You invested a lot of money building your brand and in product development, but this may have all been done keeping in mind physical retail stores as the primary driver of sales.
As a marketer you will know that the five P’s of marketing are very different for ecommerce.
In the ecommerce world there are many considerations that are different from physical retail.
Place :
For one, the place of selling is very different. Selling online is not cheaper. Selling online also means reaching out to a bigger and more diverse audience. So when it comes to place, get ready for many more challenges.
It is not about location, location, location of your store. It’s about location, location, location of your customers.
As an ecommerce brand you need to have your supply chain and distribution based on where the end consumer is staying and not where the end consumer is visiting.
Promotions:
Promotions and communication for ecommerce are usually going to be different. If you are participating on a sale on Amazon, you may not be in sync with your offline sales. Or, you are aiming to sell off old inventory via ecommerce and run a promotion - This too may not be consistent with your offline sales.
Brands need to accept the promotions on online platforms may not necessarily be in sync with offline promotions.
Retail trade and channel partner’s expectations need to be managed or get them too on the online bandwagon.
Pricing:
Pricing of products sold online has to be competitive and has to be easily comparable with other competing products.
Brands need a pricing strategy that is different from offline. It could often mean creating cheaper products for online sales.
Packaging:
Online sales enable brands to interact with the consumer when packagings are delivered. Packaging plays an important role in online retail.
Some of the aspects are:
1. Product safety and protection wile in transit
2. Brand image and connectivity with the consumer
3. Relevance to the promotion or occasion, e.g.: gift packaging or festival packaging
4. Warehouse storage and stacking compatibility
As a brand selling online, packaging considerations are significantly different (and may be more expensive) than regular physical retail packaging.
Product:
Ecommerce consumers and buying behaviour can guide a brand on new product development.
Every marketer wants to make products that consumers can buy. Ecommerce presents an opportunity for brands to make products that are suitable for ecommerce consumers . In some cases a reduction in features may reduce the cost significantly without compromising the basic product promise. In some cases a bigger pack size may work out better in terms of the price to delivery cost ratio. Or a combo pack may be created to bundle more than one products
Marketers can even look at products that use their existing brands but are in a totally new area. For example, if a steel company was to start making toys of steel, it could still use its brand name and raw material while entering into a totally new segment.
Such nimbleness and ability to test new products concept is enabled by ecommerce.
Brands can look at the following options:
1. Launch variants of existing products for online sales only (web exclusive)
2. Launch new internet only products
In summary, brands need to consider creating and launching internet only products. The advantages are:
1. Reach out to new customers
2. Be able to customize products based on segments
3. Create an ability to sell globally using cross border ecommerce
4. Test a broader range of products to identify winners that can also be sold offline
To know more about how you can create internet only products and sell them on ecommerce platforms in your country and overseas, do contact us.
We can provide you the advice and consultancy to enable your vision and can support the global execution of your online initiatives
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