More business occurs online each day. Retail, in particular, is a growing element of the internet.
Recent data from The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce shows that even two years after the coronavirus pandemic, a solid portion of retail activity comes from e-commerce. It accounted for roughly 15% of total retail sales in the first quarter of 2023 and has reached billions of dollars in sales each quarter.
While most leaders acknowledge the value of e-commerce, making it work on an individual company level can be challenging.
Here are three areas to consider if you want your brand to succeed.
If you want your online sales to be successful, scalable, and adaptable, you must build your e-commerce presence on a solid foundation. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a comprehensive cloud-based platform that makes this easy and efficient.
The AWS Retail platform features hundreds of services businesses use to create high-functioning e-commerce sites. This provides a one-stop solution that answers every business need when operating in the cloud.
AWS Retail solutions are secure and beneficial by using a system backed by a worldwide network of IT support. It features unlimited bandwidth, impressive server capacity, and fast speeds. Critically, it is also highly adaptable.
Its pay-as-you-go model also means you don’t need to commit vast resources over lengthy periods of time to use the service. Your team simply pays for the services they require as they go along. From simplicity to comprehensiveness, AWS is the perfect blank canvas to build an e-commerce empire on.
Even a platform as comprehensive, flexible, and cost-effective as AWS can be complicated to set up and maintain. You need third-party support for a smooth and effective transition.
It’s wise to work with a third-party approved partner to help with the transition. They should be versed in AWS Retail services and have achieved AWS Retail Competency status.
This program identifies third-party vendors with exceptional AWS Retail competency backed by a track record of customer success. A certification indicates that the AWS Competency Partner possesses deep expertise and delivers highly specialized technical proficiency.
IO Connect proudly bears this critical AWS badge of approval. Our team can accelerate a healthy digital migration of everything from enterprise resource planning to order management systems to third-party logistics to the cloud.
The kind of support we offer is also helpful for pre-existing AWS customers and newcomers. For instance, we helped the resale platform Recurate fully optimize its pre-existing AWS e-commerce components to improve scalability and profitability.
Proper expertise and end-to-end support ensure that shifting your core retail elements to AWS creates a scalable, secure, and efficient e-commerce model for your retail activities.
Once your AWS services are selected, your e-commerce elements are migrated to the cloud, and third-party support is in place, it’s time to consider how to marry your online and in-store e-commerce activities. This is a critical step many companies overlook.
It’s tempting to leave these two elements as mutually exclusive areas that rarely overlap and contribute to individual revenue streams. However, if you have both a brick-and-mortar and online presence and want both to succeed, you should integrate them wherever possible.
One easy way to do this is to use in-store interactions to lay the groundwork for e-commerce follow-up. For instance, if you have a storefront, use it to collect email addresses. Add your store URL to your products and physical marketing assets where appropriate. This can drive future traffic to your site and complete sales from brick-and-mortar leads.
Another way to do this is to use e-commerce to drive in-store sales. While more nuanced, this is possible by using data collected from customers online to inform how you present your in-person presence. From geographical location to ambiance to store layouts, e-commerce can help inform how you position your brand for your target audience.
All in-person and online strategies should aim to create an omnichannel experience. This was the case when IO Connect helped build a seamless digital AWS-powered ticket purchasing system for the travel brand MobilityADO. By integrating the physical with e-commerce, we helped them capitalize on the potential that wasn’t present exclusively in one sales channel on its own.
Utilizing AWS for retailers and getting third-party support from IO Connect can set the stage for long-term e-commerce success.
Reach out to us today to see how our managed IT services can propel your e-commerce efforts to new heights.
