The Covid-19 pandemic heralded an explosive acceleration in online retail. Statista recorded a 24% increase in global e-commerce revenue in 2020, and a further 18% increase in 2021.

South Africa followed a similar trend, but our embrace of e-commerce in 2020 was even more pronounced, especially in certain categories. Food and beverages were the phenomenal success stories, showing 64% and 40% revenue growth respectively in 2020.

The global cost of living crisis that has struck in 2023 takes place in this environment of e-commerce maturity and heightened consumer comfort with online shopping. As inflation hits peaks last seen decades ago, and interest rates soar in response, consumers are embracing new models that make shopping more affordable and convenient.

One such model, which is proving transformative in several countries, is group buying, or “social e-commerce”. Social e-commerce platforms allow groups of individual consumers to easily coordinate buying activities, benefiting from group discounts.

Social e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo in China and Facily in Brazil have quietly scaled beyond expectations – Facily was valued at $850m in 2021, and Pinduoduo recorded revenue of $18bn in 2023.

In South Africa, the social e-commerce market is led by SOLshop. SOLshop connects wholesalers and customers in one friendly ecosystem, allowing individuals to conveniently access daily discounts on hundreds of products through the SOLshop app.

Jonathan Holden, COO at SOLshop, says, “In an economic environment of persistent low growth and high inflation, we’ve seen an explosion of interest in our ability to coordinate group buying and give everyday consumers access to extraordinary savings. The response to SOLShop has been exceptionally positive, offering consumers a glimmer of light in these challenging times. It’s interesting to note, as we celebrate Women’s Month, that 70% of our customers are female.”

SOLshop collaborates directly with local farmers and producers, allowing lower-than-wholesale prices on food, including fruits and vegetables, as well as household and beauty products. SOLshop users form groups of friends or other app users to access these deals. The more shoppers that collaborate, the bigger the savings.

SOLshop has a large and growing delivery zone and 15+ pickup points around Johannesburg. Currently, the delivery area covers Sandton, Bryanston, Fourways, Randburg Central, Roodepoort, Midrand, СBD & Soweto.

As well as the collective-buying mechanism, social e-commerce platforms often replicate the social experience of shopping, with personalised recommendations, promotions, and fun engagement mechanisms. They result in closer relationships between producers and consumers, and a rise in word-of-mouth advertising.

Holden concludes, “We anticipate that the group-buying model has the potential to scale significantly in South Africa. We’re a well-connected country with a high cellphone penetration rate, and we could all benefit from lowering our grocery and household-item budgets, while building networks and communities.”

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/register/business

This article originates from: https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/394/241163.html

The latest Takealot Competition Commission ruling seems unlikely to affect Amazon‘s long-term African expansion plans, and the market shouldn’t underestimate the retail giant’s ability to push back against requirements it deems unreasonable.

The latest Takealot Competition Commission ruling seems unlikely to affect Amazon’s long-term African expansion plans

The Competition Commission’s (Comp Comm) Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry’s remedial requirements for Takealot have ruffled more than a few feathers in the retail space, but not e-commerce juggernaut, Amazon.com, which is forging ahead with its plans to enter the local market, albeit at a more leisurely pace.

“The building of warehouses and local hiring is ongoing, but the urgency is certainly no longer there,” comments Anouck van Rietschoten, head of operations (marketplaces) at Incubeta.

“These new remedial actions by the Competition Commission are also going to demand the full attention of the Amazon legal team and, even though they will definitely be on top of it, the company seems to be dealing with more hurdles than are immediately apparent,” she adds.

Van Rietschoten also says that South Africa’s greylisting would have also added complexity to the global marketplace’s expansion plans and says that while the Nasdaq heavyweight certainly has the resources to deal with the challenges, the postponement of its planned 2023 launch is very likely.

“If we see a Q1 2024 launch it would likely be a soft launch with some select big brands and most likely without the third-party (3P) model. What we have seen in other regions is that Amazon will onboard big brands, focussing on its first-party or 1P model.

“While they have historically opened their seller side at the time of launch, they have opened it to just a few select 3P sellers and have not actively recruited resellers. This allows them to get the platform going and the customers used the service before they begin with a vendor onboarding drive,” she explains.

Don’t expect Amazon to roll over

When it comes to the Competition Commission’s move against Takealot, van Rietschoten says Amazon is well-versed in dealing with regional trading anomalies.

“Amazon is used to dealing with these commissions and has shown that they can adapt their commissions and percentages as necessary.

“We also see some flexibility on their terms of agreement in each region to ensure they meet regulatory requirements.

“That said, they have also been known to rock the boat and because of their size and leverage, they can afford to push back a fair bit, as they did in France,” she shares.

Meet in the middle

The most recent concessions in the UK, however, also show the firm is able to meet in the middle, but van Rietschoten says she expects Amazon executives and legal teams to be working hard behind the scenes to ensure they get a fair play at cracking the local market.

“I believe Amazon is already in this conversation. Both with the Commission and with other players in the local market. They will certainly have some leverage in this conversation and may even be able to bend some of the rules, supporting Takealot in the process,” she shares.

Negative impact on the smaller players

Commenting on the Commission’s move to try and split Takealot’s retail and marketplace operations, van Rietschoten believes this may have a negative impact on the smaller players, rather than levelling the playing field as intended.

“You want one place where small retailers can also have an opportunity to compete against the big brands. The US has shown how small players can grow their businesses in an online-only environment and, with some clever strategies, can still be visible and compete against even the biggest players.

“Splitting the models will push the small players onto other platforms. The Commission’s efforts seem focussed on dismantling any monopolies, rather than enabling a platform designed to accommodate big and small players alike,” she explains.

Far-reaching impact

Summing up, Van Rietschoten says the outcome of any further negotiations over the next few months will have a far-reaching impact.

“Ultimately, the consumer would benefit from an e-commerce environment that offers as many products as possible at the most competitive price possible.

“So ensuring that the cheapest prices are visible in the Buy Box, for instance, makes good sense. And when all the players are governed by the same 3P and 1P rules it helps ensure a fair and safe retail experience.

“But any short-sightedness now will stop future e-commerce expansion. We expect players like JD.com to enter the market soon, and you can be very sure they will be watching these next moves with great interest.

“We’ve seen time and again, once Amazon has ironed out the kinks in a region, others will follow,” she says.

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/register/business

This article originates from: https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/16/241432.html

With so many affordable, accessible and customizable platforms, it’s never been easier to create an online store and sell through established marketplaces. But the growth of your eCommerce business depends on your ability to acquire new customers and increase sales from existing ones. Every eCommerce marketing channel costs time, money or energy, and it’s up to you to find the right balance for your business. Even for the most experienced eCommerce professionals, growing revenue and scaling up can be a challenge.

Mistakes are a natural part of all growth and can serve as excellent learning opportunities. That said, we can probably all agree we’d still prefer to avoid them in the first place. Being aware of the most common pitfalls that other entrepreneurs experience in eCommerce can help you avoid costly mistakes and missed opportunities.

5 eCommerce mistakes to avoid

To help eCommerce businesses avoid the most common pitfalls that new sellers make, I’ve drawn on the experience of the Wix team in running an eCommerce platform, as well as the experience of our network of over 500,000 online stores worldwide, to assemble these tips for the top 5 eCommerce mistakes to avoid.

1. Not Knowing Your Target Audience
2. Not Knowing which eCommerce Channels to Choose
3. Not Investing in Your Product Pages
4. Creating Poor Shopping Experiences
5. Providing Poor Customer Care

01. Not Knowing Your Target Audience

One of the biggest mistakes a business owner can make is not clearly defining your target audience or taking the time to understand what makes your customers tick.

You can’t really expect the right people to just show up at your website simply because you have a product they might need or want. You need to let them know about your business and get them to notice your products. And to do that, you need to know who they are and how you can reach them.

Without a clear idea of who your target audience is, you’re essentially going into every single marketing initiative completely blind. Knowing your audience will help you figure out which images to use for ads, which words to use in descriptions, which social channels to aggressively maintain, and more.

So get hyper-invested on understanding your potential customers.

• What are their problems or pain points?
• What are they looking for?
• What are their hobbies and interests?
• Which groups or subcultures do they belong to?
• What values are important to them?
• Where and how do they engage with content online?

Defining and understanding your target audience will help you create a brand message that resonates with them and a shopping journey that entices them to buy time and time again.

02. Not Knowing which eCommerce Channels to Choose

It’s not enough to know who your target customers are; you also need to know how to reach them best. Are they on Facebook? Do they shop on Amazon or eBay? Do they read email newsletters? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, your products probably won’t ever be seen by relevant shoppers, no matter how valuable they may be.

eCommerce channels don’t all work the same or even cater to the same audience. Some are great for reaching shoppers who are actively searching for a product, while others work well for reaching shoppers who have previously interacted with your online store. Selling online is an endless process of trial and error, testing and optimization. Understand how new channels work and then don’t be afraid to try new ways of reaching potential shoppers.

Start by defining the ideal results for your marketing efforts.

Do you want to:

• Attract potential customers who are actively searching
• Re-engage your past customers
• Reach out to totally new prospects
• Increase traffic quantity and/or quality

Based on your goals, select the eCommerce channels best suited to connecting your business to potential shoppers:

• Search Engines are excellent tools for targeting people actively looking for a product. These shoppers are already interested and tend to convert quicker. Search engines like Google and Bing offer many advertising options, like text ads, image ads, product listings, and voice search marketing. By optimizing your eCommerce website’s SEO, you can rank organically for related search terms and grow valuable unpaid traffic sources to your site.
• Online Marketplaces are also a great way to reach actively searching shoppers who can easily browse through lots of products from different categories. Amazon and eBay are popular marketplaces that can provide exposure to many shoppers, but can also be very competitive. Smaller niche or local marketplaces might offer more visibility and generate sales at a lower cost.
• Email Marketing is a great way to reach shoppers with great conversion potential. These are either past customers who already purchased from you or shoppers interested enough in your business to give you their email address, which makes them more likely to make a purchase from you in the future.
• Retargeting lets you target shoppers who visit your website. Many shoppers abandon their carts, but are often still interested and easier to convert. Remarketing can be done through channels like Google and Facebook by adding a unique tracking pixel to your website so that site visitors can be served ads later on. Also make sure to set up automated emails for abandoned carts to remind shoppers about the products they are considering from your site.
• Social Networks let you reach shoppers who aren’t necessarily actively looking for a product but are open to new ideas or content. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest are used by hundreds of millions of people around the world every day and offer very granular targeting capabilities based on lifestyle, demographic and behavior.

03. Not Investing in Your Product Pages

Potential customers don’t physically interact with your products before they buy them, but they do engage with your product pages. Your product pages need to convince shoppers to buy the product from your site rather than from somebody else.

Create great product pages that entice shoppers:

• Provide accurate and tempting product descriptions, including features, specifications and benefits.
• Display your products with high quality product photographs or videos.
• Include product reviews and testimonials which are major drivers in converting buyers – but make sure that reviews appear valid and authentic.
• Optimize the SEO for your product pages – include all relevant keywords, and make sure that you’re not copy pasting manufacturer or supplier descriptions as duplicate content will cause your pages to be penalized by search engines.

04. Creating Poor Shopping Experiences

Once shoppers make it through the initial steps of your sales funnel, it’s time to close the deal. Unfortunately, this is a time where a lot of eCommerce businesses see abandoned carts. If a shopper has decided that they want to buy your product, don’t put any obstacles in their way.

• Simplify your Shopping Cart. If shoppers need to fumble through the checkout process, they are likely to get frustrated and give up before ever making a purchase. To increase conversions, make the checkout process as simple as possible and eliminate as many steps as possible from your shopping cart. Keep buttons big and text small, and remove any unnecessary fields.
• Don’t require shoppers to set up an account before buying a product. Give shoppers a streamlined checkout to buy the product they want and give you their money. Then worry about adding them to your brand community or CRM lists.
• Don’t surprise shoppers with unexpected fees. Making a purchase involves a degree of trust and you don’t want to give shoppers any reason to think that you’re not being upfront with them. Unexpected fees like taxes or shipping fees can drive away potential customers. This doesn’t mean that you should cover the cost of tax and shipping yourself – simply provide all of this information well before shoppers reach the checkout page.
• Give shoppers enough payment options. You don’t want to lose a customer because they can’t functionally pay you. There are dozens of online payment methods, from credit cards to digital wallets and mobile payment solutions. You don’t need to offer all of the options, but find out which payment methods your target customers prefer and focus on those.

05. Providing Poor Customer Care

Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Not only is it easier to and more profitable to keep an existing customer, but they’ll probably send you more business if you offer amazing customer service.

Poor customer care, from slow response time or showing impatience, to not offering refunds, is a sure way to lose existing customers and avoid getting new ones.

Customer care includes a lot different things – how you:

• Respond to shopper’s messages on your website
• Answer questions and comments on social media
• Address customer complaints over the phone and via email

Be there when your customers need you and offer them your full attention and support.

Learn from these eCommerce Mistakes to Sell More and Grow Online

Understanding common mistakes made by both first-time and experienced eCommerce businesses alike is essential to your growth.

To start with, you’ll be able to better anticipate and avoid making these same mistakes. But you’ll also learn that making these mistakes won’t necessarily be the demise of your business either.

If you understand that you made the mistake and fix it, your business will continue to grow and thrive. Not only will your eCommerce website be optimized for success, you’ll also create a following of happy, loyal customers that are excited to buy your products again and again.

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/register/business

This article originates from: https://www.wix.com/blog/ecommerce/2020/05/5-ecommerce-marketing-mistakes

One only need look at the success of the Shoprite Group’s Checkers Sixty60 grocery delivery service (87% growth in 2022 on the back of 250% growth in 2021) and the big push for same-day delivery from Game and Makro owner Massmart to see how serious they are about online retail, says the author. File photo

Amid general struggles for South African retailers (figures for March show that retail trade sales were down 1.6% year on year), the country is experiencing an e-commerce boom.

While the sector’s growth at the height of the pandemic was to be expected, it’s notable that growth continued in 2022, once most pandemic restrictions in the country had been dropped.

Now worth more than R50 billion, online retail saw a 40% increase in shopper numbers in 2022, having achieved similar increases in the previous two years. Some have gone as far as to suggest that local e-commerce will match that of more digitally mature countries by 2026.

Despite the sector’s recent growth, there’s some way to go before that’s the case. Online still represents just five percent of retail sales in South Africa.

That percentage shrinks even further when you remove dedicated e-commerce players.

Most traditional retailers only see between one and three percent of their sales volumes coming from e-commerce. Compare that to a country like the UK, where online shopping now accounts for more than a quarter of all retail sales.

That means that there is significant scope for growth (and that’s without even considering the potential to sell beyond South Africa’s borders). But if retailers are to take advantage of that and help ensure that South Africa reaches its e-commerce potential, they can’t simply set up an online store and hope for the best. They need to provide the best possible experience for customers at every step of the buying journey, including payment.

Understanding the advantages of online retail

Before digging into how online retailers can build those experiences, it’s worth taking a look at some of the advantages it offers.

Many retailers, for example, might look to open up in new markets in order to mitigate some of the difficulties associated with operating in an environment like South Africa. E-commerce affords them the ability to do so without having to set up physical stores. That, in turn, means that they can sell products at greater volumes without drastically increasing their overhead costs. Those new markets don’t just have to be in South Africa either. By going online, retailers can potentially reach customers globally, expanding their potential customer base.

Online retail allows for more flexibility in inventory management. Retailers can, for example, adopt drop-shipping models, where the products are shipped directly from suppliers or their retail stores (click and collect is a great model for this), reducing the need for storing inventory. Physical stores, by contrast, require dedicated space for inventory storage, potentially further increasing costs.

Small wonder then that some of the biggest retailers in the country have worked so hard on their e-commerce programmes. One only need look at the success of the Shoprite Group’s Checkers Sixty60 grocery delivery service (87% growth in 2022 on the back of 250% growth in 2021) and the big push for same-day delivery from Game and Makro owner Massmart to see how serious they are about online retail. The imminent arrival of Amazon’s marketplace shows that international players see the country’s potential too.

A growing number of services are also catering to specific niches, making it easier for them to build their own online presences. For example, Siteminder is a commerce platform for hotels, while Commerce7 boosts sales for wineries.

There are two factors at play here. The first speaks to the fact that different niches or verticals have very specific needs and services are spinning up for all kinds of businesses to help them do e-commerce. Whether you’re a winery or barber, simply having an e-commerce site isn’t enough anymore.

The second is how important it is for these niche services to understand the local context. While international players like Commerce7, for example, have played an important role helping wineries build increased lifetime value via e-commerce opportunities post-winery visit (boosting a R5.7 billion wine tourism business), local solutions are also addressing local needs. Octiv, for example, is making it easier to connect people that want fitness experiences with local gyms and The Local Edit is bringing together interesting brands in one community to win them business abroad, making it easier to find South African brands.

Building great experiences

What all of these platforms understand is the value of building great experiences at every step of the online retail journey. Remember, it takes a lot more effort to stand out online than it does with a physical location (your first customers in a new location may enter the store solely out of a sense of curiosity).

And that work doesn’t stop once a potential shopper’s entered your site either. On average, around 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts before making a purchase. While many are the digital equivalent of “real-world” shoppers who are just browsing, friction has a significant role to play too.

That’s especially true when it comes to payments. While stats for South Africa are hard to come by, research has shown that 88% of UK consumers will abandon purchases if faced with payment friction. That is, admittedly, a more mature market that offers customers a greater degree of choice but it’s far better to get the payment process right from the start. In South Africa, that should include giving consumers a broad choice of payment options, including instant EFTs, debit and credit cards, direct deposits, and debits.

Beyond that, it may also mean exploring less traditional e-commerce options, including those available on instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp. Remember, you want to be where your customers are. And in a country with mobile penetration rates in excess of 187% that’s seldom likely to be on a PC.

Embracing opportunity

There is, at the end of the day, little doubt that South African retailers of all sizes should be exploring their e-commerce options. The potential opportunities for growth, even in a struggling economy, are simply too big to ignore. But, if they’re to make the most of those opportunities, they must ensure that they provide the best possible experiences for their customers at every step of the buying journey.

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://bit.ly/3Cfdu4w

The article originates from: https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/are-sa-retailers-ready-to-grab-the-countrys-massive-e-commerce-opportunity-d9c71fde-7adb-4c6d-aa71-5ca76a18378e

In today’s busy ecommerce landscape, customers are spoilt for choice. A positive experience can be what sets your online store apart. 

What is user experience?

User experience (UX) refers to the overall experience that users have when interacting with a product, service, or system. In this case, your website.

Done correctly, good UX can positively affect your:

• Sales
• Customer satisfaction levels
• Number of repeat customers
• Customer lotalty
• Competitor advantage
• Brand reputation.

You want to create a seamless, positive experience for your website visitors. This involves structuring your website in a way that is logical and intuitive for visitors to navigate. For an ecommerce store, you want your customers to enjoy an effortless, hassle-free shopping experience.

What does a good user experience on an ecommerce website look like?

A good user experience on an ecommerce website can be acheived by looking at your customer’s journey across your website and optimising every step of that journey.

A good user experience would look something like this:

• Clear and well-organised navigation, so your customer is able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
• High-quality images and easy-to-understand copy that outlines the benefits of your product or service helps the customer make up their mind quickly. 
• Consistent branding across your website builds trust with your customer, making them comfortable to continue.
• Personalised recommendations based on their choice increases their chance of purchasing another product.
• An easy and uncomplicated checkout process supported by visible security measures, such as SSL encryption, trust badges, and secure payment options. 
• Accessible customer support options, such as live chat, email, or phone assistance. It also encourages and makes it easy for your customers to leave feedback and reviews, demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction.

How to apply these principles to your website

Creating a good user experience is not a once-off process, but involves continuous testing and improvement. That said, there are some basic starting strategies you can implement to lay the foundation of a good user experience.

These include:

• Put your users at the centre of your design process. Keep their user journey in mind. 
• Design a clear and easy-to-use navigation system that customers will be familiar with. 
• Make sure your entire website reflects your brand identity.
• Simplify the checkout process so customers who want to shop quickly can do so.
• Establish trust with your customers by implementing security measures. 
• Optimise your ecommerce store for mobile devices (78.6% of South Africans accessed the internet via their mobile device last year).
• Optimise your ecommerce website to load quickly. 

Just remember, creating a seamless user experience is an iterative process and involves regular testing, user feedback, and data analysis that inform ongoing improvements.

WordPress makes UX even easier

A well-designed WordPress theme will do most of the UX work for you. xneelo’s Ecommerce Starter Site, available with Managed WordPress Hosting, is specifically optimised for creating a frictionless shopping experience and includes safe and secure payment processing with a trusted pre-installed payment gateway and product pages. Your user journey has been optimised for you, including the safe and secure checkout process. You simply need to drop in your own content, keeping in mind the principles outlined above.

Just remember, while a WordPress theme or Starter Site can provide a foundation for a good user experience, it’s essential to continuously optimise and improve.

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://bit.ly/3Cfdu4w

The article originates from: https://www.ecommerce.co.za/article.aspx?s=161&a=9150&title=UX

November truly carries more gold in its pocket than any other month for e-commerce apps. The period from 25 to 27 November emerges as the prime time for app installs in the region, driven by the frenzy of Black Friday.

This period registers a marked increase across all platforms, with iOS numbers outpacing Android. On November 25th alone, Android installs rose by 30 % over any other day in the month in South Africa, while iOS saw a steeper climb of 78%.

This is one of a number of key insights on Africa’s e-commerce from AppsFlyer’s 2023 edition of its State of eCommerce App Marketing report.

The report provides an in-depth look at key global industry trends to guide retail marketers in building a mobile-first experience that drives engagement and sales for the second half of 2023, especially during the peak holiday season.

Black Friday

“Black Friday in South Africa last year once again showed its prowess in terms of app installs, with iOS installs rising by more than 30%, and Android installs increasing by more than 15% on this day, compared to the daily average in the month of November, showcasing the importance of this period in particular for e-commerce apps,” said Netta Lev Sadeh, managing director EMEA SANI, AppsFlyer.

“It is critical for app marketers to start their planning now leading up to this year’s Black Friday if they want to maximise this vibrant shopping period. Disruptive user acquisition campaigns could be paramount in the months leading up to Black Friday, and if executed successfully, could be the defining point in the increase or decrease in app installs.”

Key African insights from the 2023 State of eCommerce

In South Africa, e-commerce app installs on iOS devices surged significantly by 81.5% from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, dwarfing the 15% rise seen on Android devices within the same period of time.

The report also found that in South Africa, non-organic installs rose by more than 60% during the summer of 2022.

South Africa’s remarketing share peaked at 76% in April 2022, but by February 2023, had dropped down to 65%, according to the Report.

South Africa’s share of paying users peaked in November 2022, a testament to the month of Black Friday, it says.

Nigeria recorded a 22.3% rise in total e-commerce app installs from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023 on iOS.

Surprisingly, in Algeria, there was huge growth in total e-commerce app installs from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023 on Android devices, recording a whopping 54% increase.

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://bit.ly/3Cfdu4w

The article originates from: https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/394/240335.html

Starting an online store may seem like a daunting task, but it can be rewarding and insanely profitable when done right.

A good ecommerce website builder can help you tackle the hassles of ecommerce and get you set up with a beautiful online store, fast. That way, you can impress customers and start making sales immediately.

There are many easy-to-use website builders for online stores that can help you stand out.

This guide provides a list of the best ecommerce website builders available. Since you have specific needs for your ecommerce business, there’s also a rundown of each website builder’s most useful features to help you select the right one for you.

11 best ecommerce website builders

1. Shopify

Shopify is the easiest and most reliable way to bring your business online. As an ecommerce platform, Shopify makes it simple to build an online store without any coding skills or a big budget. Shopify powers millions of businesses and is known for its affordable pricing, beautiful website designs, and helpful marketing tools.

If you want to create a Shopify store, you can choose from more than 100 professional templates with built-in features, such as SSL certifications, domain hosting, custom domains, abandoned cart recovery, and other powerful tools to help you find customers, make sales, and manage your day-to-day operations. You can sell unlimited products through your ecommerce store and across multiple marketplaces, like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, through Shopify’s native partner integrations.

Additionally, Shopify Payments makes it easy to take payments online. You can integrate with more than 100 payment gateways and options from around the world, including Bitcoin, PayPal, and Shop Pay. There are also more than 4,000 free Shopify apps you can use to extend your store’s functionality and sell more online.

Features include:

• More than 100 professional themes created by world-renowned designers, such as Happy Cog and Pixel Union
• Built-in mobile commerce shopping cart, so shoppers can buy on any mobile device or tablet 
• Full access to your store’s HTML and CSS so you can customize every aspect of your ecommerce website 
• Search-engine-optimized stores to help potential customers find you online
• Simple inventory management to track stock counts and stop selling products when inventory runs out
• No restrictions on the number of products you can sell in your store
• Unlimited bandwidth, so you’re never charged based on the amount of traffic your store receives
• Simplified reporting and analytics
• Shopify POS system integration to connect in-person and digital storefronts
• App store with over 4,000 marketing, sales, and customer support tools
• Mobile app to manage your business on the go
• Dedicated customer support team available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through email, live chat, and phone 

Price: Start your Shopify free trial, no credit card required. Paid plans start as low as $39/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5Email addressStart free trial

2. Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart) is a shopping cart for retailers who want to sell online. With sales reporting and mobile-responsive themes, it’s a builder aimed at store owners who need to create an online presence quickly.

While Shift4Shop has some ecommerce features, there’s limited creative agency over your stores. Templates have few customization options.

Features include:

• 160+ payment options
• 90+ free templates to get your website up and running
• Built-in SEO functions to improve websites’ search visibility
• Abandoned cart notifications to help recover lost sales
• Zapier integrations to help extend your store’s functionality

Price: Paid plans start at $29/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 3.8/5

3. Square Online

Square Online is an online storefront builder, formerly known as Weebly. Anyone can build a website with Square Online for free, but you won’t be able to use your own domain name (or remove ads) until you buy a plan. The free plan offers features like real-time shipping and coupons, but advanced features will require you to upgrade. It also works with Square for payments.

Features include: 

• Website builder and management platform for controlling inventory and orders
• Bulk inventory functions to edit bulk batches of products and import/export information
• Mobile-optimized websites
• Coupon builder (for paid plans) to create promotions in your store
• Drag-and-drop builder and media library to walk you through website creation

Price. Free. Paid plans start at $10/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 4.1/5

4. Squarespace

Squarespace is a drag-and-drop website builder that can be used for ecommerce sales once you upgrade your plan.

It offers templates to start designing your store. Once you choose a template, you can customize the colors, text, and images to align with your brand.

Squarespace only accepts payments through Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Afterpay. The Commerce Advanced plan allows you to sell gift cards and subscriptions.

If you don’t want to deal with setting up Squarespace ecommerce functions, you can always turn your basic website into an online store with the Shopify Buy Button. For $5 per month, you can add a small embedded piece of code to any Squarespace website and get access to more than 100 payment options, sales and growth tracking, simple shipping integrations, currency support, and more.

Features include: 

• Drag-and-drop builder with templates and starter layouts
• Responsive web designs and image scaling
• Custom WYSIWYG editing to support content types and complex layouts
• Ability to sell an unlimited amount of products
• Automatic post-purchase email sequences
• Finance, marketing, shipping, and sales extensions

Price: Three-day free trial. Basic Commerce plan starts at $27/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5

5. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is an online storefront builder aimed at enterprise-level companies. It offers web hosting and customization options. You can’t register your domain name through BigCommerce, so you’ll need to buy a domain name elsewhere and connect it to your store.

BigCommerce’s features include international selling capabilities, SEO apps and optimized stores, and multichannel sales capabilities on social and online selling sites.

Features include:

• Visual editor to edit website pages with a drag-and-drop tool
• Customizable themes built with HTML, CSS, and Javascript
• Checkout customization with server-to-server checkout API and SDK
• Digital wallet payment options with wallets like Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, and more
• Cross-channel commerce with marketplaces such as Amazon and Google Shopping
• Multi-currency and multi-language support for international sales

Price: 15-day free trial. Paid plans start at $29/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5

6. Wix

Wix offers a nontechnical website builder to create online stores.

Users can build an ecommerce website using the drag-and-drop builder for free, but must upgrade to a paid plan to start selling.

Wix has a few tools to manage your ecommerce business. It allows users to track orders, accept online payments, sell on multiple channels, and build abandoned cart campaigns. Wix’s basic plan lacks some inventory management features, such as low-stock alerts, tax calculators, and dropshipping capabilities. Stores with big inventory may want an ecommerce software with different inventory-tracking tools.

Features include:

• Editing interface to build online stores
• Templates to tailor a site from storefront to checkout
• Integrations to help sell on Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, and eBay
• Free SSL certificate to protect customers’ personal information and payments
• SEO-optimized product pages to rank higher on search engines
• Ability to import CSV files of store inventory

Price: Business Basic plan starts at $23/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5

7. GoDaddy

GoDaddy is known as a website builder, but it can also be used to create an online store.

GoDaddy offers built-in tools for search engine optimization and email marketing campaigns. Retailers can sell up to 1,500 products on a GoDaddy website.

Features include:

• More than 100 mobile-friendly templates to build ecommerce sites
• Integrations with social media sites like Instagram and Facebook
• Automatic sales and inventory management across all marketplaces and channels
• Multiple payment options such as Google Pay and Venmo 
• Integration with Square Point of Sale to connect retail and online businesses

Price: Ecommerce plan starts at $16.99/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 3.9/5

8. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source platform for sellers using WordPress. It’s not an independent website builder, but a WordPress plug-in that adds ecommerce features to a website. A developer might be needed to use this ecommerce website builder.

WooCommerce allows users to manage website features such as inventory and tax management, secure payments, and shipping integrations. Like WordPress, WooCommerce’s features can be extended with plug-ins and themes.

Features include:

• Exclusively built for WordPress, with connection to its ecosystem
• Mobile-friendly stores make products shoppable on any device
• Complete control over customer and business data—no third-party software has access
• Worldwide community with more than 350 contributors
• 100% open source for control over website appearance and operation

Price: Free with other WordPress products and services.

G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5

9. Volusion

Volusion has site-creation tools that let users create a homepage and product pages, integrate with payment gateways, and sell unlimited products.

It offers inventory and analytics features to monitor shop performance, and sports a native “suggested products” feature in its stores. Physical products can be sold with Volusion, but digital products like ebooks, music, or art aren’t supported.

Features include:

• Customize page layouts with drag-and-drop content blocks for images, texts, reviews, and more
• Zero transaction fees on any of Volusion’s plans
• Responsive themes for mobile shoppers
• CSS editor to tailor select website elements to business needs
• Recurring pricing options for subscription businesses

Price: Plans start at $35/month. 

G2 rating ⭐: 3.2/5

10. Zyro

Zyro lets users create a lightweight website with ecommerce tools.

It offers integrations with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook ads so you can learn about your customers and improve marketing and advertising efforts. Zyro doesn’t have a free plan—users can build a store after paying upfront.

Features include:

• Drag-and-drop editor and grid feature to add, edit, and remove web elements
• Designer-made templates can be customized for business needs
• CRM to manage emails, discounts, and coupon codes
• Reporting and integrations with tools like Kliken, MoneyData, and Google Analytics
• Marketing and SEO tools to launch campaigns easily 
• One dashboard for everything from inventory to tracking and customer service

Price: Plans start at $11.99/month, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5

11. Selz

Selz is an ecommerce builder that caters largely to beginners. It offers themes that can be customized via a drag-and-drop store builder. Selz gives users the option to add Buy buttons to a standard business site or create full-on stores to sell products.

It offers a dashboard to manage social media channels, along with web hosting, an SSL certification, and payment processing.

Features include:

• Built-in blogging platform
• Drag-and-drop store builder
• Ability to manage all social channels from one dashboard
• Accept major credit cards through Selz Pay (powered by Stripe)
• Built-in shopping cart
• Real-time sales analytics

Price: Starts at $26/month.

G2 rating ⭐: 5/5

How to choose an online store builder

Whether you’re a startup or building your 10th ecommerce store, keep these elements in mind when considering a platform:

• Budget, business plans, and pricing. How much are you willing to spend each year on your store? What are your plans for growth? Some site builders charge more as you add more products. Think about what your business needs to launch today, but also consider how many products you’ll offer down the road.
• Website-building skill level. How much technical skill do you have? Many builders use drag-and-drop technology to help you create the best ecommerce site, but you’ll still need basic skills to create product pages, add products to your store, and set up any apps or plug-ins. Consider how much experience you have working with software and back-end builders.
• Customization. Do you want a simple website to showcase your products? Or do you need more advanced features like adding size charts to product pages and adding a live chat window? Think about how you want your website to look and feel and what extra features you need to make it happen.
• Support. If you’re newer to building an ecommerce website, you’ll likely need some help. Does your desired site builder have live support and tutorials? Consider a platform that can help you solve problems quickly and easily so you can get your store live and start selling online.
• Payment gateways. You need payment gateways to accept payments from customers securely and to make payments easy for shoppers. For example, Shop Pay’s express checkout feature can increase checkout speed by four times and help customers get what they want, faster. Shopify also offers integrations with over 100 payment gateways, so you can offer the best options for your shoppers, no matter where they are in the world.

Find the best website builder for your business

Now that you know your options when looking for the best ecommerce website builder, it’s time to test them out. Each option comes with its own pros and cons, but hopefully you have a better idea of which store builder is best for your business.

A professional ecommerce website can take your business to the next level. With all these free website builder options available, there’s no doubt you’ll find the best one to build an online store that you’re proud of, impresses customers, and makes sales for you automatically. 

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://bit.ly/3Cfdu4w

The article originates from: https://www.shopify.com/blog/best-ecommerce-website-builder

Purchasing groceries or a hot meal through a preferred delivery smartphone application has rapidly become a typical aspect of daily life in Mzansi.

Bongani Mthombeni-Möller, Director: Smart Mobility Royal HaskoningDHV | image supplied

But how many of us take a moment to think about the delivery men and women, often on their small 150cc motorbikes, weaving in and out of traffic to get us that latest online order of ours in 60 minutes or less?

Increasingly, this army of delivery agents is becoming a crucial part of the supply chain of a booming local e-commerce market.

Research published by FNB Merchant Services last year highlighted how the size of the South African e-commerce market is expected to double in size from just under R200bn per annum in 2022 to over R400bn in 2025. In 2019, the size of the e-commerce market in South Africa was just R90bn.

In turn, the motorbike delivery economy is creating much-needed jobs in a country where unemployment is at record highs, with a driver being able to earn around R2,500 per week according to some reports.

It’s been estimated that there are up to 50,000 delivery bikes on our roads in South Africa right now. However, this figure is still small when considering that there are over 11 million registered vehicles on our roads.

Nevertheless, we must start to think now about how we can adopt a smart mobility approach with our scooter economy. And doing so requires that we need to get our roads, regulatory environment and law enforcement services ready to deal with a growing number of e-commerce orders.

Smarter use of lanes

Driving along South African roads today presents growing risks with potholes, traffic light outages and increased load shedding. Throw into the mix delivery scooters weaving in and out of traffic and you have a recipe for chaos.

A key question is how do we make our roads better fit for two-wheel motorbike deliveries? The answer may lie in Exclusive MotorCycle Lanes or EMCLs, which have been successfully implemented in countries such as Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia.

According to research published by Science Direct, Malaysia managed to reduce motorcycle accidents by 39% after implementing EMCL along Federal Highway-2 in Malaysia. Science Direct has reported that EMCLs ranging from 3.3m to 5.2m in width further resulted in three times the benefits of reducing accident costs.

A key question here is whether traffic volumes of delivery motorcycles on our roads right now justify the need for exclusive lanes. Already, dedicated bus lanes have become a regular feature across Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town.

It may take time for scooters to replicate the same kind of priority as buses. However, with a growing e-commerce economy, we may need to start thinking now about how to make the most of existing lanes so as to prevent further problems in the future.

Smarter regulation and sustainability

The saying that regulation lags innovation has never been more relevant than right now, with tech taking over every aspect of our lives.

In this environment, it’s important that regulation helps keep our society safe as well as creating a more sustainable future.

Whatever regulation we implement, we must ensure that delivery motorbikes are road-worthy and safe. Large supermarket retailers and others may own their own fleet of bikes and even check them for roadworthiness. But it is essential that all companies and drivers take on the responsibility of regularly conducting road-worthiness checks. Traffic officials, such as the JMPD, can partner with the private sector to ensure the safety of everyone on the road.

Moreover, with the move towards a green economy, there is a massive need for electric bikes, electric vehicles and charging stations. This creates an opportunity to tap into the e-mobility sector and phase out petrol bikes as much as possible. Legislation can help regulate the entire EV electric micro-mobility sector and the private sector can provide input into policy and legislation to help support the industry.

We’re still in the early stages of our e-commerce revolution, but there’s no doubt that the scooter economy is going to become a bigger part of our daily lives. The motorcycle delivery economy is agile and versatile. These bikes cut through traffic quickly and deliver goods and services in a short period of time. Gone are the days when customers would have had to wait more than 24 hours for deliveries to arrive via a minivan.

The men and women on these bikes play a huge role in revolutionising the e-commerce space in South Africa. And the more that we can do to enable them and ensure their safety and sustainability, the better this industry will become over the long term.

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://bit.ly/3Cfdu4w

The article reference: https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/791/238536.html