The third phase of the customer journey is where the decision-making process leads to the purchase
Did you know? Shopping cart abandonment rates for most market segments and brands across eCommerce platforms are still around 70%!
There could be multiple reasons for that some controllable some uncontrollable. The task at hand is optimizing customer experience at the purchase phase of the customer journey.
Turn Browsers Into Customers
The Purchase Phase is known as the decision stage. The consumer has completed their decision-making process. Also, have evaluated your brand in comparison to others, and is now prepared to make a purchase. This is the phase where shoppers convert into your customers.
“Conversion” or “purchase” are the magic words for eCommerce brands but this stage is not always a guaranteed sale. It is at this stage that you as a business have to begin delivering on any promises you may have made to get the customer to this point. This phase includes performance tracking, monitoring sales conversions, reconciliations, and reviewing overall market performance across product listings, sales platforms, and geographies. It points out areas to optimize, and monitor your sales performance across the digital ecosystem.
Your brand needs to clear certain efficiency checkpoints to optimize the purchase phase of the customer journey in the digital commerce ecosystem.
Checkpoint I: Sales Performance
To effectively monitor sales performance, businesses need a comprehensive sales analysis. Map brand sales data across multiple platforms, products, and key variables to ensure the purchase process becomes seamless and transparent for shoppers. Shoppers have already considered your product on factors such as availability, pricing, discounts, and reviews. If at this point item added to the cart does not end up in purchase, you need to identify the parameters that impact sales conversion.
– Mapping brand sales time trends across platforms for your own brand:
Understanding how your brand’s sales fluctuate over time across different platforms is important. This information allows you to identify patterns, follow up on seasonal trends, and the impact of marketing campaigns on your sales.
– Providing in-depth weekly sales insights:
Regular monitoring of sales data is essential to stay ahead of any changes. By analyzing weekly sales insights, you can track fluctuations in sales, availability, pricing, ratings, and organic and sponsored rankings. This helps you promptly identify any issues and make data-driven decisions to optimize performance.
– Business Impact of Monitoring Sales:
Monitoring sales performance has several key impacts on your business. It enables your brand to streamline your efforts by comparing your own key performance indicators (KPIs) against total sales. By identifying strengths and weaknesses in your sales strategy, you can visualize solutions and make informed decisions based on precise sales data.
Checkpoint II: Market Performance
Understanding how your brand performs in the market is crucial for sustained success. Even if you map the entire customer journey on various touchpoints brands need to maintain a scorecard of market performance. Monitoring market performance involves tracking brand-specific markets, market trends, and sub-category performance.
– Tracking brand performance on product sub-categories compared to the competition:
Analyzing your brand’s performance in specific sub-categories allows you to gain insights into your market share, identify areas where you excel, and discover growth opportunities. By benchmarking against competitors, you can make strategic adjustments to gain a competitive edge.
– Monitoring month-over-month positive and negative changes in brand performance:
Keeping a close eye on changes in your brand score is essential for understanding market dynamics. By tracking fluctuations and identifying positive and negative trends, you can proactively address issues, capitalize on opportunities, and refine your marketing and sales strategies.
– Insights into the brand and individual brand score trends at brand and sub-category levels:
In-depth insights into brand and individual brand score trends provide a comprehensive understanding of your performance. This information allows you to assess the impact of your marketing efforts, pricing strategies, customer sentiment, media presence, product availability, and best-seller scores. It empowers you to make data-driven decisions to enhance your brand’s positioning.
Business Impact of Monitoring Market Performance:
Monitoring market performance covers a broad spectrum, including SKU performance at the brand and product sub-category levels. It offers valuable insights into how your brand is performing in targeted markets and sub-categories. By tracking market trends and benchmarking against the competition, you gain a competitive advantage, identify growth opportunities, and refine your strategies accordingly.
Checkpoint III: Sales Reconciliation
Reconciliation is also the key part of this phase as it brings in transparency and ensures there is no discrepancy causing friction in the customer journey. It includes monitoring the return status across sellers, platforms, geographies, etc., and checking up on store performances and SKU sales.
Final Thoughts
In the highly competitive eCommerce landscape, customer retention is vital for sustained success. Monitoring sales and market performance provides valuable insights into your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. By leveraging precise sales data and market trends, businesses can optimize their strategies, boost sales, and deliver on customer expectations. By embracing these efficiency checkpoints and making informed decisions based on data-driven insights you can position your brand for long-term growth and profitability.
mScanit, digital commerce solution can help you with end-to-end actionable insight and analysis vis-a-vis competition. It gives you that added edge that you need to stay ahead of your competition.
Connect with us if you like to know how your brands can optimize the customer journey with digital commerce intelligence. The competitive digital commerce landscape means brands need to be on their toes on every phase of the customer journey – awareness, consideration, and purchase.
