Short for electronic commerce sales, e-commerce sales simply refers to buying and selling that takes place online. Perhaps surprisingly, e-commerce sales still account for a relatively small percent of overall sales, with in-store purchases outperforming online sales by more than 80% in 2024, according to data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.
That said, e-commerce is a huge driver of revenues annually — that goes for the e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart, for more specialized sellers like Etsy, for big brands like REI or Nike, and for smaller one-off companies, and even individual sellers as well.
E-commerce selling offers myriad ways to reach customers, from a traditional website and social media to ads, email and more. “By combining varied strategies, businesses can create a more compelling shopping experience and drive consistent e-commerce growth,” says John Reinesch, marketing specialist and founder of Asset Growth.
If you’re hoping to increase the online sales of the brand you own or manage, I’m here to share some excellent ideas on how to do just that, sourced from experience and a large pool of industry experts.
How to Increase E-Commerce Sales with 10 Proven Strategies
1. Add New Products That Have High Demand
“Increase your traffic by adding new products that have high demand,” says Hagop Imasdounian, managing partner at H & Co Agency, adding that, “Not all products have the same amount of demand, so identifying which products or product categories have search volume, then adding them to the e-commerce site, we were able to increase the amount of traffic coming to our website.” While there on the site, buyers may grow interested in other products as well.
2. Add a Live Chat Function
“Consider adding in a live chat function to answer any questions or concerns a visitor may have before checking out,” suggests Imasdounian. Live chat also may help prevent a would-be customer from leaving without making a purchase, as they’ll feel validated and more comfortable with the seller.
3. Improve the Design and Function of the Site
The easier it is to navigate around your site, the more likely customers are to find products they like and to potentially make purchases. “The words ‘user experience,’ or UX, may ring a bell,” says Aditya Chauhan, PPC and SEO expert with D’Genius Solutions. “That’s because nothing is more important in the eyes of customers than a seamless and fast experience. Websites can offer this through mobile-friendly, fast-loading, and clear navigation menus. Also, prioritize accurate and high-quality product images with adequate descriptions to build trustworthy relationships with visitors.”
4. Use Original Imagery and Videos of Products
Anyone can copy images from Amazon or from another seller’s site, but those re-used images won’t do much in terms of improved sales. “Include unique product images and videos that are not found on any competitor sites,” says Imasdounian. This enhances the idea of the unique offerings of your company and shows that you have inventory available.
5. Improve Your Domain Rating and Optimize the Site
“If you’re serious about increasing sales, ranking higher in search engines should be a core goal,” says Chauhan. “Do it by optimising each web page using choice keywords, well-written meta content (titles and descriptions), alt tags, and plenty of helpful and engaging content.”
6. Offer Discounts, Deals, Special Offers, Subscription Benefits, and More
Set yourself apart from competitors by offering your customers something extra — and something unique. “If you operate in a competitive market (which most e-commerce sites do), watch your biggest competitors,” says Chauhan. “Offering similar pricing, discounts, limited-time deals, and promotions as competitors can boost leads and force customers to calculate the better option.”
7. Post Reviews and Ratings from Verified Past Customers
Customers want to feel comfortable with your brand, your products, and the entire buying experience. Posting reviews by verified past customers that had a great experience shopping with you is a great way to help convince potential customers to go ahead with a purchase.
8. Run Targeted Paid Advertising Campaigns
Sometimes, you really do have to spend money to make money. “Consider running paid advertising, and ensure your PPC (or pay-per-click) is structured correctly for best results, as an effective PPC strategy will drive large amounts of traffic to your e-commerce website,” says Samantha Cobden, senior digital PR executive with Dark Horse. Working with a company that offers real-time, AI-assisted ad targeting and optimization will make this process easier and more effective.
9. Optimize and Simplify the Entire Buying Process
Look to Amazon’s famous “Buy It Now” button for some inspiration. The simpler you can make the process of getting a product into a cart, a customer checked out, and a sale closed, the more sales you will see. “In my experience, nothing has worked quite as remarkably as making the buying process extremely easy,” says Mike Handelsman, CEO of FoamOrder. “Like, stupid easy, and by that, I mean minimal checkout steps and access to the top payment methods. No one wants to spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how to pay. Keep it clean, fast, and easy to navigate. If someone can’t find the ‘Buy Now’ button in three seconds, they’re exiting the website.”
10. Run Social Media Campaigns, Ideally Pairing With Established Influencers
“Working with influencers who are in line with your brand can be a very effective way to boost sales on your e-commerce site,” says Michelle Nguyen, product owner and marketing manager at UpPromote. “Influencers have built strong, trusting relationships with the people who follow them, whether they are famous people on social media, experts in their fields, or niche bloggers. Businesses can get their products or services in front of new, interested audiences by teaming up with these people and using their credibility and reach. These partnerships can greatly raise brand awareness, bring more people to a website, and eventually lead to more conversions and sales.”
Great E-Commerce Business Examples
Boxed
- E-commerce Niche: Online retailer providing wholesale goods in bulk directly to consumers for home and work.
- Achieved Goals with Taboola: Boxed leveraged earned media coverage on the “Today” Show by circulating it through Taboola. This resulted in over 5,000 actions and a 3.18% increase in conversion rate. Taboola proved to be a channel for high-quality customer leads, leading Boxed to plan an expansion of their partnership with larger campaigns and Taboola video.
Resolution Media for Barbora
- E-commerce Niche: Online grocery delivery platform operating in multiple cities.
- Achieved Goals with Taboola: Resolution Media, on behalf of their client Barbora, aimed to maximize conversions and increase sales. By using Taboola’s native advertising formats, including custom Image Ads and leveraging geotargeting and Attentive Audiences, they achieved a 50% lower cost per sale (CPS) compared to standard display channels for retargeting campaigns. The prospecting campaign also generated new users with a high cookie acceptance rate.
MySmartPrice
- E-commerce Niche: Product research platform helping consumers decide what to buy, where to buy, and at what price, also providing buying guides and top ten lists.
- Achieved Goals with Taboola: MySmartPrice implemented Taboola Feed to combat limitations in monetizing their newsletter and website content. This resulted in a 2% uplift in both organic and sponsored content Click-Through-Rate (CTR), leading to a 14% increase in newsletter and website Revenue per Mille (RPM). MySmartPrice plans to further utilize Taboola Newsroom and implement video ads and Feed across other website sections.
AVVA
- E-commerce Niche: Men’s clothing manufacturer and seller with online and offline presence across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans.
- Achieved Goals with Taboola: AVVA sought to gain new users and increase e-commerce sales. By using Taboola’s Image Ads and implementing the Taboola Pixel for retargeting, they achieved an impressive 75% increase in sales and revenue volume compared to their previous campaign period. Taboola also outperformed their traditional media buying channels in driving conversions and purchase volume.
Vivara & Media.Monks
- E-commerce Niche: The largest jewelry chain in Brazil, offering exclusive and timeless jewelry through online and physical stores and kiosks.
- Achieved Goals with Taboola: Vivara, in partnership with Media.Monks, aimed to drive qualified traffic and sales during the holiday season. By utilizing Taboola’s Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) to retarget website visitors with personalized ads, they achieved a 21% increase in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and an 18% higher CTR compared to other platforms. Taboola also drove the second-highest sales and CTR among Vivara’s advertising channels.
Which Factors Influence E-Commerce Sales?
One of the biggest mistakes online sellers make is acting as if they exist in a bubble. Even the best site offering the best products will stall out if they don’t pay attention to larger market trends, and be sure to meet online consumers where they want to be found.
Ad Placement
This means placing ads and content where you are most likely to find your ideal, most readily-converted customer, be that TikTok, YouTube, in a banner ad on a news site, and so on. Do your market research and audience segmentation work and then place your brand and products wisely.
Website Optimization
Next, be sure that your site and/or mobile app are optimized for search engines, but also for a pleasant and easy human experience. A well-designed and optimized website with clear product information, high-quality images, and easy navigation is essential. This is especially true during the checkout process.
Shipping and Returns
Also make sure to offer quick and competitively-priced shipping and, if possible, offer a clear and easy return policy as well — people are much more likely to make a purchase they don’t feel trapped by.
Rewards
Finally, try to secure customer loyalty both with rewards programs and offers sent after a purchase, as well as with customized experiences, such as a thank-you email clearly tailored to the buyer.
Which Channels are Best to Drive E-Commerce Sales?
Again, successful online retail is all about meeting people where they already are. This might be as simple as opening an online storefront on Amazon or selling specialty items on eBay, but beyond that, it means placing your ads and content wisely.
Social Media
If you’re catering to a younger audience, then it makes sense to use TikTok and Instagram as the place for your social media ad spend. For a middle-aged or older audience, Facebook is probably your best bet, while YouTube can be a goldmine if you create great video ad content.
However, ecomm brand marketers can often come to a point of frustration because of channel fatigue – where audiences become less responsive to repeated messaging on the same platforms – and creative fatigue, where even engaging ad formats lose their impact over time. To combat this, it’s crucial for e-commerce brands to opt for a diversified channel mix. This includes exploring the significant potential of the open web, leveraging first-party data to reach relevant audiences in new and less saturated environments beyond the traditional social media walled gardens.
By extending their reach across a wider range of quality websites and content platforms, marketers can engage with audiences based on their behavior and intent, ultimately lowering acquisition costs and saving a significant amount of time in identifying and converting valuable customers.
Realize delivers measurable results and drives customer acquisition at scale, beyond the limitations of search and social media advertising.
You can also lean heavily into email marketing to drive e-commerce sales. Those who open and engage with it are, at least briefly, a captive audience not being competed with for attention, so make those emails count.
SEO
It’s important to have a well-optimized site so that your brand ranks decently in search engine traffic. Just make sure your SEO is organic, sounding like copy real humans wrote and will enjoy reading, not like a bunch of keyword stuffing.
Key Takeaways
There are myriad concrete steps you can take to increase your e-commerce sales, 10 of which I laid out above. You may not need to implement all 10 of these ideas, but some combination of them will help drive more customers to your online business and will lead to more sales and long-term customer retention.
It’s important to meet your e-commerce customers where they are, be that social media, news sites, or online retail giants, rather than to just expect them to find you. It’s equally critical that your site and/or app is easy to navigate and that the sales process itself is a breeze.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How can I improve my e-commerce business?
See the many tips above for ideas on strengthening an e-commerce business, but the top-level thinking is to focus on optimizing your website and/or app, thereby enhancing the customer experience, and implementing effective marketing strategies, be they on social media, newsletters, ads, or wherever else. Leverage data you gain about your customers, and about which e-commerce marketing initiatives worked or didn’t, so you can make more informed decisions in the future.
How do I drive e-commerce sales?
To drive more e-commerce sales, you’ll usually need to focus on a multi-faceted approach encompassing website optimization, informed marketing strategies, and creating a great customer experience once they’re on your site or in your app. Best practices include effort dedicated to SEO, impactful email marketing, social media engagement, and providing a seamless checkout process.
How does e-commerce increase revenue?
If you’re a brick-and-mortar store (or a small online seller with limited reach, geographically speaking), e-commerce can blow the proverbial doors off, opening truly vast revenue potential. E-commerce increases revenue by expanding your seller reach to a potentially global audience, offering 24/7 shopping, and enabling your business to consolidate and streamline operations and reduce costs, ultimately leading to higher sales and profitability.
