The Evolving Trends in eCommerce: How to Grow Your Brand and Customer Base Through an Omni-channel Approach
If you’re a brand with a strong focus on eCommerce, you’ve no doubt begun to notice just how challenging selling your products online has become.
As competition increases, the ability to capture the attention of new customers is getting much harder, and existing marketing methods are becoming more expensive with each passing day.
Pair that with the changes in consumer behaviour since the start of the pandemic and the recent downturn in our economic environment, and it’s easy to see why so many brands are struggling to connect with their consumers and maintain growth over time.
That’s why many brands are now looking at how they can adapt to changing consumer behaviours and develop a multi-channel strategy to help meet their audience where they’re searching for them.
So, how is your brand planning to adapt over the next few years as digital technology and consumer preferences continue to evolve?
Let’s consider the facts to help you make a more informed decision.
Consumers have more options than ever before.
The reality is that it’s never been easier to start a brand, develop a few products and start selling online. The hardest part now is trying to stand out.
With so many options available to customers, it can be difficult to reach the right ones, even if your product is far superior to that of your competitors.
Plus, with consumers now choosing to spend less due to uncertainty in the economy, they are becoming much more particular about where they do spend their precious funds.
But that’s not the only challenge eCommerce brands like yours are facing in the modern era…
There is an increasing pressure to be more socially conscious.
People nowadays are far more concerned with sustainability and environmental impact than ever before – to the point where they will make their purchasing decisions based on which brands practice sustainability within their business.
In other words, if your brand isn’t making a conscious effort to address your environmental impact and promote sustainability, your customers will start to look elsewhere.
So, what are other brands doing to continue attracting customers?
Essentially, they’re taking an omni-channel approach and evolving the way that they do business to better meet their consumers' needs.
Gone are the days when the consumer would go looking for your brand. Modern audiences now expect to find their favourite brands on the channels they are most active on.
This means that through the offering of additional channels, brands can increase their customer scope, grow their awareness, and win over new audiences at a time when many eCommerce brands are struggling to keep their head above water.
So, how are they doing this?
Let’s look at the different consumer-centric approaches that some brands have taken:
Dialing up their digital presence
The pandemic has seen a huge shift from physical in-store shopping to online shopping. This means that many brands have had to find ways to increase their digital presence and make their product range more available to their online audience.
Reimagining consumer touchpoints
Brands have begun to reimagine the way that their customers interact with them online.
They’re developing new marketing techniques such as personalised recommendations and new product or service offerings (such as resale, renting, repair and refill) to show the consumer that they understand their evolving interests and preferences.Leveraging partnerships
More brands are beginning to enter socially conscious partnerships with eco-friendly organisations to help them address the changing needs of their audience and scale environmentally-friendly solutions that may not have been possible on their own.
All of this builds public trust and credibility as a sustainable company.
Introducing re-commerce opportunities
Re-commerce is proving to be one of the most effective channels for brands looking to address changing customer behaviours, spending patterns, and environmental concerns all at the same time.
Let’s delve into this a little more.
Re-commerce presents your brand in a new light.
In a nutshell, re-commerce is a solution that makes your brand more accessible and more sustainable for more customers – both new and existing.
Not only that, but re-commerce is also a smart way for your brand to expand the digital experience you offer customers through additional options and touchpoints - explained below.
Using specially-designed re-commerce technology, your brand can maintain full control over your inventory and continue to expand your customer base – luxuries you won’t get with platforms like eBay.
Here’s a deeper look at the different types of re-commerce that your brand could use to reach more customers:
Renting re-commerce
Renting is exactly as it sounds – your brand rents out some or all of your products to customers for a specified fee and time period. Once they’re returned, they’re cleaned up and listed again for someone else to rent out.
This can significantly increase the lifespan of your products, help you make repeat sales much more efficiently and increase customer lifetime value.
Resale re-commerce
Resale involves selling pre-owned items that have been bought back from customers.
This is a great way to promote vintage pieces, encourage collectability via exclusive one-of-a-kind pieces that are hard to find, and extend the product lifespan.
Repair re-commerce
Again, repair is exactly what it sounds like. It involves offering customers a service to take the products that may be damaged and mend or customise them to wear and love for more years to come.
Of course, to adapt and build re-commerce into your brand, you need reliable technology that you can trust.
That’s where Rntr. comes in.
Rntr. can help you to grow your brand with an omni-channel approach.
Rntr. is a white-label technology and logistics service that your brand can utilise to offer a re-commerce channel to your customers directly through your website.
With Rntr., you can extend your brand reach in a controlled and on-brand manner, enabling you to access more full-price customers in the future and dramatically increase your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
If you’d like to explore how your brand can easily adopt this re-commerce channel to hit your revenue or sustainability goals, the team at Rntr. is ready to offer you guidance on how it can be done.
Connect with your brand’s re-commerce community direct from your own website.
We offer integrated full-service rental and resale solutions to help you achieve your brand’s revenue and sustainability targets, get in touch.
Book a Demo of Rntr. and see it for yourself
Our branded resale service will be launching soon!
Reach out to us to learn more about how we can help you improve your sustainability efforts while boosting revenue.
