With the prevalence of online shopping in the current business landscape, businesses are now starting to catch on by creating an online presence that demands advanced payment solutions and sophisticated e-commerce marketing strategies to stay ahead of the curve.
Keeping these strategies in mind, there is more to e-commerce marketing besides just simply having a digital space to sell products online. Businesses and brands still have to properly interact and cater to the needs of their consumers behind their screens.
As part of our E-Commerce Marketing Series interviews, we spoke with Emmanuel Cruz, e-commerce lead at Mondelēz Philippines, to learn more about his insights on how e-commerce marketing strategies should be based on consumer behaviour, as well as how e-commerce affects businesses and brands, and the trends that dictate what’s next to come for it.
E-commerce pros and cons within F&B
The e-commerce marketing landscape is significantly dynamic, which is matched by the agility of brands and businesses to become agile to catch on what is currently relevant.
For Cruz, this is a challenge because strategies and plans are constantly pivoting, especially for multinational corporations such as Mondelez, wherein these shifts require a lot of internal alignments and approvals which can take up quite some time.
Additionally, he mentioned that there are also other challenges, such as finding the right mix of assortment to differentiate a brand across different platforms, the rising costs on operations to fulfil orders on new platforms, and the investment on traffic, media and even promos.
These challenges may seem as an obstacle for many, but Cruz says that it can present itself as an opportunity in the online space if brands and businesses act quickly to reap its rewards within a new platform.
“ This can be seen as an opportunity because most brands usually benefit from a first-mover advantage when it comes to new platforms. Less competition means more saliency and even less investments needed,” he said.
Adapting to evolving e-commerce
As consumer behaviour moves alongside the dynamic landscape of e-commerce marketing, Cruz mentions that e-commerce marketing strategies should always be based on consumer and shopper behaviour.
“From platform availability, assortment, pricing, content and promos, all these should always be based on the consumer,” stated Cruz.
In order to achieve this, Cruz shared that a robust end-to-end omnichannel approach should be present to understand the interplay of offline and online consumer behaviour.
Talking about how this should be applied, Cruz mentioned, “Online and offline strategies should be integrated, never on silo. The occurrence of browsing online and checking out offline (and vice-versa) is more and more apparent post-pandemic.”
This approach leads to an easier understanding of customer behaviour, wants and interests, which means that brands can seamlessly pivot and tailor-fit messaging, communication, promos and recommendations. To enhance this, Cruz said that customer data should be maximised to increase basket size or assortment, improve repeat purchases and overall build loyalty with customers.
“AI makes it even easier for brands to do so, and even if we’re not yet that deep into utilising advanced AI, we still use data to get insights and refine our activities to optimise our investments,” he added.
The future of e-commerce in F&B
When asked about his insights for the future of e-commerce marketing in the F&B industry, Cruz commented on the prominence of social commerce as one of the biggest trends in F&B at the moment.
As a rapidly growing branch of e-commerce that uses social networks and digital media to facilitate transactions, social commerce allows for businesses and brands to increase their reach even further, and reach out more to younger or emerging consumers.
“However, as more and more brands get onboarded on this platform, competition will become even tighter, with brands fighting neck and neck on live platforms and on their promos,” he added.
Furthermore, Cruz also mentioned that there will be a more seamless omnichannel approach that brands and businesses need to employ as e-commerce platforms provide not just online sales but influence offline decisions and pre-purchase.
“Brands within the F&B industry need to be in-tune for what’s next to come in terms of e-commerce marketing strategies, as e-commerce platforms are becoming not just a point-of-sale but more so a channel for brand and product discovery that affects purchase decisions offline,” Cruz concluded.
MARKETECH APAC is leading the conversation on the future of e-commerce marketing strategies this 2024 and beyond with the E-Commerce Marketing in Malaysia 2024 conference on July 25, 2024 at Sheraton Petaling Jaya and the E-Commerce Marketing in the Philippines 2024 conference on August 14, 2024 at Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria. Join us and become an integral part of a dynamic community committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation and fostering unparalleled growth in the e-commerce domain.
