Salla, the Future of E-Commerce: An Easy Platform to Start Your Business

Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, we have increasingly realized that the monthly retail sales volume is one of many aspects likely to be affected by surrounding challenges, dragging it downward.  While most retail sectors have taken a significant hit following this massive challenge, one of the most interesting shifts is the transition to digital. With more people staying at home, the number of Google searches has doubled, and they have started to rely on e-commerce to purchase products they would have previously bought from physical retail stores.

As estimates suggest that by 2040, 95% of all purchases will be made online, it is high time for retailers to face e-commerce challenges and find the most suitable solutions for them. 

How Do You Deal with Modern E-Commerce Challenges?

In Microsoft's quarterly earnings report to Wall Street, Satya Nadella—CEO of Microsoft—explained through her statement on digital transformation amidst e-commerce challenges, fueling the argument that the e-commerce sector will flourish in the "new normal," saying:

"We’ve seen two years' worth of digital transformation in two months. From remote teamwork and learning to sales and customer service, to critical cloud infrastructure and security... we are working alongside customers every day to help them adapt and stay resilient and enthusiastic to work in a world where everything is remote."

Salla has previously answered the question "How do you handle daily online store challenges like a pro?" And because e-commerce challenges are continuous with the growing reliance of consumers on online shopping, e-commerce opens doors of opportunity for many entrepreneurs. Salla is always keen to offer new solutions to its clients and merchants, so today it presents the most important solutions that might face you in modern e-commerce challenges:

1- Digital Identity Verification

When a shopper visits an e-commerce site, how does the retailer know if this person is who they say they are? Is the shopper entering accurate information? Is the shopper genuinely interested in the e-commerce products?

If you don't have accurate details or information, how do you track all this to overcome the key challenges of e-commerce? The solution lies in your investment in online identity verification.

How?

There are various ways to integrate digital commercial identity verification, and some examples include:

• Biometrics.

• Artificial Intelligence.

• Single Sign-On (SSO).

• One-Time Password (OTP).

• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).

2- Cybersecurity and Digital Data

When it comes to online commerce, one of the biggest e-commerce challenges you could face is security breaches. A huge amount of information or data is involved while dealing with e-commerce, and a technical issue in this data can cause severe damage to the retailer's daily operations as well as the brand image.

What is the solution?

Be vigilant and always backup your data. Additionally, you can install security plugins on your website to prevent it from being hacked. There are many plugins available, and you can choose the one that works best for your e-commerce sites.

3- Attracting the Ideal Customer

Shoppers have countless options to choose from these days, which places this matter among the challenges of e-commerce. For instance, if they are looking to buy a handbag, they conduct thorough research before finalizing the purchase. With several options available to customers, how do you ensure they will inevitably choose you?  How do you search for the ideal customer who wants your product at the price that suits you? And how do you find the places you can ship to?

Here is the solution:

You can partner with companies that help you target your customers. Visual marketing is also preferred over traditional marketing due to its capability to target your ideal customer.

While this might not happen overnight, with careful fine-tuning and analysis tests, your products can appear to potential customers on various social media platforms.

4- User Experience (UX)

User experience is the key to the success of an e-commerce website. Shoppers expect an experience similar to what they would get in physical stores without any misunderstandings or issues occurring. Therefore, and to avoid any possible barriers between the customer and the merchant, segmenting the website and personalizing retail products based on shopper preferences is essential.

Salla suggests the following to you:

There are several ways to improve the user experience. The most important is to have a clean, organized, and simple website so that shoppers can navigate easily. The next point would be to have more clear Call To Action (CTA) phrases to prompt them to make a buying decision, so the shopper knows exactly what to do.

• 3D, Augmented Reality (AR), and Video.

Video is a way to engage shoppers in the e-commerce experience as well as with the brand. An engaging video creates an opportunity to spark emotion and engagement, giving shoppers something to interact with.

• Omnichannel Experience

Do not stop at the limits of your digital storefront. Instead, the brand experience must tell a consistent narrative across channels, devices, and contexts—including your online store.

-A great example is a retail company that used FaceTime calls to enable customers to ask various questions about the product and what they wanted.

5- Customer Loyalty

Here are two facts illustrating the importance of customer loyalty: 

• Acquiring a new customer can cost more than 5 times as much as retaining an existing one.

• The success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%.

The facts mentioned above are a testament to how crucial customer retention or loyalty is in facing e-commerce challenges. Once a customer makes a purchase or uses a service from a retailer, they must ensure they retain this customer for life. 

But how is this possible?

These are some of the different methods offered by Salla that can be used to retain customers:

• Providing excellent customer service: A customer is happy to buy a great product, but they are thrilled when customer service is outstanding. 

• Staying in touch with the customer via their preferred channel: whether it is an email, SMS, or blog posts. You must ensure you know what is best for your customer, which involves keeping them informed about new products, sales promotional offers, and special coupon codes for being loyal customers.

6- From the Shopping Stage to the Buying Step

One of the biggest challenges in e-commerce is converting visitors into paying customers. An e-commerce site might have a high volume of traffic, many clicks, and impressions, yet they are not achieving the sales they expected. 

What can they do to get more sales?

Above all, you must understand why shoppers are not converting: are you targeting new customers? Does your mobile website run smoothly? Do your online platforms face technical challenges all the time? Does your customer base trust you? Do you personalize your website for your customers? Always think from the shopper's perspective and see if you are doing everything possible to move them from the shopping stage to becoming a buying customer.

7- Competitor Analysis

Have you heard of the Jam Experiment? It reveals quite a controversial result, which is: the fewer options you offer to customers, the more likely they are to actually buy something! Many people these days feel overwhelmed by the vast world of choices available, making this a major challenge in e-commerce. A simple search (customized search) for something like headphones will yield thousands of choices.

How does a shopper make a choice?

From the retailer's perspective, how do they stand out from the crowd? How do they bring shoppers to their website instead of buying a similar product from competitors?

Salla solves this in 3 steps:

• Always conduct a thorough analysis of your competitors: Find out what products they sell, how they generate leads, and how they communicate with their customers.

•  The next step will be to make sure you stand out: whether through the colors you use, the excellent functionality of your website, or an amazing user experience.

•  Finally, offer unique and relevant products or services to your customer base.

[Excellence] Professional Product Packaging: From Your Store to the Consumer's Doorstep

8- Pricing and Shipping

We have all heard of customers who prefer to buy products from places where free shipping is available. E-commerce giants like Amazon offer attractive shipping deals such that customers rarely want to look elsewhere. 

How does a merchant reduce shipping costs?

While not all e-commerce sites can completely eliminate shipping costs, always look for options that suit your customer base. Does a subscription reduce the shipping cost? Will a certain time of the month offer them lower shipping costs? Or is there a reliable carrier that offers a cheaper rate? Make sure you research and find the best possible solution for your shoppers.

9- Product Return and Refund Policies

According to ComScore, over 60% of online shoppers view a retailer's return policy before making a purchase. When an e-commerce site states "no returns or refunds," it makes the shopper nervous and less likely to trust the retailer. When shopping online, customers want the flexibility to make a mistake that won't cost them much.

Suggested Solution:

Customer satisfaction is the most important factor for any retailer. Therefore, having a flexible return and refund policy not only helps satisfy customers with you and your commercial site, but it also helps them make purchases without feeling stressed.

Regarding online payment gateways, Salla platform offers various payment solutions to suit all preferences, whether for you as an e-merchant or according to the customer's preferred payment method. You will find it offers the option to pay via PayPal—the most famous, reliable, and secure global payment platform on the internet. 

This, of course, is in addition to traditional payment solutions represented by credit cards, whether Visa or MasterCard, while providing the highest security standards.

As for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Salla platform offers the "mada" payment method provided by Payfort—an Amazon company—with payment fees much lower than those imposed by PayPal or local banks.

We have discussed this through the article "3 Steps to Start Your E-Commerce with Salla" in appropriate detail, explaining how to activate your online store's preferred payment method.

10- Marketing Budgets

With digital marketing being the benchmark for most e-commerce businesses, more companies are flocking to spend on digital and social media advertisements. With the increased demand for clicks and virtual ad space, the price increases too. This can become extremely expensive for small and medium retailers. In fact, this is one of the biggest e-commerce challenges they face.

Salla's solution is simple:

Create specific customer profiles that will help your business target your social media and digital advertisements, significantly improving the return on investment (ROI) on your spending.

11- Technology and Leveraging it for Your E-Commerce Challenges

Choosing the right technology or the ideal partner will determine the success or failure of your business. A retailer's growth might be halted because their technology limits and hinders them, or because they hired the wrong agency to help manage their projects.

There are many aspects that must be ready for retail success, but a good technological foundation is critical.

Partner with Vue.ai, a unified visual AI platform that redesigns the future of retail to resolve all the e-commerce challenges you face. Using image recognition and data science, Vue helps retailers generate information on product pricing and customers, integrating it with market insights to drive growth.

Nothing has pushed e-commerce forward like the circumstances of 2023. While there have been many exciting and positive changes, there are still online businesses struggling with the continuous challenges that e-commerce brings. 

The solutions mentioned above are fixes that can help any e-commerce company get closer to their ideal customers and target sales.