[Marketing for consumer electronics shops] 5 effective strategies to increase your sales

Let me guess:
You opened an online consumer electronics shop because you saw the enormous demand for these types of products – but you didn’t think of…

• The huge number of competitors (Amazon, big department stores, etc.)
• The small profit margins
• The stock, which sometimes becomes obsolete

And that stops your shop from growing.
Having an online business is great because you cut down on costs, but it forces you to constantly update your marketing strategy so that the giants don’t make a clean sweep of the market.
And that’s the reason for this post. We’re about to explain the sales strategies (specific to this sector) that are finding the most success right now.
Read, apply, and start selling (a lot). 😉

The importance of e-commerce for consumer electronics

First, let’s explain what we’re talking about:

Consumer electronics refer to all those electronic devices that we use each day for entertainment, communication, or office work.

Therefore, we’re talking about everything from your personal computer, smartphone, and TV to extractor hoods, digital cameras, fridges, and even vacuum cleaners.
That’s to say, basically, every single electronic device that we use on a daily basis.
What are the advantages of selling in a sector like this one?
The numbers:

• According to Global B2C E-commerce, (an organization that analyzes the profiles and behaviors of online buyers globally), the consumer electronics sector is the most mature e-commerce sector in Europe, North America, and Asia and is growing at an average rate of 21.5%.
• Sales in this sector continue to be unstoppable throughout the whole world. The income generated so far this year is $340.194 billion dollars.

However, not everything about the sector screams perfection, so what are the problems?
The market is dominated by giants such as Amazon, Media Markt, and other department stores that can compete on price.
As we have already mentioned, with giants controlling everything in such a large sector, there’s a big problem for the smaller e-commerce shops: how can we get clients to choose us instead of Amazon?
Here you have 5 actions that you can carry out.

The 5 best marketing strategies for consumer electronics in 2019

The truth is that you won’t be able to fight with the “big” names when it comes to volume or (most likely) price. But do you know what?
You don’t need to.
The key for your e-commerce to grow is not playing their game. And we’re going to tell you how – in depth. 😉

✅ 1. Specialize as much as possible

Unlike you, e-commerce giants (and I’m not pointing any fingers, OK Amazon?) are more than capable of targeting the general public while offering really affordable prices.
You’d be crazy to compete against that.
What can you do, then? You can go where they can’t.
How?
Hyperspecialization.
In other words, you focus your offer on a very concrete audience.
Nowadays, online consumers are giving and more and more value to good user experience. They not only look for cheap products but also want to feel that they are treated well and can easily find information about the products.
Take advantage of that, focus on a specific type of client, and make it easy for them to buy.
For example:

• Millennials: If you focus on this audience, you’ll have to think about all the electronic devices that they love: mobile phones, tablets, cameras, computers, and all other types of ‘gadgets’.
• 70+: What are their needs? Easy-to-use technology. For example, TVs that don’t require technical expertise to set up and use.
• Technology for kids: In this case, the offer should be focused on their parents (who will be making the purchase). What are their needs? They want to know the educational benefits of the devices their kids will be using.

Don’t try to fight Amazon or any other big store – you’ll never be able to match their marketing budgets or compete with their prices.
Be more intelligent and take advantage of the places they can’t reach.

✅ 2. Use a search engine that eases the search

Shop catalogs in this sector are huge – so much so that they can discourage shoppers if a website’s structure is not well organized.
How can you make it easier for potential clients? By using a professional search engine.
With Doofinder (our professional search engine), users only need to type the brand or model of the device they’re looking for and they’ll automatically be shown:

• Products – accompanied by their respective images
• Categories – to apply filters by price
• Offers – to check whether there are any current deals for a specific product

Have a look at this example of Doofinder on the Ballicom website:

Clients not only find what they are looking for immediately, but they can also buy other products from the same brand.
In addition, Doofinder also lets you:

• Show results even when clients type the name wrong: If the shopper had typed “sansung”, the search engine would have still shown them the same results. This doesn’t happen with other search engines.
• Synonyms: Can you imagine users looking for “fridges” and not being to find them because your category is called “refrigerators”? With Doofinder, it won’t matter what they type – they’ll be shown all of the products. 😉
• Personalize the results shown: If you want to sell a specific product (because of stock surplus, profit margin, or whatever reason), you can prioritize it and show it first in the results.

A search engine is the closest thing to having a real shop assistant for your shop – don’t lose potential customers just because you don’t have a search engine.

✅ 3. Spend time on your content marketing

You already know that if your website doesn’t get visitors, you can’t make sales. That’s why you need to design a content marketing strategy.
That’s great, but… what’s content marketing?

Content marketing is a strategy that consists of creating and distributing relevant content for free to get qualified traffic to your website.

Note: Qualified traffic means users who already have an interest in your products (so it’s easier for them to make the jump to purchasing).
To create free and relevant content, you can use:

• A blog in which you post regularly
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Images or infographics

If you don’t know where to start, this post has a guide on how to create your content marketing strategy.

✅ 4. Increase your average checkout price

Once a shopper is in your online store and willing to buy, you have to make the most of it.
One way to increase sales and profits is by increasing the average checkout price of the transaction. That’s to say, getting the client to add more things to their shopping cart for the same transaction.
There are several options to do so:

• Highlight your best sellers: The easiest way to increase sales is by boosting what is already working. Don’t let clients leave without having a look at your most-sold items.
• Free shipping: A classic – offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount. If your clients are close to the cutoff, they’re likely to add something else.
• Offer products related to the one they’re about to but: You can even show them as a banner of “commonly bought together” or “other clients also bought” as Amazon does.

Note: If you want to learn more about cross-selling (making clients buy products they weren’t originally thinking of buying), have a look at this post where we explain everything you need to know.

✅  5. Use post-sales marketing to foster your clients’ loyalty

What happens when you buy from a shop, the product arrives on time, the packaging is beautiful, and the customer service is always good?
You buy again from the same shop.
And that’s exactly what we call fostering client loyalty.
Here you have some tricks to make clients buy again:

• Improve your customer service: For example, you could install a chatbot to answer customer questions 24/7 so they’re always getting the help they need.
• Guarantee the shipping: Choose a good logistics operator that can guarantee quality deliveries.
• Reward subsequent sales: Offer discounts for future purchases or related products.

This post provides you with a lot of information on loyalty programs for e-commerce shops just like yours.

Sell more with these marketing strategies for consumer electronics

The main idea of this post is to show you that competing with giants like Amazon is not worth it since it’s impossible to beat them in their field.
These giants are much more resourceful than you are.
That’s why you have to specialize and focus on what they can’t offer – close and personalized customer service. 
Use these strategies and you’ll see just how your e-commerce sales grow bit by bit.