6 Digital Marketing Channels for the Indian eCommerce Market

The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) space in India is dominated by eCommerce. Ecommerce is nothing but the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. As per the projection by Morgan Stanley, eCommerce sales in India reached $16 billion during the year 2016-17 and is expected to grow seven fold in the next two year. By 2026, India’s online retail will account for 12% of India’s overall retail market.

The main driving forces behind the growth of ecommerce in India is – rising number of internet and smartphone users, unpararelled Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST), introduction of digital payments, and busy schedules of working professionals.

Currently, around 14% of India’s internet users shop online and Morgan Stanley predicts that India will have 475 million online shoppers by 2016. These numbers are an indication that the prospects of the Indian eCommerce industry are bright and growth in this sector, phenomenal.

What does this mean for marketers?

Every business that is looking at generating revenue, needs to be known to its potential buyers. Unless you market your products, your potential customers will never be aware of your business offerings. Marketing exposes your product and brand to people. Advertising, public relations, promotions and sales – all of these are covered under the marketing umbrella.

Even when it comes to eCommerce, the same need for marketing arises. Your eCommerce business needs to be known to your prospects. Since most of the people these days shop online due to its ease and convenience, marketers are increasingly looking at deploying digital media to market their products.

Having said that, we also need to remember that even traditional methods of marketing like TV and radio ads, print ads, newspapers, etc. can play a major role in the success of your business. Using a multichannel approach where both traditional and digital marketing strategies are combined, the eCommerce industry can market its products, raise brand awareness and boost sale conversions.

Why Digital Marketing for eCommerce?

Simply put, Digital Marketing is the use of digital channels to advertise your products. It allows you to run and manage your campaigns quickly and track results on a real-time basis. Digital marketing is also cost-effective compared to traditional marketing methods. It offers greater reach as people can view your campaign from anywhere in the world, irrespective of your location.

Web Analytics makes it possible for businesses to track conversion rates and help business owners know if their website is delivering optimal ROI. As compared to traditional methods, Digital Marketing is known to generate 2.8 times more revenue.

6 Digital Marketing channels for the Indian eCommerce market

There are a lot of digital marketing channels available but we’ve picked up the best ones suited for an eCommerce industry. Have a look at the below:

1. Social Media platforms

Social Media is used by brands to advertise, enhance their online presence, and deliver superior-quality customer service. The most popular social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. All of these platforms have a combined user base of 920 million worldwide. This number is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2018. Social platforms can be used to grow eCommerce business by creating specifically targeted ads based on customers’ online behavior and preferences. Among all the social media platforms, Facebook is said to have produced the best ROI.

2. Email

Though email has been around for quite some time, it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. It provides a direct means to communicate with your existing and potential customer. It is the most reliable, profitable, and most effective method in digital marketing. Approximately, 23% of sales of any business, including eCommerce, happens through email marketing in the form of promotional emails, transactional emails, free coupons, or loyalty programs.

3. Pay Per Click Advertising

This is one of the most track-able and optimize-able form of advertising and can generate instant traffic to your site. The more you spend, the higher your ad gets placed in the search result, and your potential buyer sees your business first. Every time your ad is clicked, a small fee is paid to the search engine. Pay Per Click marketing can be extremely beneficial when you want your business to find new prospects instantly and when you want to advertise directly to people interested in what your eCommerce site has to offer. This form of advertising allows you to measure your ROI by letting you see exactly what you are getting out of the ads.

4. Search Engine Optimisation

E-commerce sites can use SEO to attract visitors to their site when they search for products available for sale, on their site. SEO is considered as one of the most effective digital marketing practices. It is responsible for generating approximately 30% of eCommerce site traffic and hence, offers a massive opportunity for eCommerce sites to acquire traffic without paying anything.

5. Display Advertising

One of the most popular forms of digital marketing, display advertising uses visual means (banners, images, and buttons) to promote a brand. They are paid advertisements that are shown to users in the form of graphics when they are browsing the net. Display ads are visually appealing, support brand awareness, increase your brand’s visibility, provide data and have the ability to effectively target your potential customers.

6. Mobile

These days, one can hardly make it through a day without a mobile in their pockets. Marketers can take this opportunity to effectively engage and convert prospects into buyers. According to a report released by ShopVisible, 30% of eCommerce site traffic came from mobile devices and 89% of consumers use a search engine on their mobile devices. Hence, eCommerce businesses need to make sure that their websites have a mobile app version so as to not lose out on potential buyers. Mobile Marketing can be used to increase conversions, retention and overall engagement.

What happens when the two most booming sectors – Digital Marketing and Ecommerce come together? The answer is simple. It opens up a sea of career opportunities.