Chatbots for eCommerce: how to increase sales during the holidays

Ecommerce is gaining momentum, especially during holiday seasons. Online shopping in the U.S. reached a new pick during the 2020 holiday season (November-December) – totaling $188.2 billion – a 32% increase!

This holiday season, online businesses can significantly boost eCommerce sales by using automatic sales chatbots.

Before we dive in, let’s take a deeper look at the eCommerce industry.

The Ecommerce Market – Trends and Forecasts 

The eCommerce industry has grown exponentially over the past 5 years, from $1 trillion to $2.4 trillion – a 140% increase. Today, 18% of all retail sales are online transactions – approximately 1 out of 5 sales. However, offline sales are losing their share – decreasing from 92% in 2015 to 82% in 2020.

Mainland China and the U.S. are now the biggest eCommerce markets in the world, accounting for 57% of global internet sales. Some of the prominent players in the global eCommerce market are:

• Amazon.com, Inc.
• JD.com, Inc.
• Apple, Inc.
• Alibaba Group Holding Limited
• Flipkart Private Limited
• Walmart, Inc.
• eBay, Inc.
• Best Buy
• The Home Depot

Ecommerce is about to grow even more during the 2021 holiday season. According to eMarketer, total US holiday eCommerce sales in 2021 will increase by 11.3%, meaning that eCommerce will account for a record 18.9% of total holiday season retail sales. By 2025, eCommerce global sales will amount up to a staggering number of $3.9 Trillion by 2025, as opposed to $2.4 Trillion today.

How eCommerce is Shifting Consumer Behavior 

Most consumers nowadays own a smart device – smartphone, tablet, or laptop that opens up a way for them to buy online. As a result, more consumers shift to online shopping and discover a shopping world with endless possibilities.

During Covid-19, more consumers discovered eCommerce and started buying online, driving the eCommerce market even more than before.

Top 5 eCommerce Shopping Trends in 2021

1. 66% of online buyers choose a retailer based on convenience, while only 47% choose a retailer based on price/value.
2. 63% of shoppers who visit Amazon or Walmart.com visit these sites for initial product research.
3. 54% of shoppers, who are exposed to advertising, say that it helps remind them of something they need, or it prompts an idea for something they want.
4. 59% of online purchasers are aware of social commerce.
5. 49% of online purchasers scroll past page 1 to look for what they want.

Today, Consumers use a broader range of eCommerce sites, social media platforms and search engines to purchase products and goods. They use these channels to conduct research, discover new products and compare pricing and reviews.

According to the “State of eCommerce 2021” report: 

• 63% of online consumers did their initial product research on Amazon, and 63% compared products or prices on Walmart.com.
• 50% of online consumers discovered new products or brands on Google.
• Instagram is the most popular social channel for discovery and inspiration, constituting 50% of all searches for products on social media.

Digital innovation combined with Covid-19 drove an unprecedented change in consumer behavior towards digital commerce, creating it an actual war zone for retail brands.

Large retailers now battle for consumers’ hearts and money, dedicating significant resources to improve customer experience and close sales using automated sales chatbots.

What are Automated Sales Chatbots?

Chatbots are AI-powered conversational assistants created to engage customers without human intervention. Powered by machine learning capabilities, chatbots learn to understand human behavior, communicate more naturally and constantly improve the customer experience.

Automated sales chatbots are “personal shopping assistants” for eCommerce businesses. Powered by AI, sales chatbots can automatically offer products and services to multiple shoppers simultaneously while providing a personalized shopping experience for each customer.

Sales chatbots shorten the wait time, relieve the loads from sales agents and generate qualified leads. Companies using sales chatbots can completely manage sales conversations from start to finish, automate service processes, improve efficiency and drive business growth.

How Automated Chatbots Increase eCommerce Sales for Businesses?

In an endless world of shopping possibilities, retailers first need to draw shoppers to their online stores. Once potential shoppers reach your website, it’s essential to keep them inside by immediately offering products they would like and accompany them throughout the customer journey till a sale is completed. That’s when automated sales chatbots kick in.

Automated sales chatbots interact with your shoppers from the first moment, offering products such as clothing, electronics, beauty, etc. Chatbots can manage your entire sales process from initial interaction until transactions are completed. Then, your chatbots can offer more products to generate additional sales.

Chatbots Benefits for eCommerce

1. 24/7 Customer Engagement – With chatbots, your business is always available. You can communicate with customers worldwide, offer products and complete sales processes without having on-site human sales agents.
2. Omnichannel Communication – Chatbots make your brand more approachable to customers by operating on multiple digital platforms such as instant messaging apps, social media, SMS, online portals and more.
3. Unified Customer Experience – Chatbots communicate with customers in the same tone and voice that suits your brand. Chatbots can offer products and services in a friendly way, enhance the customer experience and increase the chances of generating more sales.
4. Chatbots break the language barrier – chatbots can conduct sales conversations in multiple languages, expanding your customer service boundaries. If you have bots, you don’t need a sales agent who can speak five languages, only one bot to engage more customers worldwide.
5. Automation – Chatbots can answer FAQ questions, conduct customer satisfaction surveys and provide insights, later to be used for improving the sales process.

   

How to Increase Your Holiday eCommerce Sales in 4 Simple Steps

Chatbots can increase sales by 67%, according to industry leaders. To achieve maximum sales this coming holiday season, any business should take these four simple steps:

1. Go Omnichannel to Increase Your Customer Experience and Sales

Omnichannel capabilities are crucial for eCommerce businesses. According to the “State of eCommerce 2021” report, cross-platform shopping is the hallmark of today’s online purchaser, cementing the importance of integrating retail, search, and social strategies.

Implement an omnichannel platform to easily communicate with online customers from any channel such as messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, web chat, video chat, and more.

Provide customers with a simple way to shop and ask questions about products from any communication channel of their choosing. Simplifying your customer journey will improve your customer experience and drive more sales.

2. Use a Chatbot Creation Platform 

eCommerce chatbots can automatically engage your online buyers, offer them products and services and accompany them through the entire shopping journey till transactions are completed. Chatbots would enhance your customer experience, for which customers are willing to pay 13-18% more.

That’s why you should use a chatbot creation platform to create your unique eCommerce sales chatbot. 

3. Engage Customers on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger 

A Facebook Messenger chatbot can converse with the apps’ users and offer customer support or act as a sales assistant. With Over 130 million people use Facebook Messenger in the U.S. alone, using sales chatbots in Facebook Messenger can be especially effective during the holiday season.

You can use Facebook Messenger chatbots to:

• Provide instant response to customer requests.
• Offer products and services from your marketplace directly via the Facebook Messenger chatbot.
• Conduct customer satisfaction surveys.
• Keep customers informed about new updates in your Facebook marketplace.

  

WhatsApp

WhatsApp can reach 98% of all users and has its own marketplace (Shop Cart), making it a most effective marketing tool. You can sell your products directly via WhatsApp by creating a store or catalog and engage your customers for any question or request. WhatsApp chatbots can take care of the entire sales process.

You can use WhatsApp chatbots to:

• Offer products and services.
• Provide instant responses to common questions.
• Keep customers informed about new products and updates in your store.
• Receive feedback from customers.

Drive Sales, sales and more sales!

4. Track your performance Using an AI-Powered Platform 

Massive amounts of sales require any business to be able to track and produce profound insights. In fact, The top budgeted eCommerce service is data and analytics, with more than half (56%) of eCommerce professionals allocating funds for this purpose. That’s why you should have an AI-powered platform that can automatically track all steps of any transaction and present reliable data.

To conclude these 3 steps, businesses need an AI-powered omnichannel communication platform, that enables them to create sales chatbots for eCommerce, while tracking all communications and sales processes.

This coming holiday season, you need a smart omnichannel communication platform that would automatically manage all your eCommerce sales on any channel.

Scale Up Your Holiday eCommerce Sales Using Commbox

Meet Commbox – a leading AI-powered omnichannel customer communication platform. Commbox enables businesses to create unique eCommerce chatbots on multiple channels such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, allowing brands to scale up their sales on any digital platform.

Commbox Chatbots: 

• Learn from every interaction with your customers and get smarter over time.
• Communicate with other bots and transfer conversations from one Bot to another according to the flow of the conversation while keeping complete transparency from the customer’s point of view.
• Identify types of conversations (sales, customer service, etc) and route a specific conversation to suitable departments or agents.

Use Commbox’s WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger chatbots to scale up your sales during the holiday season and beyond:

• Sell products directly from your marketplace.
• Build a chatbot in minutes using Commbox – be available 24/7!
• Manage all customers interactions from a smart central inbox.
• Automate repetitive tasks.
• Improve customer experience while keeping a unified brand tone and voice.
• Quickly respond to customers while tracking any conversation.
• Integrate your CRM with all communication channels.
• Track your performance on eCommerce and generate insights.

In Conclusion

Ecommerce is expected to reach $3.9 trillion in sales by 2025. Chatbots would significantly impact eCommerce success – by 2023, 70% of all chatbots would be eCommerce chatbots.

Industry leaders state sales chatbots can increase sales by 67%. If you have an online business, start using automated sales chatbots to boost your sales.

Use Commbox to build your unique eCommerce sales chatbots on messaging apps and social media channels like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Track your performance on all communication channels to generate more sales this coming holiday season and beyond.