Growing Pains or Future Gains in Ecommerce
It's not going to be an easy road for SMB ecommerce merchants in 2018 if their aim is to increase sales and drive their business forward.
New data from Privy reveals driving site traffic, attracting new customers and improving ad performance are the major "growth inhibitors" they are likely to experience.
That's not unlike any year however, but where the research provides some genuine value is in the information it provides related to onsite conversion. Some highlights from the report include:
+ 96% of respondents are using offers as part of their strategy. Free shipping and percentage off whole order offers are both the most used and reported as most effective.
+ Offers like "percentage off of a single product," "dollars off of a whole order," and "dollars off of a single product" are reported as effective, but less than half are actively using them (35%, 26% and 19%, respectively).
SMB's remain optimistic about the opportunity ahead however. Specifically, 53% of new businesses reported they plan to grow by more than 50% in 2018 and 21% plan to at least double revenues in 2018. That ultimately, however, may just be startup enthusiasm at work.
"Low barriers to entry are giving ecommerce merchants a false sense of what it takes to be successful," said Ben Jabbawy, CEO and founder of Privy.
"While technology makes it easy to get started, we see time and time again that it takes planning and perseverance to successfully grow in the early years. Those that are serious about starting and staying in business are not only investing in specific strategies to attract more visitors to their stores and turn them into subscribers and repeat customers, but are seeking support from industry leaders and peers in setting and meeting their business goals."
