By: Diana Allwein and Alexandra Plowman  

The way shoppers engage online continues to become more fluid in terms of how they search for and purchase products. Now, more than ever, e-commerce is the new shopping normal and retailers are competing to offer the best optimized digital experiences and value. Black Friday 2019 was proof as shopping continued to shift from brick & mortar to the living room couch, with online spend hitting just over $7 billion, +23% vs prior year.

Most recently, the current COVID-19 situation has accelerated this shift in behavior of shopping for groceries and staples online in an effort to practice social distancing. Post virus, we expect this shift will continue to grow.  

What does this mean? Showing up well is more important than ever. Brands need to invest in creating an informative and compelling digital shelf and employ a demand generation strategy that highlights and spotlights their equity and unique benefits, or they risk not being seen. Let’s take a look at best practices for making the most of your products’ online presence.

Incorporate brand storytelling into the digital shelf

• Bring your brand to life beyond the packaging seen on a brick and mortar shelf. Don’t simply fill in the blank templates with images and copy. Allow your shoppers to experience your brand. In addition to packaging and ingredients, it’s important to demonstrate why your brand is the best. Why would I buy it, how would I use it? Is it for me, or for a party? Is it a gift?

Pay attention to quality

• Showing up well online has never been more important. It is no longer acceptable to simply upload low quality pictures of packaging and ingredient labels. They need to reflect the quality of your brand. Ensure your packaging images are easy to read and are mobile optimized. Include secondary images that highlight usage occasions. Make sure the copy is clear, succinct and seamlessly includes organic search terms.

Have a demand generation strategy

• Lastly, shoppers need to find your brand. To get prominent placement, you’ll need to ensure you have a strong paid search strategy and media plan that drives demand to your products and delivers an efficient ROI. Ratings and reviews are also important to help drive search results and sales.

E-Commerce trends are evolving faster than predicted, especially with the recent pandemic.   Brands that deliver a compelling experience and get the digital shelf fundamentals right are poised to win the e-commerce sale.

Think your brand might need to reshape its online shopping image? We’d love to chat. For more information, email us at info@mosaic.com.