THE PROVEN ROADMAP TO DEVELOP YOUR ECOMMERCE APP

According to data compiled by Statista, over 82% of retail sales take place in brick-and-mortar stores. Within that, more than 81% of customers have spent time researching products online before deciding. This demonstrates both online and offline business activities must be aligned for the optimized overall operation. That means you, as a business, need to consider implementing an O2O commerce strategy in line with your business goals and capabilities.

Define objectives

To establish objectives, it’s important to determine your vision for O2O commerce implementation. It represents the future look that you aim to achieve, and then you will set specific and measurable goals. You can also use SWOT to make sure you understand your strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats. 

Clear objectives will keep you focused on what is important, minimize risks, and achieve O2O commerce success.

Plan the strategy

Next is to work with your team to develop O2O strategies to achieve the established objectives. 

You can use performance analysis software to measure and analyze, identifying pain points and touchpoints throughout the purchasing journey. This way, you can determine which O2O model to implement and which channels are suited for the chosen model. 

After choosing your business model, you will select resources to facilitate O2O commerce. 

Here are 3 great ways to pool resources:

Number 1. Plan to build your in-house team for both online and offline sales channels

Pros: You can manage and shape your team to develop the business the way you want

Cons: It requires significant costs and time to recruit and train your in-house team, making your market entry to be slower than the competition. 

Number 2. Collaborate with an O2O-experienced developer

Pros: You can learn a lot from your partner

Cons: It’s not easy to find trustworthy and professional partners with expertise that suits your needs. 

Number 3. Facilitate the O2O commerce with an expert developer along with building the in-house team to maintain it.

Pros: You can quickly develop the O2O system and control it in the long run

Cons: It takes time to find a trustworthy vendor, as well as the costs to recruit and train your in-house team.

Those approaches can help you in effectively outlining your O2O commerce plan, encompassing aspects such as budget allocation and implementation timeline.

Optimize the offline commerce system

Typically, businesses that implement O2O strategies are those that already have an existing offline business system. However, to effectively fulfill O2O orders you must optimize your offline commerce capabilities. The optimized offline system will strengthen your O2O operations with some management software such as POS, CRM, ERP, and PIM instead of using manual management processes relying on paperwork or Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel, OneNote, Access, etc).

POS (Point of Sale) is where the buying and selling transactions take place. A POS system combines hardware and software to create a complete transaction process. Some popular POS systems include Magestore, mPOS, VNPAY, and KiotViet. 

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is software that helps plan and manage all operations of a business. Some world-renowned ERPs include Odoo, Sage, TomERP, Oracle, and SAP. 

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a software that allows you to manage information and interaction of your existing and prospective customers. CRM helps you to collect, store, and analyze customer data to improve customer interactions and enhance sales capabilities. You can use CRM tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Zoho, and Pipedrive. 

PIM (Product Information Management) is a system used to store and manage your business’s product information in a centralized manner. Product information includes technical specifications, descriptions, images, videos, size and color information, multilingual product descriptions, and other relevant information needed by marketers or sales staff. There are some popular PIM solutions including Pimworks, Salsify, Akeneo, and Inriver.  

Depending on the current level of digitization in your offline operations, you can consider upgrading existing systems, transitioning to different platforms, or implementing additional suitable software solutions. 

Develop the online commerce system

Select platforms

Typically, building the online commerce system including websites, and apps, you can choose between 2 types of platforms: SaaS and Open Source.

SaaS (Software as a Service) platform is a service delivery model where the website system is provided as software. In this model, data is stored on the provider’s server, and the platform is responsible for handling technical issues for the business.

Some popular SaaS platforms:  Haravan, Shopify, and BigCommerce.

• Pros: Easy to use, quick development time, high security, 24/7 customer support
• Cons: Increasing development costs over time, businesses have limited ownership of source code and data, limitations in functionality and customization, and scalability.

The SaaS platform is often a popular choice for startups or SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) due to its reasonable cost and implementation time. 

The Open Source platform refers to software with publicly available source code that can be used by anyone free of charge. Open-source platforms are the optimal choice for businesses to develop comprehensive websites and apps. 

Some notable Open-source platforms include Magento, WooCommerce (a plugin for WordPress), and OpenCart. 

• Pros: High customization and scalability, diverse critical features and utilities, you have ownership of source code and data. 
• Cons: Not user-friendly, high development costs, lengthy implementation time. 

The Open-source platform is the perfect choice for enterprise-level businesses requiring complex customization due to its high flexibility and scalability.

In addition, you can also build your store on popular eCommerce marketplaces such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, and Amazon. Marketplaces give you a great opportunity to reach out to a wide pool of potential customers and increase sales. Moreover, using eCommerce marketplaces helps you save costs on ads, shipping, and customer relationship management (CRM).

To succeed on marketplaces, you will need optimized store pages and an effective strategy. It’s easier said than done, however, relying on eCommerce marketplaces in the long run may result in a loss of control over customers and their data. Marketplaces will have their own policies regarding customer data management and contact information making it difficult for you to directly access their customers and may lose these potential customers to your competition. 

Overall, to effectively implement O2O commerce, you can choose to develop an online system alongside your offline system or proceed with it after getting the offline system done. 

Create UI/UX design

After choosing the platform to build the O2O e-commerce website and app, you will create the UI/UX design that aligns with your brand’s characteristics. 

There are 3 recommended approaches:

• Using pre-built themes: This helps you save theme costs. Both SaaS and Open-source platforms offer a variety of themes ranging from $300 to $500.
• Customizing based on pre-built themes: This approach allows you to customize the theme to suit your development needs. 
• Create the UI/UX design from scratch: This helps you to develop your brand image uniquely and creatively compared to the majority of competitors. It may incur higher costs compared to using pre-built themes but the “tailored” design will meet the market needs and your business’s requirements. 

Develop critical functions for the digital system

After you’ve done with your design, it’s time to develop some critical functions for both eCommerce website and app implementation. Below are a few suggestions:

• Catalog Management: involves managing categories, functions, prices, and product images/videos to optimize your operations.
• Sales Management: focus on managing order information, and being aware of customer shopping behavior.
• Marketing Management: integrating features such as URLs, meta tags, and internal links to optimize SEO, and combine with other effective marketing campaigns to boost sales. 
• Content Management: All about generating and optimizing engaging content for CMS, including text, images, banners, widgets, templates as well as blogs, and branded content, v.v
• Customer Management: All about storing, managing, and analyzing customer data and segmentation to boost your marketing strategy and optimize the customer online experience.
• System Management: All about managing and assigning permissions to administrators to operate, secure, and maintain the eCommerce system. 
• Store Management: All about using inventory management tools at main stores, branches, and warehouses to ensure an efficient supply chain. 
• Cart and Checkout Management: All about the shopping cart and payment information.
• Analysis and Reporting: All about analyzing and measuring the performance of the eCommerce system to help you make decisions based on data. 

Testing

Testing serves as a vital undertaking to help you uncover any lurking bugs that may emerge within a website and app, all in the pursuit of aligning the entire system seamlessly with the precise demands of your business. By doing testing, you will not only grant a comprehensive overview of your project but also provide the means to evaluate targets and even proactively manage risks as you navigate the realm of eCommerce.

There are several testing methods:

• White-box testing: In white-box testing, the code and algorithms are examined. Testers access the source code to perform the tests. 
• Black-box testing: This method tests the system’s functionality based on specific requirements.
• Gray-box testing: It combines black-box and white-box testing. 

In general, conducting testing based on test scenarios is an important step that helps you ensure quality and provides a solid foundation for a smooth operation.

Legal Registration and Launch the app

Declare with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade

The final step to developing the online capabilities is to complete the legal procedures to make sure your eCommerce operation is legit. You can follow the step-by-step guide in the eCommerce Management Portal. 

This is a mandatory requirement set by the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade for individuals or organizations having online businesses to fulfill their obligation to register/notify within the specified timeframe. 

Publish the app on Google Play and App Store

To publish the applications on these platforms, you need to follow these steps:

1. Register a developer account on the App Store and Google Play
2. Create your developer profile and register the app
3. Create and submit the app, including necessary information such as name, description, images, videos, and other features. You must ensure the app complies with the regulations and requirements of these platforms.
4. Check and confirm the app registration. When the app is approved, you can start promoting and managing it on the platforms. 

By pushing the app to Google Play and the App Store, you take one closer step to mobile users.

Measure performance

After facilitating your O2O commerce system, it’s time to take a look at the collected data to measure its performance for further critical decisions. Several tools can be integrated into your business system such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Tracking Pixel, and more.

Moreover, you can integrate BI (Business Intelligence) tools, which are intelligent management reporting systems, to gather large amounts of data from various sources and use them to make predictions. Some popular BI tools include Magento Business Intelligence, Tableau, Power BI, and Looker.

Optimize customer experience

Having the analysis and reports in place, you can now develop appropriate strategies to optimize customer experience. Some popular strategies include Loyalty Program and Omnichannel.

The Loyalty Program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop associated with the program. This enriches customer shopping experience and keeps them engaged with your brand. 

Omnichannel is a multichannel sales approach that focuses on providing a seamless shopping experience by marketing and selling on all channels where potential customers are present, from mobile devices, social media, and eCommerce websites to brick-and-mortar stores.

O2O Commerce Solution at SECOMM

Established in 2014, SECOMM is a company specializing in providing O2O commerce solutions. Over the years, SECOMM has accumulated a vast portfolio of O2O commerce projects with large domestic and international clients such as Annam Gourmet, Trentham Estate, and much more.

Regarding O2O commerce solutions, SECOMM offers a diverse range of services to help businesses enhance their competitive capabilities and dominate the retail market in the digital age. These services include Solution Consulting, Team Development, and O2O System Development including:

eCommerce System

Developing an O2O commerce system to provide a comprehensive experience for customers:

• Deploying eCommerce websites on platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, etc
• Building eCommerce Apps using platforms, technologies, and frameworks such as Flutter, NodeJS, ReactJS, Ionic.
• Building and managing online stores on popular eCommerce marketplaces such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, and Amazon.

Management system

Deploying and integrating management tools and software to efficiently operate business activities for the enterprise.

• ERP: Odoo, Sage, TomERP, Oracle, SAP, etc.
• CRM: Salesforce, Hubspot, Zendesk, Zoho, etc.
• POS: Magestore, mPOS, VNPAY, KiotViet, etc.
• PIM: Pimworks, Salsify, Akeneo, Inriver, etc.

Customer Experience System

Building and integrating platforms to support businesses in enhancing customer experience.

• Mobile Applications: Flutter, NodeJS, ReactJS, Ionic, etc.
• Loyalty Programs
• Omnichannel Commerce

Data System

Integrating tools to support the analysis and reporting for the business operations.

• Data analysis and reporting: Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Tiktok Tracking Pixel, etc.
• Business Intelligence: Magento Business Intelligence, Tableau, Power BI, Looker, etc.

To learn more about the O2O commerce model as well as the best solutions to conquer the retail market, please contact SECOMM today for a free consultation.

In 2021, The Vietnamese eCommerce market size reached 13.7 billion USD, which means the industry is growing rapidly and playing an important role in Vietnam’s economy. 

It forces business owners to find ways to make their businesses stand out and connect with customers.

One of the effective approaches is to implement an Omnichannel eCommerce strategy. This is a marketing method aimed at providing a consistent customer experience across multiple channels. It may be confused with Multichannel eCommerce, where brands sell on various channels but provide different customer experiences on each channel. Although customers can shop on social media, eCommerce websites, physical stores, etc, their experience across these channels could not be seamless. There is also the Single-channel eCommerce model, where a brand only uses one channel for sales. 

Retailers globally recognize the potential and impact of Omnichannel eCommerce on their business operations. According to Report Linker, the market for multi-channel retail platforms reached 5 billion USD in 2020 and is projected to reach 14.5 billion USD in 2027. Industry analysts and experts also emphasize that Omnichannel is the future of eCommerce and is a great way to attract customers and provide them with true value. 

Here are 6 tips to help you, as a business successfully build an Omnichannel eCommerce strategy.

Tip 1: Understand the target audience & their shopping behavior

Tip number 1, regardless of any business strategy, you have to know who your target customers are and their shopping behavior. You can start by gathering relevant data about demographic information, purchase history, etc from various sources, including eCommerce websites, social media platforms, physical stores, etc. Then, you will analyze how they interact with the brand across different channels and create detailed buyer personas. 

This helps identify effective approaches for each customer segment and tailor messages for each channel. For example, if a significant portion of your customers prefers shopping on mobile devices, you can optimize your suitable marketing campaigns alongside improving the website to attract more customers. Or, you can invest in developing mobile applications to enrich the customer shopping experience and drive conversions.

Tip 2: Map the customer journey

Tip number 2 is to map out the customer journey to visually understand the process that a potential customer goes through when interacting with your brand. It helps you clearly understand their needs, buying motivations, and so forth. When developing an Omnichannel eCommerce strategy, mapping the customer journey allows you to proactively provide personalized customer experiences across channels. It not only enhances cross-selling, and upselling but also improves customer intention and loyalty. 

There are typically 5 stages in the customer journey: Awareness, Interest, Purchase, Retention, and Advocacy. 

Here are the basic steps to create a customer journey map:

• Set clear goals for the map
• Identify buyer personas and define the target customers
• Determine the stages and objectives for each stage
• List out the touchpoints
• Collect data and feedback
• Identify areas that need to be improved

Tip 3: Develop a brand image & messaging

Another valuable tip is to develop a consistent brand message and image across channels. It requires you first to identify and understand the brand values, vision, and mission. For example, you can use consistent elements such as colors, fonts, etc, to help customers easily recognize your brand. Moreover, you need to train your staff on the brand message and image to ensure they understand and communicate the message properly across all channels. 

This tip not only helps increase brand recognition and customer loyalty but also creates a seamless customer experience.

Tip 4: Engage customers on social media

Next, you can incorporate social media into your Omnichannel eCommerce strategy and focus on engaging with customers on social media platforms alongside other effective marketing channels. With over 3.6 billion social media users globally, building your brand presence in these places is no longer an option but an imperative measure  to effectively connect your brand with customers.

Leveraging social media enables you to engage with customers by responding to inquiries and addressing concerns through messaging or interactions on the news feed in a friendly and approachable manner. In addition, social media provides you with great space to deliver brand messages and voices to customers in a quicker and more intimate way to enhance brand awareness. You can create your own ideas and content or collaborate with influencers. 

To tightly integrate social media with other channels in the Omnichannel eCommerce strategy, you can, for example, encourage users to like, comment, and share posts to receive attractive discount codes for purchases on websites or physical stores. 

Tip 5: Optimize the shopping experience

Tip number 5, for a seamless omnichannel experience, you need to ensure that customers can make purchases through any channel they interact with, such as eCommerce websites, marketplaces, social media platforms, and physical stores.

Additionally, to keep up with mobile commerce trends, you should optimize mobile-friendly and responsive websites as well as user-friendly mobile apps for easy navigation and usage.

Since Omnichannel eCommerce emphasizes consistent experiences across all channels, content and customer-related information such as login credentials, payment details, and shopping carts should be synchronized. This enables customers to move seamlessly between channels and devices while preserving the items in their shopping carts or without the need to spend time logging in or re-entering payment information. Moreover, you can leverage data analytics to personalize product recommendations for each customer, displaying relevant or complementary products based on their behavior and purchase history across channels to increase cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

Tip 6: Measure & analyze the outcome

Tip number 6 is measuring and analyzing the results of the strategy. During the implementation process, you can utilize data analysis tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, and others to check, track and analyze customers across all channels. It helps identify which channels generate the most traffic, level of engagement, and sales revenue, and identify areas for improvement. In addition, you can gather customer feedback to enhance and optimize your strategy. The work should be conducted to make appropriate adjustments and achieve desired results. 

Contact SECOMM now for a consultation on building an Omnichannel eCommerce strategy.

Loyal customers contribute significantly to the profitability and development of eCommerce businesses. Therefore, as a business, you need to focus on strengthening relationships with customers and encouraging repeat purchases. Among the methods available, building and convincing customers to participate in Loyalty Programs is an effective strategy.

Below is the ultimate guide to successfully build and implement an eCommerce Loyalty Program. 

Related Readings: Everything To Know About eCommerce Loyalty Programs

Set Objectives

The first step of the process is to establish the goals of the eCommerce Loyalty Program, which includes identifying the objectives (e.g. increasing customer retention rates, promoting repeat purchases, attracting new customers, increasing CLV). These objectives should align with the overall development strategy and business goals. 

In addition, as a business, you need to clearly define the target audience of the Loyalty Program by analyzing the demographic and psychographic characteristics of those audiences to design a suitable program that meets their expectations. 

You also can research the Loyalty Programs of competitors, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, and then create your own program to differentiate your business and provide unique value to customers. 

Develop eCommerce Loyalty Program

Determine types of Loyalty Program

Currently, there are various types of eCommerce Loyalty Programs, but the most popular ones are point-based programs, tiered-based programs, and subscription-based programs. 

• Point-based Loyalty Programs

This allows customers to earn points for each purchase or specific action and redeem them for rewards once they have accumulated a certain number of points. You should pay attention to the value of the rewards customers will receive and the reasonable time to redeem them to make the programs attractive. 

• Tiered-based Loyalty Programs

This program encourages customers to strive for higher tiers to receive higher-value rewards and benefits. It will require customers to invest their time and money in shopping and engaging with your brand, meaning the more they spend, the more benefits they receive, and the higher their loyalty to your brand.

• Subscription-based Loyalty Programs

This Loyalty Program requires customers to register as members and pay a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee, depending on the terms of each program. Because of that, customers are more likely to commit to engaging with the brand, which is higher than other types of programs. Typically, these programs will have a trial period for customers to decide whether or not to join, and this is also an opportunity for you to convince them that the value they will receive is worth every cent. 

The choice of Loyalty Program type depends on the budget, resources, and overall strategy of your business. 

Choose rewards meaningful to customers

After choosing the right type of eCommerce Loyalty Program, you will want to select rewards that are suitable for that program. For point-based Loyalty Programs, common rewards include:

• Discounts on the next purchase;
• Free shipping;
• Free gifts;
• Priority support;
• The opportunity to join exclusive events 
• The latest product updates.

The SHEIN Bonus Point Program is a typical point-based Loyalty Program, where customers will earn 1 point for $1 spent. In addition, customers can also earn reward points by taking specific actions such as verifying their accounts, reviewing products, etc. When reaching the required number of points, customers can redeem them for discounts of up to 70%.

For the type of tiered Loyalty Program, the tiers will determine the equivalent benefits that customers will receive and require effort to maintain or upgrade. Therefore, rewards will be designed to reflect the brand’s characteristics and personalized for each customer at each specific tier. This makes the customer’s efforts worthwhile. 

For example, Aldo Crew is a tiered Loyalty Program from the famous fashion brand – Aldo, with 3 main tiers: Crew, Plus, and VIP. The program offers customers attractive and personalized benefits such as special pricing, free birthday gifts, birthday discounts, 20% off handbags when purchasing shoes, exclusive privileges and surprises, and account sharing with friends.

Most membership programs are applied by leading and well-known businesses worldwide due to their credibility, product value, and high-quality service that make customers trust them to spend their money to sign up. The rewards of this type of program tend to be exclusive, only available at the brand and for registered members. 

For example, customers who register for the Walmart+ membership program will receive benefits such as product discounts, shipping policies, gas service, and movie watching with Paramount+ that non-members cannot receive.

Depending on what Loyalty Program you choose, you will select rewards that are appropriate for both your customers and your business. However, you should consider the cost of each reward as well as the benefits it brings to the business before applying it to the program. Providing valuable rewards can not only increase customer retention and loyalty but also boost sales and increase the CLV. 

Choose Loyalty Program Software

Next, you will need software to develop,  and manage eCommerce Loyalty Programs, track customer activities, and distribute rewards. The choice will be based on some factors such as ease of use, integration with eCommerce websites, and the price of the software. There are some popular Loyalty Program software on the market today, including Smile.io, Loyalty Lion, Yotpo, S Loyalty, and so forth. These softwares can be easily integrated and work effectively with eCommerce platforms such as Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. 

Design the program rules

The next step is to design the rules of the program. You need to ensure that the rules and conditions for participation are presented clearly, easy to understand, and easy to follow.

For example, the Sephora Beauty Insider program is based on a tiered system where customers earn one point for every dollar they spend, and the conditions for participation and advancement are clearly presented.

Again, with Walmart+ as an example, customers easily recognize the benefits they will receive for joining the program as a member, and the cost of $12.95/month after a 30-day trial as well. 

In addition, the registration process should be easy to execute. Typically, brands will require customers to create an account on their website or fill out a registration form, or even simpler, just log in with Facebook to participate. These actions are quick and easy to execute.

For example, in the Sephora Beauty Insider program, customers can click “join now”, fill out the form, and join the Insider tier. Or, if they already have an account, they need to log in to see their points balance and tier.

For the Aldo Crew program, customers need to fill out a registration form on the website or log in with their Facebook account to start.

In addition to ensuring the clarity and understandability of the program rules, you also want to ensure that the conditions set are appropriate for customers to quickly earn rewards and maintain the attractiveness of the program, while also bringing profits to the business.

For example, the Amazon Prime membership program offers customers a 30-day free trial and a range of pricing options. The most noteworthy are the monthly payment plan at $14.99/month and the annual payment plan at $139/year. The majority of customers are likely to choose the annual payment plan ($139) to save money, which is also Amazon’s intention as the profits they earn will be higher.

Implement eCommerce loyalty Program

Integrate the program to eCommerce website

To implement a Loyalty Program, you will need to integrate the program into your eCommerce website and display the point balance and rewards on the Shopping cart page.

Taking Sephora as an example again, the Profile page displays the customer’s current membership tier and current point balance.

Train the team

For the success of your eCommerce Loyalty Program, you have to educate your team about the program, including participation requirements, point accumulation methods, rewards, and more. 

Moreover, you want to ensure that your team knows how to answer customer questions about the program and handle any arising issues. This activity should be done regularly along with the changing of your Loyalty Program to fit market trends. 

By providing effective training, your team is able to promote and manage the program accordingly. This contributes to the success of your eCommerce Loyalty Program.

Launch & promote the program

When launching your Loyalty Program, you will want to make it popular so promotion is necessary. To do it effectively, you can prominently display the program on the Homepage and Navigation menu of your website. Also, you can promote the program on social media or use eye-catching graphics and compelling content for email marketing. 

An Influencer marketing campaign is an effective way to increase the program’s awareness and engagement. Referral Marketing is also a commonly used marketing strategy in Loyalty Programs today, encouraging customers to refer new members to the program to expand the customer base.

Popular Loyalty Programs such as Sephora Beauty Insider, Amazon Prime, Walmart+, Aldo Crew, and eBay Plus all have referral programs. When someone signs up for the Loyalty Program through a referral link, both the referrer and the referee will receive a small bonus of $1-$10 or a discount on their next purchase. 

Measure outcomes & keep customers engaged

You will need to track and measure the results of the Loyalty Program to ensure the objectives are achieved and make adjustments if necessary. 

You can use KPIs like customer retention rate, repeat purchase rate, or average order value of members compared to non-members. Moreover, you can collect and analyze customer feedback and reviews on their satisfaction with the program to identify what to improve.

You also need to keep your customers engaged by regularly improving, updating, and promoting the program. At the same time, you should provide personalized rewards and experiences based on their interests and behavior to increase customer satisfaction and interaction.

In addition, you can consider building a community of members by providing online and offline events and special offers exclusively for program members. Again, Sephora does this well, they offer exclusive events for all Insider, VIB, and Rouge members in addition to other incredible experiences. This gradually creates a community of loyal Sephora customers who love beauty.

Retention isn’t about convincing customers who were going to leave to stick around. Instead, retention is about providing so much value to your existing customers that they never go anywhere else and become your strongest benefit.

Therefore, enhancing your customer experience through attractive Loyalty Programs is an effective way to increase customer retention and loyalty.

Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on developing a comprehensive eCommerce Loyalty Program.

According to data compiled by Forbes Advisor, global Mobile Commerce sales reached $415 billion in 2022 and are expected to reach $710 billion in 2025. 

In fact, Mobile Commerce dominates the eCommerce industry, accounting for about 73%, and the use of eCommerce apps is growing faster than any other type of app on the market, with an annual growth rate of 54%. This shows that eCommerce apps contribute significantly to sales on mobile devices and implementing eCommerce apps is considered the right path for every business in the mobile commerce era. 

Boost Brand Awareness

Increasing brand awareness is one of the benefits that eCommerce apps bring to businesses. Since most customers spend hours on mobile devices (e.g smartphones), it’s easier for brands to connect with them through eCommerce apps. However, to fully leverage the other capabilities of eCommerce apps, brands need to provide a rich and high-quality mobile app experience. As Statista has noted, about 32%-34% of app users will uninstall if the app is difficult to use or has too many unwanted ads. 

Offer Personalized Shopping Experience

eCommerce websites help deliver personalized shopping experiences with algorithms and support tools but eCommerce apps enable businesses to offer personalized special incentives or promotional programs right in the app without having to access the websites via browsers on desktop or mobile. As a result, among various methods, business owners can combine push notifications, and instead of sending the same push notification to all app users, they can send personalized notifications based on user behavior. 

Increase Conversion Rates

As mentioned, customers tend to love and prioritize shopping on eCommerce mobile apps instead of eCommerce mobile web. Therefore, the conversion rate of the mobile app will be higher than that of the mobile web. The graph below indicates the different conversion rates between the mobile app and mobile web. 

Mobile app users view products more than 286% and add items to the cart at a higher rate of 85% compared to mobile web users. Moreover, the graph shows that the conversion rate of mobile apps is over 130% higher than that of the mobile web. Naturally, when the conversion rate increases, it will lead to an increase in sales revenue and profits.

Increase Average Order Value 

Building an eCommerce app not only boosts brand awareness, enhances customer experience, and improves conversion rate but also increases the average order value (AOV). This is the average dollar amount customers spend each time an order is placed on the eCommerce app. 

Customers prefer shopping on eCommerce apps because it’s convenient for them to browse through products and make purchases. Therefore, they have more opportunities to browse through a wider range of products. This enables businesses to apply cross-selling and upselling techniques, suggesting complementary products to encourage customers to make additional purchases. As a result, the increased AOV drives up revenue and profits. 

Reduce Cart Abandonment

Some data on cart abandonment has been reported by Ruby Garage:

One of the top reasons for that is the long and confusing checkout process. eCommerce apps will help businesses reduce cart abandonment with the optimized checkout process. When customers buy products, relevant information will be stored in the app’s system, so they don’t have to re-enter their information but complete the purchase with a few taps. In addition, businesses can also shorten the checkout process to improve cart abandonment rates by integrating various payment methods into the mobile app. 

Improve Customer Retention and Loyalty

For every eCommerce business, increasing sales revenue is a valuable achievement. However, it’s crucial to point out how many regular customers contribute to this success. According to the Harvard Business Review, the cost of acquiring a new customer is more expensive than retaining and satisfying an existing one, ranging from 5-25 times higher. But, if the customer retention rate increases by just 5%, profits can increase from 5% to 95%. As a result, businesses need to put their minds to existing customers. 

There is a 50% chance that customers will return to an eCommerce app within 30 days of their last purchase. In other words, businesses can increase customer retention and loyalty with their eCommerce app in several ways, including

• Leveraging customer data to provide personalized shopping experiences;
• Using push notifications as a means of communicating with customers;
• Offering exclusive incentives to encourage users to download and use the app;
• Building a loyalty program to encourage people to return to the app, shop, and interact more to earn reward points.

With the incredible benefits of mobile eCommerce apps, businesses are increasingly motivated to quickly build their app to enrich the customer shopping experience while capturing the Mobile Commerce trend.

With years of experience in implementing eCommerce for many businesses in many countries, SECOMM understands the difficulties and obstacles in developing eCommerce apps.

Contact us today for free advice.

ChatGPT is a new popular AI-powered tool. With the ability to generate human-like text, ChatGPT has a variety of applications in healthcare, education, entertainment, and even in the eCommerce world.

In this article, we will share the top 5 use cases of ChatGPT that business owners can leverage to accelerate their eCommerce.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-training Transformer) is a large-scale language generation model developed by an AI company called Open AI, which was formed in 2015. ChatGPT is regarded as one of the most advanced language models available today since it can produce human-like text. It can be used for a variety of tasks, including answering questions, creating essays, emails, poems, and even programming. 

You can simply use ChatGPT by visiting OpenAI’s website to create an account. Once you’ve logged into your OpenAI account, on the ChatGPT side of the website, you need to read through and accept ChatGPT terms. Then, you can start your conversation with it by asking questions. 

Because it is still in the research and feedback-collection stage, it is free to use. But as of February 1, 2023, the OpenAI company launched a new version of ChatGPT Plus in the US for $20/month, while keeping the free version.

How does ChatGPT work?

ChatGPT runs in a language modeling architecture called Generative Pre-training Transformer (GPT), specifically GPT-3. This type of AI model is trained on vast amounts of information from the Internet, including websites, books, articles, and so forth. 

It is fine-tuned using reinforcement learning. Meaning that ChatGPT “learns” from information found on the Internet as well as the user input. Due to Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), ChatGPT is unique. 

RLHF enables human AI trainers to build conversation models in which humans act as both users and AI assistants, according to OpenAI. That helps ChatGPT learn new information rapidly and grow more intelligent. 

The key differences between ChatGPT and Search Engines

ChatGPT is a language model to generate conversation with the end users, whereas Search Engines index web pages on the Internet to help users find what they desire. ChatGPT can understand and respond to input information quickly. But, it does not search on the Internet for the information, instead, it uses the training data to generate a response. 

Another difference is that ChatGPT’s information update speed is still slower than that of search engines. Some search engines like Google can access the latest information but ChatGPT can only access data up to September 2021. Thus if you ask ChatGPT who is Miss Vietnam 2022, it would not be able to answer while Google could give you an immediate answer in just 0.6 seconds.

5 ways for using ChatGPT in eCommerce

Using ChatGPT helps increase revenue and enhance eCommerce business operational effectiveness. Here are 5 great ways to use ChatGPT in eCommerce.

Create product description

Because an eCommerce website has different product categories, writing a unique description for each product takes a lot of time and resources. ChatGPT can be used to automatically generate compelling product descriptions. This can save time and effort for business owners while still providing customers with high-quality information about the products. Moreover, this language model can create SEO-optimized descriptions that improve product visuality. 

For example, a fashion retail brand has launched a new sportswear collection. ChatGPT will generate descriptions focused on moisture-wicking, comfortable fit, and the full range of motion and flexibility. It not only informs customers about the technical aspect of the product but also encourages them to shop with compelling and persuasive words.

Create product recommendations

ChatGPT còn được các doanh nghiệp thương mại điện tử sử dụng trong việc đưa ra đề xuất cá nhân hoá sản phẩm. Bằng cách sử dụng dữ liệu khách hàng và lịch sử duyệt web, ChatGPT có thể đưa ra các đề xuất sản phẩm phù hợp cho từng khách hàng cụ thể. 

Ví dụ: Gần đây có một khách hàng tên Mỹ đã mua một chiếc áo thun thể thao tại cửa hàng, doanh nghiệp có thể sử dụng ChatGPT để đưa ra đề xuất sản phẩm tương tự mà khách hàng này có thể quan tâm. Từ việc gợi ý sản phẩm phù hợp và cá nhân hoá có thể giúp tăng mức độ tương tác và doanh số bán hàng.

Generate social media content

Another way to use ChatGPT is to generate engaging social media content. 

For example, a company can use ChatGPT to generate promotional posts on social media platforms to introduce features and benefits of products engagingly and excitingly. Posts can include a caption, image, or video to highlight the advantages of that product. By leveraging the power of ChatGPT, businesses can promote their products and reach new customers on social networking sites effectively.

 Generate email marketing campaigns

Running email marketing campaigns enables eCommerce businesses to build relationships with their customers, advertise their products and boost sales. By sending personalized ideal emails to customers and prospective customers, businesses can earn customer loyalty and encourage repeat purchases. 

ChatGPT can be used in your email marketing campaigns targeting specific customer segments to achieve the desired results.

Example: Jennifer is a regular customer of a sports fashion company. Now the company launches eco-friendly sneakers with a minimalist design. The company uses ChatGPT to compose content for email marketing campaigns to introduce Jennifer to new products and ideal incentives for loyal customers.

Enhance customer service

eCommerce business owners can use ChatGPT to handle customer requests in a personalized way. It could be responding to inquiries about order status, product availability, shipping fee, or return concerns. By providing ChatGPT demographic information such as age, gender, and interest, it will immediately generate text for a specific customer in a specific case. That helps increase customer engagement and conversion rate. Businesses will free up time and workload for the team to focus on more important tasks. 

For example, if a customer named Jennifer asks for a return process, ChatGPT can generate a response with detailed information including requirements and time for return. 

The downsides of using ChatGPTin eCommerce

Like every AI-powered tool, ChatGPT has its downsides when used in eCommerce. 

Firstly, although ChatGPT helps generate content for marketing campaigns quickly and automatically, it still can’t compete with the original writing by humans. If people depend too much on ChatGPT, their writing will become robotic and clunky which might affect their marketing campaigns the most. 

In addition, as mentioned above, ChatGPT is trained by reinforced learning. This leaves room for issues since the information ChatGPT “learned” might not be accurate, hence generating wrong answers for users.

Last but not least, businesses should use ChatGPT with caution. They might want to clarify the information given by ChatGPT carefully before using or publishing their content, which could harm the businesses’ reputation when incorrect or misleading information is used. 

Every business owner today can use the five most effective ways to use ChatGPT in eCommerce to stand out from the crowd. Yet, it’s not easy to use it properly and make it an important factor of eCommerce business without being dependent. 

Talk to SECOMM now to get started.

According to Research and Markets, the global gamification market was valued at over 10 million USD in 2020 and is expected to reach more than 38 million USD by 2026. 

Gamification is a creative marketing strategy that has recently grabbed the attention of eCommerce business owners who are looking for ways to enhance customer engagement and achieve sales targets. In this article, we will discuss the ways Gamification empowers eCommerce. 

What is Gamification?

Gamification hay trò chơi điện tử ứng dụng hoá, gọi tắt là Game hoá là thuật ngữ chỉ việc lồng ghép khéo léo cơ chế của trò chơi điện tử vào hoạt động marketing một cách sáng tạo, ấn tượng nhằm đạt được mục tiêu marketing đã đề ra.

Gamification is the application of typical elements of game playing to other areas of activity to help businesses achieve their marketing goals. 

Gamification emphasizes entertainment, making it a fantastic tactic for boosting brand loyalty and encouraging engagement with products or services. In recent years, eCommerce businesses have been accelerating the use of Gamification in the online shopping experience. Because customers today have more options, they also have higher expectations for their purchasing experiences. If an online store offers unique and enjoyable shopping experiences, customers are more likely to make a purchase quickly. Gamification will help eCommerce businesses stand out from the crowd.

Why apply eCommerce Gamification?

Increase Customer Engagement

Businesses can increase engagement by integrating Gamification into eCommerce websites and making shopping fun and interactive. Recent studies show that the eCommerce Gamification strategy will increase customer engagement by 47%. 

Games usually ask players to complete tasks to earn reward points or to win the game (e.g sharing the game on social networks, inviting friends, browsing products, and adding to carts). If the game has some discount codes or vouchers, it will attract more players. That way, an eCommerce business can deliver its brand messaging directly to customers without pressuring or urging them into buying. An enjoyable shopping experience leads to an increased conversion rate. 

Boost Sales

eCommerce Gamification strategy will help businesses boost sales if used effectively. When customers are engaged with the game, they are more likely to win discount codes and use them for later purchases which will make sales increase significantly.

In 2021, Domino’s Pizza,  one of the world’s leading pizza brands, increased its sales revenue by 30% with the help of Gamification. This company developed a game called Pizza Hero, in which users will make their pizzas on mobile devices. They can then click “Make an order” to order their pizza creation at a discounted price.

Enhance Brand Loyalty

For brands, retaining customers and turning them into loyal customers is important. Gamification can help enhance brand loyalty by creating interesting experiences that encourage repeat visits. If a brand offers points or badges for reaching milestones, customers excited about earning rewards will be more likely to come back and play again. Whenever customers have shopping needs, they will recall and choose that brand.

The drawbacks of Gamification

Although Gamification helps increase customer engagement, boost sales, and enhance brand loyalty, it still has potential drawbacks that eCommerce businesses should keep in mind before implementing it. 

Developing amazing games requires creativity. Basic games like Quiz or Spin The Wheel are easy to create. These game experiences are too common among users so it’s unlikely to generate conversion. Hence, every business needs to get professional advice from creative agencies to design and develop engaging games that catch the eyes of users. However, it costs a lot of time and budget. 

For example, creating a game with a variety of sound effects, images, videos, or personalized animated elements that enrich the user experience will increase the cost of implementation. 

Most successful Gamification campaigns

Starbucks

Among brands that have had success using Gamification, Starbucks would be the first one mentioned. Coffee brands usually offer vouchers or loyalty cards to encourage customers to return next time. Breaking out of the old rut, Starbucks developed a special game for its customers – “Flip the Cup”, in which the player chooses his favorite drink and could use one hand to flip the Starbucks cup. Each time, the player has 10 flips and each successful flip gets 10 points. Then, with the points achieved, the player can choose to play again or download vouchers. This exciting experience boosted engagement by 90% and the number of downloaded vouchers exceeded the targets by 110%.

Domino’s Pizza

As mentioned above, Domino’s Pizza first entered the market in 2012, and that same year the company also launched Pizza Hero, the first game that gave pizza lovers a new way to order. In case they don’t know what to order, they can shake their mobile devices to ask the app for suggestions. Especially, users can customize their pizzas, find coupons, place orders at a nearby store, and track order progress right on their devices. 

By using this strategy, Domino’s was able to boost online sales by 30% and achieve $1 billion in the US market alone. Pizza Hero received 140,000 downloads in the first two weeks after its debut, propelling it into the top 15 Lifestyle ranking on Google Play and the iTunes Store. Moreover, Pizza Hero and Domino’s Pizza both won the praise of Forbes, the most prestigious magazine in the world.

Gucci

Gucci has taken eCommerce Gamification to a new level. Gucci Arcade is one of the fashion giant’s Gamification strategies to attract the attention of Generation Z. It offers customers amazing games to engage with such as Gucci Bee and Gucci Ace. This experience helps Guccis reach a wide pool of potential Gen-Z customers.

Gamification is a strategy that strengthens the development of eCommerce. It has become popular in the world as well as in Vietnam. Every business owner needs to seriously recognize its potential and plan for rapid implementation. 

Talk to SECOMM today to get expert advice on eCommerce Gamification.