Believe it or not, even if you run an eCommerce business, you will have to narrow down the audience you're targeting. Why? Because it will make your marketing campaigns much more effective and less expensive. So, let's find out how to choose the right target market for eCommerce and grow your business more efficiently.

Who are your customers

Finding out who your current customers are will tell you a lot about your target market.

Yes, it is possible to expand the market, but typically, those who were your first customers will remain the core of your target audience.

That encompasses:

  • Gender
  • Social status
  • Finances
  • Interests
  • Location
  • Occupations

So, your customer base should be the starting point.

Try to find out their common characteristics and interests and why they buy your product or service. You might get surprised!

Why is this important?

Well, sometimes we think that our product is for a specific target audience, but when we dig a bit deeper into the customer base, we find out that our assumptions were not entirely correct.

Observe what competitors do

The second thing you want to pay attention to is what your competitors do and their chosen markets.

Find out:

  1. their target audience, who they address in their marketing campaigns, and
  2. check their reviews to find what they missed.

If you look carefully, you can easily find the differentiation spot and boost your marketing campaign based on it. In other words, see what customers think is lacking or where there's room for improvement.

For example, if most customers complain about the delivery speed of your competitor, make sure your own is much more efficient, and build it into your marketing campaign.

Always keep an eye on your own product

It's not effective to watch what your competitors are doing, if at the same time you ignore feedback on your own product.

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Make sure your business is standing with both feet on the ground, based on what value your product offers to the customers.

The best thing in the 21st century is that you don't need to be a mind reader to know what people think about your product or service. All it takes is a good tool that tracks all reviews you get from your customers on social media or review platforms.

ecommerce

Start locally – grow globally!

Now, we all know that eCommerce is a global phenomenon. You have access to the world, but remember that every market has its own rules, demand, and other specifics that will impact your marketing campaigns.

If you want to market your product, you will have less successful campaigns if you go broadly, not to mention the costs. Adjust your campaigns to a specific target market, preferably local, and if possible, use their language, and localize your campaign so that the potential customers can genuinely connect with it.

As your business starts growing, so can your marketing campaigns. You can quickly go global once you will have experience and some customer base to begin with. And with automation tools, such as Zapier, Integromat, or SyncSpider, it will be easy to implement this local pattern globally.

Revise your strategies from time to time

We live in a fast-paced world (yes, you've heard that before), and it's almost impossible to set a long-term strategy because circumstances are always changing, and the market you target will change its preferences, financial potential, or laws.

That's why you need to be aware and keep track of all that's happening in the world that could have an external effect on Ecommerce. You need to analyze how it impacts your target market and reflect on your eCommerce business.

For example, the Suez canal logistics jam a few years back caused a lot of issues in the eCommerce world, not to mention the negative impact of the pandemic on the whole world.

That's why it's best to keep your strategy flexible. Change it as you go when you see an external factor that might harm your business. Sometimes it will require you to change your targeted market, so be ready with plan B.

Conclusion

Though eCommerce provides you the possibility to reach the world, it always comes with a cost. Perhaps your shipping will take too long, your marketing campaigns are over your budget, or you might not be able to track orders on all your sales channels and miss fulfillment.

That's why you need to first narrow down your target market and choose the right target market for eCommerce business. You might want to start with checking your own customer base, what competitors are doing, tracking feedback from your customers, making small steps, and finally, being flexible about changing strategies if needed!

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About Author

Deeply passionate about writing, copy, and social media. Digital Marketing Assistant at Platformly.

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