.
When it comes to expanding into new payment solutions, markets and technologies, selecting the right fraud protection partner is paramount. Talk with a ClearSale credit card fraud analyst today to learn how our multilayered approach can help you safely grow your sales and protect your business from credit card fraud.
