Ecommerce sales are on the rise.

Fuelled by the coronavirus pandemic, more brands are selling their products and services online, with revenues expected to reach $6.3 trillion by 2024:

But how do you market your ecommerce business and get a slice of that revenue?

In this ecommerce marketing FAQ, the Loomly Team answers all of your questions.

What is ecommerce marketing?

Ecommerce marketing is the practice of promoting and selling your online products or services through various marketing channels, such as social media platforms, search engines, and email campaigns. An ecommerce marketing strategy can help you build brand awareness, drive online sales, and increase customer loyalty.

What is ecommerce advertising?

Ecommerce advertising is the practice of placing paid content – using an online or offline channel – to sell a product or service online.

Popular ecommerce advertising platforms include:

• Search engine ads:
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) ads – e.g. Google Ads campaigns that appear at the top of search engine results.
  • Display ads – e.g. Banner ads, that appear on websites, apps, and mobile games.
  • Product Listing ads – e.g. Google Shopping Ads that appear within the search engine results.
• Social media ads:
  • Facebook ads – including Story, Photo, Video, and Carousel formats.
  • Instagram ads – including Photo, Carousel, Slideshow, Video, and Stories formats.
  • YouTube ads – an extension of Google Ads that can target users based on keywords.

Ecommerce advertising allows you to reach people who may or may not have heard of your brand and products. The goals of ecommerce advertising campaigns can include everything from growing brand awareness to getting a sale.

What is social commerce?

Social commerce is the buying and selling of products through social media platforms.

Social commerce is similar to ecommerce, except the sales process takes place directly on social media platforms. There’s no requirement for the shopper to transfer to an ecommerce checkout on another website.

Simply put, traditional commerce takes place in a physical store, ecommerce takes place on a website, and social commerce takes place on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

What is an ecommerce marketing strategy?

Here are 12 ecommerce strategies your brand can use today:

1. Create content to generate backlinks
2. Offer subscriptions
3. Experiment with delivery offers
4. Use urgency to encourage action
5. Add reviews and ratings to your site
6. Offer exclusive sales to existing customers
7. Create a visual style for your product photography
8. Create offline experiences for customers
9. Build a loyalty program
10. Optimize your product descriptions
11. Offer instant discounts to new customers
12. Explore partnerships

What are the different types of ecommerce marketing?

Here are some of the different types of ecommerce marketing channels you could use:

• Social media marketing
• Content marketing
• Search engine marketing
• Email marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Affiliate marketing
• Local marketing

How to use social media for ecommerce?

Here are 14 steps to help you use social media for ecommerce:

1. Define your ecommerce social media goals
2. Decide if you want to use social commerce
3. Create a social media strategy for your ecommerce brand
4. Determine which social media channels you should target
5. Optimize your social media accounts for ecommerce
6. Run social media paid campaigns optimized for ecommerce brands
7. Use automation tools
8. Consider the mobile experience
9. Optimize your landing pages for ecommerce
10. Create clear CTAs on social media optimized for ecommerce
11. Ensure easy website navigation
12. Offer easy payment options for customers
13. Advertise and sell on third-party websites
14. Track the success of your ecommerce social media strategy

What is the difference between ecommerce and digital marketing?

Digital marketing includes any marketing activity with digital media, including:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Mobile marketing

Ecommerce marketing is the practice of promoting and selling your online products or services through a variety of marketing channels, including the digital channels above and also offline media such as TV, radio, and billboards.

Is ecommerce part of marketing?

Ecommerce can use a variety of marketing channels to promote and sell its online goods and services.

How do I market my ecommerce business?

Here are 17 ideas to market your ecommerce business:

1. Upsell your products
2. Integrate Instagram
3. Reduce abandoned carts
4. Launch a Facebook store
5. Capture more email subscribers
6. Improve your email campaigns
7. Send wishlist reminder emails
8. Make it easy for your customers to get what they want
9. Engage online store visitors with live chat
10. Anticipate future sales
11. Start a content marketing program
12. Embrace personalization
13. Leverage user-generated content
14. Think local
15. Optimize your product pages
16. Optimize for mobile
17. Reward your loyal customers

How do you write an ecommerce marketing plan?

Here’s what to include in your ecommerce marketing plan:

1. Know your main goal
2. Get friendly with your customers
3. Find the competition’s weaknesses to build your strengths
4. Create a keyword research plan to rank in Google
5. Create valuable content
6. Promote the content
7. Choose your ecommerce platform: BigCommerce vs. Shopify vs. WooCommerce

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Ecommerce Marketing FAQ in a Nutshell

Technology and globalization are making it easier for anyone and everyone to launch an online store, which means there’s more competition for consumers’ attention and dollars.

Simply setting up an online store and hoping for the best won’t work. Brands of all sizes need an ecommerce marketing strategy, including advertising, if they want to be successful.