For an owner of a retail store, it is quite easy to get that feeling of how his business is doing because he can see people walking in and out of his store, and he can physically interact with them and see their reactions. But in an ecommerce business i.e in an online store, there is no possibility of interacting or getting in touch with the customers in a similar manner. So you need something else to be your ears and eyes. This is where Analytics comes into the picture.

As the ecommerce industry continues to grow at a quick rate, there is a need for a difference maker in the market. Something which can give you an edge over thousand others trying to achieve similar goals. Business Analytics for ecommerce has emerged to be the "X factor" which can help you stay ahead of the curve. Understanding your customer's behavior is an important aspect of an ecommerce business, and business analytics plays a major role by tracking activities, product interests, time spent on each page/product and many other factors which determine your success rate.

Still wondering how analytics can make a difference? Join us for this discussion.

The Story

No two customers visiting your online store are same. Each one of them react differently when it comes to your website and accordingly perform different actions on it. Your ecommerce business analytics can help you classify your customers based on their interest and other behavioral factors.

Suppose your ecommerce business has only a niche customer base, you can make use of the analytics to segment your specific traffic and various campaigns meant for them. By doing so, you will not only be able to reach your customer base easily but also will be able to add more value to your strategies and campaigns.

Being The Only One Of Your Kind

An ecommerce business heavily relies on the seamless customer experience that it provides to its customers. From the time they land on your page till you wrap up the sale, you must try and keep the customer effort as minimal as possible. Though there are numerous "tips" on how to include best practices in your UI & UX, the monitoring of customer behavior is still a crucial factor. And your business analytics can give you this important information on what your customers are looking for. This way, you can make efforts to improve your skills and proficiency in the desired areas.

The Secret Ingredient

The secret ingredient in Amazon's recipe for success is its personalized recommendations feature. Have you ever wondered how amazon sometimes is able to perfectly recommend what you need to buy even before you search for it on their site? Amazon makes use of extensive historical customer information and its complete analysis as the feeder to its algorithm which then comes up with the recommendations for its buyers. You can implement similar recommendation engines in your ecommerce business to track your customer behavior and provide early recommendations to the buyers.

The Returns

How many times have people shopped clothes online, and then returned it back because the size was not right for them? Even when the online store provide size charts, many buyers find it really difficult to find the right size. A recent US fashion retailers report pointed out that there is a return rate of 20-40 percent in the US alone. While faulty sizing is a major factor responsible for such high return rates, there are a few other factors as well which account for this number.

As high return rates are proving to be costly to numerous online businesses, making use of personalized platforms capable of providing fit ratings & size recommendations for the buyers, will help combat the issue.

Across Borders

Over the recent years, logistics and payment services have seen a lot of developments which have enabled the the ecommerce businesses to target global markets. But success in global markets does not come easy as localization is a factor which plays a major role. The buying attitude, preferences and choices of he buyers across the globe depends on the culture of that particular region. For example there might be a product which might not perform well in the US markets but might be the highest or the best seller in the European markets.

By making use of ecommerce analytics, you can compare and analyze user behavior with respect to each region or market and accordingly modify your marketing strategies.