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How mobile technology is shaping the e-commerce industry?

Category: Ecommerce

How mobile technology is shaping the e-commerce industry?
Mohab Ecommerce 0

How mobile technology is shaping the e-commerce industry?

In today’s world, both online retail and offline retail sales are crucial for retailers. Often, these two are closely intertwined, one driving another and vice-versa. But there is one phenomenon that is influencing both these retail methods – mobile technology. Here we will emphasize the influence of mobile technology in the e-commerce industry.

The statistics reveal that almost half of the global internet traffic, 52.4% in the third quarter of 2018, is generated from mobile devices. You can boost e-commerce sales if you implement m-commerce strategies or adopt mobile technology to drive e-commerce sales.

Check out the following mobile technology trends that can be fruitful for your e-commerce business.

The surge in smartphone and internet penetration

There were 1.57 billion smartphone users in 2014, and the number is expected to reach 2.87 billion by 2020. In addition to this, the internet penetration rate stood at 53% in 2018 as the number of internet users rose to 4.021 billion, a 7% year-on-year rise. These statistics depict the importance of smartphones usage. Therefore, it becomes obligatory for every business entity to establish its presence on mobile. This is applicable to e-commerce businesses as well.

Ask your developer to create a responsive website that adapts comfortably according to the screen size of the device. Moreover, you can also consider investing in a mobile shopping app, if budget allows. The ultimate aim is to streamline e-commerce business for mobile users. This will ensure that buyers can access your online retail store anytime and anywhere.

Mobile payments

With the evolution of mobile technology, secure payment online systems have been developed, exclusively meant for mobile phones. There are numerous payment options for users, such as credit or debit card payments, net banking, mobile wallets, UPI payments, EMI payments, and so on. The mobile wallets and UPI payments specifically target mobile users and enable them to complete a payment in a couple of steps. These are secure payment processors that ensure end-to-end encryption, preventing any chances of fraudulent activities.

Customer engagement

When you emphasize m-commerce, you get an opportunity to target a custom audience, showcasing customized content. Based on the preferences of the buyers, and their browsing history, you can deliver custom content and notifications. Similarly, you can easily determine the peak hours when mobile users are online. Send a push notification during this time period, as there is a high probability that a user will check it out.

Ensuring an interactive user interface is the key to boost mobile sales. For example, uploading high definition visuals like 360-degree photos, videos, etc. enchants onlookers. You can also opt for augmented reality wherein, users can actually analyze products in a real-world scenario.  Another way is to enable live chat feature on the app or mobile website. The users prefer conversing on a mobile phone as this is the most convenient mode of communication.

Social media integration

On an average, a user spends 116 minutes per day on social media, and 61% social media usage is on a smartphone. Since social media allow users to browse and shop products without leaving their social media account, you can harness this opportunity to drive e-commerce sales. For example, Facebook shop, Instagram shop, and Pinterest’s buyable pins are examples of social media commerce. After browsing products and services, users click on “Buy or Shop” icon, the link redirects them to the payment gateway page, resulting in the order confirmation.

Conclusion

This is the right moment for adopting and implementing mobile technology in your e-commerce business. If you delay it further, your competitors might gain an edge over you by driving sales via mobile purchases. Make yourself future ready by targeting the right audience with the right set of strategies.

6 years ago
How Digital Payments Can Ensure Online Business Success
Mohab Ecommerce 0

How Digital Payments Can Ensure Online Business Success

The modern business ecosystem today, is fast changing and as a business owner, you must adapt to survive these changes. One of the most phenomenal change, is the influence of the online market. If your business is not leveraging the growing internet market, you are missing out big time. Now, to survive in the highly competitive online market, you must provide a seamless shopping experience. One way of doing this is implementing a system which allows you to take payments online. A digital payment option helps unlock your business potential in various ways.

This article highlights how an efficient digital payment system, can ensure the success of your online business. Keep reading to know more.

  1. Providing a Fast and Convenient Payment Method

Online shoppers are infamous for their short attention span and their want for instant gratification. What this means, is that you must provide what they need, there and then. After a shopper adds items to their cart, the last thing you want is hitches in the payment process.

While most e-commerce websites promise easy payment, this does not reflect on the choice of payment options they offer. With digital payments, you can now provide a seamless shopping experience which in turn, leads to customer loyalty, fewer abandoned carts, increased sales conversion, and better ROI.

  1. Expanded Customer Base

Most e-commerce websites started out with only credit and debit card, as payment options. But things have now changed and if you do not adapt, you risk of being swept aside in this volatile market landscape. Digital payments allow more customers to complete the purchase journey on your online store.

You have an opportunity to expand your customer base which is the dream of every entrepreneur. By offering multiple payment options, you improve the shopping experience leading to increased sales, high ROI, customer loyalty, and brand recognition.

  1. Serve Various Geographical Markets

The best digital payment systems provide multi-site and multi-currency capabilities. It is now possible to target different geographical markets without the complexities of currency conversion. The idea of a global village has come to pass, and you should implement the best payment system to ensure you leverage this internationalization of commerce.

  1. Minimize or Eliminate Fraud

One of the greatest concerns in the online market ecosystem is safety when making payments. Shoppers must provide sensitive data, to complete payment and when such data falls in the wrong hands, many things can go wrong. This is where digital payments come in handy. The best payment gateway process entails performing card related encryption, authentication, and verification. Through such foolproof security measures, identity theft and fraud can be prevented.

If you have not integrated a digital payment system in your e-commerce store, you need to consider the risks for your business and your customers. Now that online shoppers appreciate the risk of online payments, they only use stores which guarantee the safest shopping experience. It is time to explore available payment gateways and purchase the best for your online store, to provide a safe and seamless shopping experience to the customer.

  1. Increase Profitability

One of the main objectives for every business owner, is to make a profit. In the e-commerce landscape, the stiff competition can reduce profitability and you must think outside the box to maintain the flow of the customers. This is where a digital payment solution comes in handy.

If you can accept multiple credit cards, mobile money, and other digital payment options, you will make customers happy which in turn leads to increased sales and profitability.  Potential customers will find it easy to complete orders which will, in turn, improve your brand’s reputation.

  1. Excellent Customer Satisfaction Levels

One of the major points of concern for online shoppers is the lack of a flexible payment option. It is a major reason many businesses rank poorly in terms of customer satisfaction levels. To overcome this challenge, you need to adopt digital payments.

It is an easy way of keeping your customers happy which leads to high customer ratings. Now that most shoppers look for business rating before making a purchase, you need to implement a seamless shopping experience by allowing flexible digital payments.

There is no gainsaying, the importance of an efficient payment gateway solution allows for seamless digital payments. It is an effective technique to keep your customers happy, increase your customer base, enhance safety security, cut the cost of accepting payments, and increase ROI.

6 years ago
Quick Secrets to Successful User Onboarding
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Quick Secrets to Successful User Onboarding

The rapid development of the e-commerce industry necessitates equally fast adjustments from business owners. One of the most important aspects of an online business is user experience and this is where your business will fail or succeed.  By embracing new technologies, online businesses can now provide a seamless user experience, thus gaining a competitive edge. Online payment platforms are among these critical technologies every online business must embrace in its endeavor for improved UX. If you plan to leverage a new payment platform on your website, it is important to consider user onboarding. This entails increasing the chances that new users become successful when adopting your application. It is the most crucial yet frustrating element of a product launch because it determines the first impression. As they say, first impressions are crucial and for this reason, developers and website owners must learn how to improve user onboarding. This article tackles some crucial things a software developer should consider to help users find new value and success when using their product. Read on.

Why User Onboarding Matters

When thinking of customer retention in e-commerce, most business owners adopt a wait-and-see approach. The idea is to wait for a few weeks after a product launches on the website and start making changes that will hopefully retain users.

  • Sells Your Products Value Proposition

Now, internet users have an infamously short attention span and this is enough reason to develop an intuitive onboarding experience. Such an experience enlightens users in the essentials of the payment solutions system. User onboarding sells your product’s value propositions and helps users experience the benefits as fast as possible thus reducing the possibility of dropping out.

  • Greater Conversions

It is important to appreciate that great conversions are about proving to customers your product’s value and full potential in the product launch and trial. User onboarding is crucial not only in improving the growth rate of users on your e-commerce platform and revenue but also in customer retention.

  • Customer Retention

Customer retention has now emerged as a more important business objective surpassing acquisition. In essence, user onboarding is a chance to create a great first impression. In this case, once the software user installs your product, they expect to get value and that’s what user onboarding is about.

  • Setting the Tone Of Interactions

Remember, the first experience a user has on the software sets the tone for your relationship and determines whether this will be a long-term interaction.

Small Tweaks to Make User Onboarding Work 

While user onboarding remains a nascent aspect of website development, some trendsetters have already charted the way. Some of the little things you can do make your online payment gateway work during the launch phase include:

  1. Setting realistic expectations: Show users where they are in the process of using the payment system and how far they have to go. Through the Endowed Progress Effect, you will motivate them to complete the steps and own the process.
  2. Map User Journeys/Tailor the experience: You need to understand the users’ persona to map their journey when using the product. What are the user’s needs, goals and motivations when using the payment application on your site? Are they worried about the cost? Do they need some education about the product? Try tailoring the product to suit the diverse needs of target users.
  3. Offer a compelling value proposition early: You must communicate the value proposition early enough through a simple, clear description of what makes your payment system unique. Make sure you help the user understand cost implications and benefits of the software early to spur further interest.
  4. Simplify: Simplicity is underrated in website development, yet it makes the difference between a successful system and a failed one. Keep things simple in the free trial form, a name, an email, or a social login such as Google or Facebook will work great for user onboarding.
  5. Choose a specific end goal for your user to reach: Make sure you understand where you want users to end the process and what is to be achieved there. Remember always to put the user’s goals first and not your product’s goals.
  6. Reduce friction: A poor sign-up process can ruin the onboarding. While friction will occur due to questions and permissions, you can reduce it through good interface design. Try to decrease form completion time through online form validation and build trust through customer reviews, and testimonials throughout the process.
  7. Use guided interactions: This educates and familiarizes users with the core features of the software.

These are just a few of the little things you can do when learning how to integrate payment gateway.  It will make the onboarding process successful leading to increased customer retention.

6 years ago
Payment Gateway Providers 101 – Why and How They Matter in Online Payment Processing
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Payment Gateway Providers 101 – Why and How They Matter in Online Payment Processing

The stiff competition in the online ecosystem calls for innovative strategies to stay ahead of your competition. One of the easiest ways to do this is by offering a seamless customer experience.  A payment gateway comes in handy in helping you offer a smooth user experience by allowing easier processing of payments on your ecommerce store. If you plan to set up an online business or if you have problems with billing, it is crucial to learn how to get these payment gateways working for you. Here are the main points you need to know about payment gateways. Keep reading.
How the Payment Gateway Works

To make things clearer, you need to understand what a payment gateway does. Now, in an online payment transaction, there is the merchant/business, the online customer, and the technology. In the part of the technology, you have the payment gateway (linking your site’s shopping cart to the card processor) and the payment processor.

During a transaction, a payment gateway encrypts credit/debit card data and keeps it private before sending it to the payment processor. The processor then sends this encrypted information to the issuing bank which accepts or declines depending on availability of funds and other factors.

In the simplest understanding, the payment gateway is a software integrated into your ecommerce website to send all of your credit card transactions to your credit card processors. At the same time, it also sends a message back from your credit card processor letting you know if a particular transaction has been authorized.

The Crucial Role of Payment Gateways

To fully understand the reason as to why you need the best payment gateway for your ecommerce store, consider the following:

  1. Serves as the middleman: The payment gateway reduces the temporal distance and makes payment possible in a matter of seconds. This software connects the customer’s bank, your bank, the acquiring bank, and the issuing bank.
  2. Authentication: Online transactions are fraught with risks and many businesses lose billions each year. An efficient payment gateway authenticates the card information and Okays the transaction to continue. There are no fears about losing money on your end.
  3. Security/Minimizing risk: In an ecommerce environment where risks are high, you need a system that mitigates such risks through encryption. You don’t want to lose your customers’ sensitive data when processing payment as this can ruin your business. The east payment gateway ensures compliance with security standards including Payment Card Data Security Standard among others.
  4. Hassle-free payment transactions: When you have an effective payment gateway, your payment transactions will flow smoothly and this boosts customer retention. The software makes the process hassle-free for both the merchant and the buyer.
  5. Reporting tool: All information collected during a transaction is crucial for your business and as such the payment gateway shares this to the parties concerned.

In essence, payment gateways are convenient, user-friendly and they have low commissions. They reduce the risk of theft and loss, which could tarnish your company’s reputation. Whatever the industry you are in, a good payment gateway is a handy tool in providing a seamless customer experience.

When shopping for a payment gateway, consider your business needs first. Look for multiple features such as encryption, recurring billing, virtual terminal, PCI Compliance and ease of integration with other tools such as Quickbooks. Payment gateway charges also vary and include setup fees, monthly fees, registration fees, payment processing fees, transaction fees, refund fees, and chargeback fees, limit fees, batch processing fee, termination fees and fund transfer fee among others.

You must also consider data security among other features. The gateway should be easy to set up and user-friendly. You should also compare the benefits of hosted vs. integrated gateways before picking one of them. Using this information, go ahead and leverage the best payment gateway to stay ahead of the pack in your industry.

6 years ago
How to Set the Right Price for your Product or Service
Mohab Ecommerce 0

How to Set the Right Price for your Product or Service

Placing an appropriate price tag on a product or service is a sensitive task. To generate sufficient profit, you have to set the right price. At the same time, you cannot exaggerate it because this will keep buyers away from your store. The following set of recommendations will help you in optimizing the pricing strategy for your e-commerce business.

Cost Analysis

Right from manufacturing to the delivery of the product, everything is driven by money. There are various costs involved in a business, directly or indirectly associated with the product or service. The market price depends on the costs and expenses incurred. The profit is what you get after deducting costs from the market price.

The direct costs are associated with the manufacturing the product or conceptualizing a service. The overhead costs include fixed and variable costs like rent, salaries, administrative expenses, warehouse maintenance, advertising costs, payment gateway charges, and so on. After considering all these aspects, you can determine the right selling price.

Market Evaluation

You should be aware of the consumer behavior and industry trends to accomplish the task of market evaluation. Identify and segregate your customers on the basis of demographics, buying trends, and so on. Work on determining the amount of money they are willing to pay for your product or service. You can conduct surveys to gather complete information.

Competition Analysis

There is a rare chance that you don’t have competition in your niche, and therefore, you should be prepared to perform competition analysis. The procedure involves evaluating their business process, analyzing products or services, identifying their tie-ups, and understanding their pricing strategy. You have to offer a superior product or service, at a competitive price, to gain prominence in the market.

Value Proposition

The value proposition is an art, and if you can master this, you can reap maximum benefits. Finalizing a price depends on the value of your offering. If you are dealing in premium products or expert services, you cannot set a low price. You have to maintain a suitable price to maintain its value proposition.

In addition to these, you can also work on user experience. For example, you can install a payment gateway for smooth and swift online payments. Customers are sensitive, and they are willing to pay more if you enhance their shopping experience.

Marketing and Promotions

Understand buyer’s psychology to mark the correct price of your product or service. During marketing stints, utilize tactics that will attract the buyers. For example, when a buyer sees a “SALE” tag, he or she develops an urge to check out the product. Similarly, odd numbers in the price tag can rake in more sales. Instead of a boring 500, simply mark the price as 499. Although there is no significant change in the price, it will definitely attract more onlookers.

Paid promotions can add up to the overhead costs. Whether you opt for social media promotions, search engine promotions, influencer marketing, or affiliate marketing; prepare an estimate and consider it at the time of pricing.

Pricing Options

Some of the pricing methods that you can adopt include:

  • Penetration pricing – This is suitable when you plan to acquire a market share in the initial stage. Initially, you can offer a low price and increase it later when you have established your presence.
  • Pre-emptive pricing – You have numerous competitors in your niche. To disrupt their monopoly, you can offer similar products or services at lesser prices.
  • Premium decoy pricing – When you plan to boost sales of a particular product, simply increase the price of other products so that customer opts for the product with the lowest price.
  • Price Leadership – When you established your brand and customers vouch for your product or services, you can set up a convenient price, without worrying about market trends and competitors’ presence.

You can deploy any or all of the aforementioned suggestions to finalize the product or service price. Your ultimate aim should be to maximize revenue and minimize expenditure. You can also innovate and apply pricing strategies or experiment with different combinations of pricing methods to obtain best results.

6 years ago