E-commerce is rocketing and there is no stopping it. The rate at which brick-and-mortar stores are taking the e-route is completely proportional to the growth in your competition. It’s not just about your products anymore; it’s about the added benefits your store offers.

In this neck-and-neck race to capture new customers, what can you do on your WooCommerce store to get that extra push? Let’s find out!

Discounts… and More

When we talk about benefits the first thing that comes to mind is – discounts! Well, whether you call it discounts, special pricing or limited time offers… do you really think these strategies will help you beat your competition?

The short, long, and obvious answer is, NO!

For example, let’s consider Black Friday Sales. Prices are slashed; you know customers are looking for a good deal. Every store runs an offer. And it’s easy for your campaign to get lost in the noise of these offers.

But then again, in the words of Jay Acunzo, from the Unthinkable podcast, “noise is not the problem, sameness is”!

That is to say, it’s okay to promote your products, but if you’re offering is the same, you’re bound to lose out.

You’ve got to think about introducing a differentiating factor to set you apart. In the end, it’s about creating a better shopping experience for your customers.  

Being Heard Despite the Noise

Unless you sell out-of-the-world products, exclusively, there’s bound to be another e-commerce store out there that sells the same products as you, at the same price point.

So, let’s set the product quality and pricing factors aside for a while. Let’s see what more you can do – to be heard.

#1 Personalization

If you were to focus only on one tactic out of many, my recommendation would be – personalization. This broad term includes personalized selling, and marketing – for you, and a personalized buying experience – for your customers.

Personalization can be that extra edge to put you above your competition. It tells your customers they are valued and cared for.

– Personalized Selling and Marketing

A personalized approach to selling and marketing includes tailoring your website’s content and marketing campaigns for individual customers.

For example, using the customer’s name in a greeting, instead of a generic one, recommending products based on a customer’s browsing history, sending across special offers on customer birthdays, anniversaries, showing targeted ads based on viewed products and more.

– Personalized Buying

While personalized selling and marketing are fairly common, personalized buying is rare. With personalized buying, a shopper can tailor a specific product as per his or her requirements. Personalized buying implementations involve:

• allowing shoppers the possibility to customize product bundles or assortments (after all, bundling is subtle upselling)
• an option for shoppers to add personal messages or notes to products they purchase
• options to allow shoppers to customize products as per their needs

#2 Value Addition

Here’s a take on a tactic that’s quite popular in the telecommunications industry – Value Added Services.

According to Wikipedia “[Value Added Services] can be used in any service industry, for services available at little or no cost, to promote their primary business”.

Since your primary business is selling your products, value addition would involve packaging additional services to buyers, such as product helper material that’s available with product purchase, emailing product tutorials for complex products, or providing setup services at a minimal cost. A value-added service could also be free shipping (shipping being a service) for your premium customers.

Such services make customers feel special because they receive added benefits on making a purchase from your store – making this a differentiating factor.

TL;DR

In the world of e-commerce, it’s easy to get lost among competition if you aren’t offering anything different than the rest. It’s not about offering a different product, it’s about creating a memorable experience when purchasing a product from your store.

It could be personalized marketing or offering personalized buying options. It could also be offering a little extra that’s of less cost to you, but of value to the customer.

So go that extra mile, dare to be different! The rewards will make it worth your investments. Wouldn’t you agree?