Online shopping seems to be the future of marketing. Almost every product that money can buy is now available for purchase online. Of course, the reason for this is not so hard to imagine.
It is no surprise that the present generation is more geared towards convenience than any other. And online shopping offers this in remarkable proportion. Thanks to e-commerce, we can all sit conveniently in our homes, get on our laptops and mobile phones, and, in the space of a few minutes, get all we need delivering right to our doorsteps.
And this doesn’t even stop at goods alone, but also services.
No doubt the importance of online shopping in our lives is immense, and will only keep growing – which is why it is essential to get a few facts straight about the large industry.
Listed below are some interesting thoughts, facts, and observations most people don’t know about online shopping.
It’s Big
Source: kerst2018.com
E-commerce has gotten so big that reading some facts about it will leave you legitimately shocked. What’s even more impressive is the fact that it is still growing at an unbelievable rate. For instance, studies have found that more than 80% of people who use the internet have employed it to purchase goods and services online. And this figure keeps growing by more than 19% every year.
This, of course, is good news for consumers. Not only will there be healthy competition among stores and businesses, but even more options and an increasing variety of goods and services available for purchase online.
Never Pay the Full Price
Source: businessinsider.com
It’s so convenient to find numerous stores online that offer what you’re looking for, and it is as easy as opening multiple tabs to find and compare prices on all stores.
What this means is that it is sure as day that you’ll find a store that offers significant discounts as a promotion. This is, no doubt, one of the best parts about shopping online.
Don’t be fooled, though. It is not uncommon to find stores offering products initially at an inflated price and then offering discounts that end up reducing the price to a reasonable valuation.
But these may just be exceptions. Numerous stores offer a real discount, and this is why it is essential not to be lazy. You must be willing to visit as many stores and spend as much time evaluating their prices and policies as much as possible.
Promo and Coupon Codes
Source: moneycrashers.com
You can also find hidden gems and nuggets called promo/coupon codes. While they aren’t such a secret – everybody knows about them – obtaining them may be tricky. But only if you don’t know where to look.
Subscribing to newsletters, visiting sites that specialize in promo/coupon codes, and even carrying out Google searches on the subject are all great ways of finding promo codes for products/services that have them.
Feel free to check out here for some eBay coupon codes.
Price over Everything
Source: moneycrashers.com
Studies have found that millennials consider price when buying above every other thing. This may seem obvious at first. I mean, of course, the first thing we tend to check when buying virtually anything, is the price of what we’re buying.
But then we consider other things such as quality of the product, the brand, the convenience, time taken for delivery, durability, and so on.
And while the previous generation may have placed branding and durability above all else, the current one is quite different. For them, once the price is right and convenient, nothing else matters.
The Art of Dynamic Pricing
Source: wired.com
Dynamic pricing is a pricing model that takes advantage of real-time demand and supply to determine price, again, in real-time.
While all businesses and products take demand and supply into consideration when determining prices, these are mostly long-terms estimates that are fixed for a reasonable period.
Dynamic pricing, however, takes into consideration a lot of factors that are continually changing, to determine the price of an excellent/service – which is also continually changing.
You may have come across dynamic pricing when booking a flight ticket online, for example. The price fluctuates based on how many seats are available, location, time, and even search history.
There are also specific ways to make dynamic pricing work in your favor. Since it’s continually changing, you may get it higher or lower. The trick, though, is to research optimal time – which most people believe to be Tuesday afternoons – clear your browser cookies to cloak search history, employ incognito mode, and even make use of a VPN to make your IP address.
Dynamic pricing is attractive, to say the least. You only have to know how to make it work for you.
You’re Being Stalked – Ish
Source: begenkishop.com
Maybe, not really, kind of. You see, most websites ensure to get your consent before they go ahead and, yes, stalk you. How? By using cookies, of course.
Cookies, for those who don’t know, are nifty little scripts that track your every move on the said website. They aim to help the system remember your preferences, to serve you better next time.
And while it does serve that purpose (by keeping your cart organized and giving you recommended products that you love), sometimes it goes beyond it. Sometimes you find that all your data and details from one website are being exported to a completely unrelated site.
This can get creepy, which is why sometimes it’s good practice always to clear your cache and clear your cookies. And of course, be careful and very selective about whom you share your data with.
Conclusion
Online marketing brings with it some unique advantages that keep on growing, thanks to its continual evolution. It is, however, still relatively new enough that numerous aspects of it might appear new and baffling to some.
We’ve listed above some thoughts, facts, and observations that most people still don’t know about when it comes to e-commerce.
