Ecommerce businesses have recently sprung up like mushrooms! Even the most traditional of businesses has now chosen to sell products and services over the internet. If your CPG company is among them, you need an ecommerce playbook. This is in addition to your business roadmap.
The reason is simply: With a playbook for your ecommerce operations, you can
- implement best practices and strategies in your business,
- position yourself intentionally with your target online audience, and
- expand your reach in the best way.
Let’s get building!
Build Your Ecommerce Playbook
We have room for only the main points here, but they’re the important ones.
Choose Your Business Model
There are several models of ecommerce businesses: B2B, B2C, C2B, and C2C. You need to figure out where your online business will fit in these models and if there’s some overlap to take into account when thinking about marketing channels and styles.
Take a moment to think of your current off-line buyers. Will they be the same as for your ecommerce trade? Or will they fall into a different category. This must be documented in your ecommerce playbook so your marketers and reps are clear.
Develop Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Dealing with online customers is quite different from customers who go to physical stores. They have a wider variety of choices, and if you don’t act strategically, it can be difficult to be found online. So – identify your brand’s UVP for online marketing, and find new, appropriate digital ways to make the UVP clear to your potential customers.
When developing this ecommerce UVP, things you need to define in your playbook include online buyer personas and the customer journey – bearing in mind the changes you might have identified in step one.
Pick a Revenue Model
Ecommerce businesses earn money in various ways. The important thing is, therefore, to identify the top ways you expect to make sales and achieve your ROI in 2022 and beyond.
Consider perhaps a different pricing structure for your online customers and how you’ll generate value for them. This, too, needs noting in detail in your playbook as you build it.
Online revenue models for your type of CPG business might be, for example
- drop shipping,
- wholesaling,
- retailing, or
- partnering, etc.
Your target online customers will play a major role in which model you should choose. Then document in your ecommerce playbook all the steps necessary to work with these customers – from awareness to close of sale.
Identify Digital Channels for Your Ecommerce
Given the number of channels available, it’s makes sense to not only have a channel strategy but also to
- research where customers are buying your type of CPG product, and
- run your ecommerce business activities across those channels.
Then document in the ecommerce playbook your customer-centric messaging guides for each channel in order to:
- raise product awareness,
- schedule regular social content,
- offer discounts,
- use effective product descriptions, and
- monitor customer feedback, etc.
In Summary
We’ve touched on only a few major points that you should include when building your ecommerce playbook. There’s a lot more that can go in. Your playbook is unique to your business. It should include all the guidance, processes, strategies, and resources that your business will need for your ecommerce store to be successful.
Want some Expert Help With Your Ecommerce?
Here at Momentum CPG, we have expertise and experience in ecommerce playbooks for CPG brands. Contact us today to find out how we can help you become successful in the online business world!