2. Social commerce (Sell on social media)

Social commerce is not new to South Africans and it is likely to continue growing rapidly in the second half of 2022. Social commerce can be viewed as an extension of your eCommerce offering. This segment of eCommerce allows merchants to promote and sell products and services online directly through social media platforms, increasing their reach and introducing their brand to potential customers, allowing them to interact, browse goods and make purchases directly from social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. for Netcash Shop.

Here’s why social commerce is an opportunity for all online traders and a 2022 trend worth mentioning:

Experts predict that up to 97% of Gen Z use social media as their first interaction with a brand, to discover, explore and research a brand or product. Millennials aren’t too far behind with 2 out of 3 using social media as their first point of contact for pre-purchase inspiration.  Essentially what this means is that the long term growth of social commerce looks positive because the increasing age of these two user groups will increase their average purchasing power.

In addition, Netcash Shop’s seamless integration with Facebook and Instagram  simplifies the social commerce process for eCommerce merchants, allowing them to list their products in the Netcash Shop control panel and connect their online store to their social platforms to sell their products online. All updates to product details, pricing and stock will sync automatically and update on all platforms ensuring the correct information and pricing is displayed to their customer wherever they are shopping. Merchants can also sell on Snapchat and Pinterest with the Snapchat Pixel  and Pinterest Tag  for Netcash Shop.

5. More payment options

For the online shopper, speed, security and convenience are key. They want to pay in the way that is easiest for them, and feel secure making payment. Make sure you partner with a trusted eCommerce payment gateway provider to offer your clients multiple secure payment options. Your online business can make life simple for your customers by allowing them to pay in the way they prefer – QR Code (scan-to-pay), instant EFT, or debit or credit card. Knowing what your customers like and don’t like will help you choose which payment methods will be best for your business.

The Netcash eCommerce payment gateway ‘Pay Now’  is built-in to the Netcash Shop platform, so you won’t need to install third party payment plugins in your eCommerce environment. It’s a full circle, integrated eCommerce solution to make the merchants life simple and help increase online sales.

6. Video marketing

Today, any business can use video as a powerful way to sell and market. It’s flexible, affordable, and easy. Your options are limitless—from live broadcasts of product demos on Instagram and playful behind-the-scenes TikTok videos, through to product unboxings and ad placements on YouTube or Facebook.

7. Customer loyalty appreciation and rewards

The eCommerce space in South Africa is becoming more competitive every day and customer retention is a focus for many businesses. Your loyal customers expect you to know them and understand their preferences. They want to be able to define when, how, where, and how often they interact with your business. And they want to see you send them messages and offers that match their needs. You can meet these demands by making responsible, compliant use of their data to send personalised comms to customers that opt in .

If you use an eCommerce platform like Netcash Shop to create, manage and grow your online store, you can use automated marketing emails to send personalised, relevant, marketing emails to your customers to encourage future purchases and reward customers for being loyal to your brand. When enabled, automated campaigns are triggered by customers’ behaviour and relevant emails are automatically sent out to your customers. This lets you engage customers and increase your store sales effortlessly.

• Try a ‘Favourite Products Reminder’ to encourage new customers to make a first purchase by sending an email to nudge them to buy the products they marked as Favourites.
• Increase loyalty and drive repeat purchases by adding ‘related products’ to order confirmation emails, send a ‘feedback request ’ to shoppers, and send ‘loyal customers appreciation ’ emails with personalised discounts or offers.
• Lastly, try re-engage inactive customers by sending ‘inactive customer reminder’ or ‘Purchase anniversary ’ emails.

You can add a discount coupon to any email on the email settings page. Choose from your library of existing coupons or create a new one to give customers a reason to come back and buy.

In addition there are great apps available in the netcash Shop eCommerce app market, like Gratisfaction , to automate marketing for giveaways and contests, loyalty, referrals, birthdays and anniversaries.

9. Sustainable eCommerce

Sustainable eCommerce has attracted plenty of attention, and green business processes have become even more important this year. Sustainable consumption is the megatrend of current times, and the younger generations have caused a shift in values towards sustainability with their growing buying power.

Retailers are not focusing only on product characteristics, but also on environmentally friendly fulfilment, climate neutral delivery and sustainable packaging.

To keep up with the growing sustainability trend, look into your company processes and try to optimise warehousing and fulfilment from multiple locations, or a location close to where your customers are. Doing this can lower the harmful impact on the environment by shortening the distance of shipping to your customer.

10. Meeting the needs of the ‘prosumer’

Thanks to the advent of remote and hybrid work, our home and work lives are blurred. We expect similar experiences and service, whether we’re shopping as consumers or business professionals. If you’re in the B2B world, your customers want eCommerce experiences as seamless as Amazon or Takealot. And there are great opportunities for B2C companies to capture B2B eCommerce business.our customers.

11. Omnichannel selling

The pandemic has changed everything, but that doesn’t mean your customers are shopping online only. They want options, lots of options. Some want to be able to buy online for home delivery. Others shop online and collect in-store. And others yet will browse your goods in your shop and then order online. Give them a great experience whichever one they choose to stay ahead of the competition.

Netcash Shop is a smart eCommerce option for businesses, developers, and designers. Compare our plans and try it free for 30 days, no obligations. All plans are month-to-month and you can upgrade, downgrade or pause subscriptions at any time.

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