E-commerce trends: What is most important for an online store? Part 1
E-commerce is a high-tech industry, and the range of tasks faced by the owners of online stores is quite wide. However, there are moments that are worth paying attention to first. Recently, I came across an interesting post about how eBay uses data mining to increase the effectiveness of work in key areas. Today we want to talk about these most critical things for any online store.
It has long been known that displaying products similar to those that interest a person (or that he just bought). A good product recommendation can save the site visitor a lot of time and help him solve his problem in the most effective way.
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Developing your own recommender system is a rather difficult engineering task, because when generating a recommendation, it is necessary to take into account various properties of products, their categories, price ranges and patterns of user behavior. Therefore, it is logical to use ready-made solutions - in Russia it is, for example, Crossss and Retail Rocket . Ready-made product recommendation systems are installed by many large Russian online stores, so this is definitely a worthwhile option.
Setting up an online store is not such a simple matter. Therefore, the demand for automation of ecommerce-processes will only grow. One of the biggest problems faced by domestic online stores is logistics. Far from all the stores can afford to organize the delivery around the country, and the online retail market in Russia is growing, mainly due to buyers from the regions. If the store offers a good product, but cannot deliver it to the buyer, this is bad for both parties.
The importance of this direction is understood, for example, in Yandex, which literally this week announced cooperation with the MultiShip project, which allows online stores an easy way to arrange delivery in Russia. Most of the country's largest logistics services are connected to this service, which can be operated without a separate contract and additional technical integration. All calculations go straight through the service, which is extremely convenient.
Another major problem is the warehouse. More precisely, the lack of funds for its maintenance in many online stores, which in such a situation are forced to work with suppliers of goods according to the Drop Shipment model, selling goods directly from the supplier’s warehouse. Here, however, a problem arises of the technical unavailability of a significant number of suppliers of goods for productive work under such a scheme.
It is extremely important for any online store to show its customers up-to-date information on the presence / absence of goods (as confirmed by various studies ) in order not to lose customers who are upset that the goods marked as available are not actually in stock and not waste advertising budgets to advertise such products. In turn, a rather small part of the suppliers of goods can adjust the process of clarifying data on the availability of goods, their reservation and withdrawal from the reserve. As a result, according to our research , only about a third of suppliers work with online stores.
The problem of communication automation of shops and suppliers is solved by online distribution systems (for example, Agora Optima ). Providers of such systems connect suppliers that meet certain criteria (the volume of the product matrix, the availability of goods of certain brands, etc.), and the stores get access to the system through a web interface and API, which allows them to see the stock balance directly in 1C, to form applications for reservation of goods and work with documentation.
The use of such systems significantly speeds up the processing of orders, and also increases the efficiency of this work - after all, customers always see relevant information on the site, which means they buy what is available.
Of course, product recommendations and automation of work with suppliers is not enough. In the following topics we will consider other factors that play a crucial role for the success of online stores: design, content management, mailing lists, working with analytical tools, preparing for seasonal sales peaks and other interesting topics. Thanks for attention!
Product recommendations
It has long been known that displaying products similar to those that interest a person (or that he just bought). A good product recommendation can save the site visitor a lot of time and help him solve his problem in the most effective way.
')
Developing your own recommender system is a rather difficult engineering task, because when generating a recommendation, it is necessary to take into account various properties of products, their categories, price ranges and patterns of user behavior. Therefore, it is logical to use ready-made solutions - in Russia it is, for example, Crossss and Retail Rocket . Ready-made product recommendation systems are installed by many large Russian online stores, so this is definitely a worthwhile option.
Process automation
Setting up an online store is not such a simple matter. Therefore, the demand for automation of ecommerce-processes will only grow. One of the biggest problems faced by domestic online stores is logistics. Far from all the stores can afford to organize the delivery around the country, and the online retail market in Russia is growing, mainly due to buyers from the regions. If the store offers a good product, but cannot deliver it to the buyer, this is bad for both parties.
The importance of this direction is understood, for example, in Yandex, which literally this week announced cooperation with the MultiShip project, which allows online stores an easy way to arrange delivery in Russia. Most of the country's largest logistics services are connected to this service, which can be operated without a separate contract and additional technical integration. All calculations go straight through the service, which is extremely convenient.
Another major problem is the warehouse. More precisely, the lack of funds for its maintenance in many online stores, which in such a situation are forced to work with suppliers of goods according to the Drop Shipment model, selling goods directly from the supplier’s warehouse. Here, however, a problem arises of the technical unavailability of a significant number of suppliers of goods for productive work under such a scheme.
It is extremely important for any online store to show its customers up-to-date information on the presence / absence of goods (as confirmed by various studies ) in order not to lose customers who are upset that the goods marked as available are not actually in stock and not waste advertising budgets to advertise such products. In turn, a rather small part of the suppliers of goods can adjust the process of clarifying data on the availability of goods, their reservation and withdrawal from the reserve. As a result, according to our research , only about a third of suppliers work with online stores.
The problem of communication automation of shops and suppliers is solved by online distribution systems (for example, Agora Optima ). Providers of such systems connect suppliers that meet certain criteria (the volume of the product matrix, the availability of goods of certain brands, etc.), and the stores get access to the system through a web interface and API, which allows them to see the stock balance directly in 1C, to form applications for reservation of goods and work with documentation.
The use of such systems significantly speeds up the processing of orders, and also increases the efficiency of this work - after all, customers always see relevant information on the site, which means they buy what is available.
Of course, product recommendations and automation of work with suppliers is not enough. In the following topics we will consider other factors that play a crucial role for the success of online stores: design, content management, mailing lists, working with analytical tools, preparing for seasonal sales peaks and other interesting topics. Thanks for attention!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/211004/
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