Why Geolocation and Geotargeting Are Essential for E-Commerce

You can find an e-commerce site for pretty much everything these days. It’s not surprising since shoppers with no time to go out and shop physically need access to whatever product or service is on their mind, and with no more than a few taps away on a keyboard.

So, to date, there are between 12 and 24 million e-commerce sites worldwide. And by 2040, studies predict that e-commerce sites will account for 95% of all purchases. That would mean even stiffer competition. And market players must therefore seek better strategies to get a good chunk of shoppers’ budget.

In response to the challenge, e-commerce website owners are endeavoring to go global. Instead of offering one size fits all products and services, though, they strive to customize or localize marketing campaigns for better customer satisfaction. They specifically employ e-commerce geolocation.

This post will give you more concrete ideas about using IP Geolocation API to bolster your e-commerce geotargeting strategies and consequently improve your bottom line.

Why E-Commerce Geolocation and Geotargeting?

Not all shoppers are alike. As such, e-commerce website owners need to make adjustments to their customers’ preferences. This approach can successfully convert visits into sales.

Marketers have thus been relying on e-commerce geolocation strategies. That helps them cater to the demand for particular products or services in a given country, state, city, or even neighborhood. They also make it a point to note their visitors’ language and currency preferences when visiting their sites. They put up localized websites to ease their shoppers’ lives. Others even go the extra mile and push geotargeted advertisements that prove useful in capturing the attention of specific demographics. All of these strategies improve their marketing campaigns, assuring them of better returns on investment (ROIs).

Benefits of E-Commerce Geotargeting Aided by Geolocation Tools

All e-commerce website owners need to know their customers to fulfill their needs and wants. For marketing efforts to convert to sales, store owners first have to segment customers into groups to provide them with more personalized experiences. Shoppers from different locations have different buying habits. In some countries, people may prefer cash on delivery (COD) purchases, while others may wish to use payment cards. Most want to see product and service prices in their own currency.

That said, it is vital to know where visitors come from by using e-commerce geolocation tools to come up with localized strategies. Geolocation is the first step in enabling e-commerce geotargeting, which then allows online shop owners to do the following:

1. Understand Buyer Motivations

E-commerce store owners have to determine what brings customers to their websites. They need to identify which offers and promotions visitors positively responded to so they can create more of these. Knowing which strategies worked for specific locations can increase sales in those areas. Also, identifying where most customers come from can improve a shop’s overall revenue.

IP Geolocation API in tandem with web analytics software can help online store owners to match customer preferences with locations. For instance, if most of an e-commerce website’s U.K. customers buy handicrafts while those from Asia purchase consumer electronics, its owner can offer discounts on the particular products for each location. The shop owner can increase its handicraft selection for its U.K. store and its consumer electronics portfolio for its Asia site.

2. Personalize User Experiences

Brand globalization requires the creation of local websites per region or country. That can translate into huge costs, depending on how many countries an e-commerce website wants to cater to. Shop owners can, however, lower costs if they learn which countries they make the most money from. They can prioritize establishing local websites for these countries before others.

IP Geolocation API used in combination with web analytics software can help them do that. Once they identify their top markets, they can configure local sites to display content in the local language and prices in the country’s currency. Customized ads and localized banners touting promotions and discounts can also be displayed. These are sure to boost personalization efforts that would make website visitors feel more at home.

Online shop owners can even offer local shipping rates for lower product prices. They can also use each customer’s local language for confirmation emails and other communications. What’s more, they can program their chatbots to recognize local terms, for example, as visitors often feel more comfortable using their mother tongue when shopping or asking for assistance.

Another excellent means to boost sales via e-commerce geotargeting is by catering to the seasons in each market. Knowing where customers come from would prevent store owners from offering winter clothes in tropical countries, for example. Alternatively, they can put these products in a special tab for traveling essentials instead of bundling them with typical clothes for such locations. Geolocation information can also help shop owners match special occasions or local events with their seasonal offerings. An e-commerce shop that caters to Canadians would then serve Thanksgiving offers in October, while one that sells to the U.S. market would do so in November.

E-commerce geolocation can also work to ensure that shops don’t offer products or services that are deemed illegal or culturally offensive in certain countries. Offering products with stringent copyright and trademark regulations in given parts of the world is an example of this.

3. Drive Foot Traffic to Physical Stores

A lot of e-commerce stores have brick-and-mortar shops that cater to customers who prefer to try out products before buying them. It is also typical for them to browse for products online first before heading to the shops.

At the same time, IP Geolocation can still help bring foot traffic to physical stores. How? Collecting geolocation data from website visitors can give shop owners an idea of what they are looking for. Knowing that, they can push sale notifications to their store apps’ users to entice them to go out and buy something.

Harnessing the Benefits of E-Commerce Geotargeting

Proper use of geolocation data can help transform e-commerce sites too. But before shop owners think about spending thousands of dollars on revamping their stores, it’s best to know first where their customers are with the help of e-commerce geolocation tools. Otherwise, they may just end up wasting money on efforts that won’t translate to profit.

E-commerce is all about convenience. Thus, website owners have to make sure that they don’t leave buyers wanting by giving them personalized content at all levels of the buyer’s journey. They should realize that visitor engagement could make significant differences in their marketing and sales efforts.

In short, they need to use a combination of e-commerce geolocation tools such as IP Geolocation API and web analytics software to come up with effective geotargeting strategies. Only then can they truly understand buyer motivation so they can personalize user experiences and increase foot traffic to their physical stores.