Driving E-Commerce Sales Without Discounting Products

How to Drive E-commerce Sales Without Discounting At fırst blush, discounting seems like a great way to drive sales. E-commerce customers love a good deal, and they hate the feeling they might miss out on a sale. Last Thanksgiving, nearly 126.9 million US adults are projected to redeem online In 2016... 2/3 coupons, compared 92.3 million in 2012. of the top 1,000 e-retailers offered discounts. However, discounting your e-commerce products can actually harm your business in the long term. Here's how: The Dangers of Discounting Studies have shown a direct correlation MEGA SALE! between price, discounting, and consumer perception of an item's value. The greater the discount, the lower the perceived value. KNOCK OFF DAMAGED ITEMS!! Short-Term Benefits Special Edition Just One study found that supermarket sales of Cornflakes increased by 500% during a day of discounting, but fell back to normal levels as soon as the promotion was over. Another Corn Flakes Cereal Powder Detergent SALE! $2.99 400 Competitor Detergent The same study found that when one brand discounted their laundry detergent, " sales increased by 450%. However, competitors' sales didn't fall during the same period, and in fact, one competitor 100 saw sales increase by 200%. 300 200 No) Long-Term Costs NO VAČANCY One trial of subscription-based software companies found that discounting the first month of service led to customers valuing the product at least 12% lower than the list price. DISCOUNTED RATES! Discounting, then, is a slippery slope. Recent studies found that 81% of hoteliers were discounting more now than they were five years ago, with 75% saying this had done damage to their brand. Addressing The Real Problem Why Don't People Buy Your Stuff? Only 2% of shoppers convert on their first visit to an online store. Discounts are effective because they create an incentive to buy now. But you can increase your sales without resorting to discounts by understanding what stops shoppers from buying and what keeps them coming back for more. What Stops Customers From Buying What Keeps Customers Buying $1 61% Shipping 18% Reviews 57% Not ready 8% Social Spend ... Site speed 21% 13% Loyalty Security 17% 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 61% of shoppers say they would abandon an order if free shipping | $ L wasn't offered FREE SHIPPING! Meanwhile, 69% of shoppers consider themselves more likely to support a retailer who offers free shipping. And while offering free shipping can be costly, doing so has been shown to increase order values. Your Cart THIS ITEMΙ SHIPS FREE! $5.00 BUY NOw Dan Ariely, a behavioral economics professor at Duke University, found that people are between four and five times more likely to spend $5 for an item if either the shipping or the item is free as they are to pay $2.50 for the same product plus $2.50 for shipping. ONLY $2.50 SHIPPING! $2.50 BUY NOw 100 IN STOCK! 57% of shoppers abandon their carts because they're not ready to buy yet Sending abandoned cart emails within three hours has been shown to reduce abandonment by up to 40%. Using retargeting can also bring shoppers back when they're ready. Visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert. 21% of abandoned carts are caused by a slow payment process From choosing the right hosting to leveraging browser caching and compressing images, small improvements to your site speed can pay big dividends. 17% of abandoned carts are caused by concerns about payment security Adding security logos to your checkout page has been shown to increase sales by 4-6%. 61% of customers read reviews before purchasing Consumer reviews are trusted nearly 12 times more than product descriptions from manufacturers, and reviews produce an average sales uplift of 18%. 2% + average order 5% return rate reduction, 11% conversion 18% uplift Visitors from social spend on average, 8.2% more than other shoppers Adding 'shop now' buttons to your social media properties will make it even easier for your customers to buy. With 'buy it' and 'shop now' buttons rolling out on Pinterest and Instagram respectively, take advantage of the ability to sell natively through social media. P Pin it! Buy It! Loyalty Program Customers Spend 13% More Than Average Customers Loyalty programs are particularly well suited to businesses with products customers need to buy regularly, or businesses with similar offerings to their competitors. When implementing an e-commerce loyalty program, consider some best practices: Consider your goals: Loyalty programs can help acquire new customers, improve retention, or increase lifetime value. Decide on your primary focus at the outset. Target: Use market research to identify the customer segment best suited to your loyalty program. Choose Your Model: Based on your research, identify the kind of program that will best appeal to your target segment, whether it's flat discounts, tiered rewards, or personalized offers. % /SLANT Marketing From A Different Angle Sources: http://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/170106/How-Discounting-is-Killing-Your-Pricing-Strategy http://marketing-bulletin.massey.ac.nz/V2/MB_V2_N1_Hoek.pdf http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Trends-Reports/Survey-reveals-long-term-impact-of-discounting-on-hotel-brands http://business.time.com/2012/12/18/why-free-shipping-is-almost-universal-and-why-you-should-be-wary-of-it/ https://www.shopify.com/blog/8484093-why-online-retailers-are-losing-67-45-of-sales-and-what-to-do-about-it http://www.easy-smtp.com/transactional-email-best-practices http://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2014/09/infographic-retargeting-advertising-statistics.html %24