SUCCESS FACTORS OF E-COMMERCE – DRIVERS OF THE CONVERSION RATE AND BASKET VALUE

Digital Commerce is growing dynamically in most countries and industries, both new and established online retailers are constantly expanding their product ranges and revenues. Different digital and customer services are essential to increase the success of online shops, as a representative survey among 300 online shops indicates. More than the half of the e-shops offer free shipping and product reviews, and already one third provides personalized content or product offers. To increase sales, the majority of online shops provide discount codes and recommendation of complementary and alternative products. Surprisingly, every third online shop implemented an online configurator for mass customized products or services. Three quarters answered that digital analytics is important for analyzing and controlling digital business. Analyzing different success factors, this contribution shows that customer-, service- and data-driven online shops generate higher conversions rates and revenues. Product reviews, discount codes, personalization and the recommendation of alternative products lead to significant higher conversion rates. Most online retailers are selling on different distribution channels like e-mail, phone, digital marketplaces and pick-up stores. Finally, successful omnichannel vendors are using a variety of digital marketing channels such as search engine optimization and advertising, newsletter marketing, social media and influencer marketing.