The e-commerce landscape has expanded across India beyond anyone could have expected 5 years ago. New startups are challenging the big brands in the digital commerce ecosystem. Big names venturing in on digital marketplaces expanding revenues and catering to the need for convenience for their buyers. The digital native brands have carved their niche with an expanding customer base, targeting shoppers looking for a healthy and organic lifestyle and products driven by innovation.
The Indian e-commerce landscape caters to the ever-expanding shopper base with an estimated 230-350 million online shoppers in 2023. (Source: Bain & Co.)
Such expansion and multi-platform sales avenues generate the need for e-commerce shelf monitoring to stay ahead of the competition and optimize the customer journey.
How can e-commerce Shelf Monitoring optimize brands’ performance across platforms?
A Shelf Monitoring framework in place could simplify the process with seamless optimization across e-commerce platforms and geographies. Here are some steps that can help streamline e-commerce Shelf Monitoring.
1. Discover Performance Gaps
Identify if you’re underperforming on key measures. Set a checklist to illustrate – How is it measured? Set targets and notification process on where you stand on core KPIs like availability, share of search, primary and secondary PDP content, rating and reviews, seller performance (authorized and unauthorized), price parity, and more.
2. Assess Performance
After identifying the areas with performance gaps, assess and analyze to establish what has caused such performance gaps. Identify where you stand versus competition across categories, sub-categories, and product variants across geographies.
3. Chart a path to remediation with the Shelf Monitoring Report
Disseminate the findings work towards a correction mechanism and define a detailed action plan with timelines and accountability assigned.
4. Set Reassessment timelines
Do not just limit to a one-time shelf monitoring as the digital commerce ecosystem keeps on evolving. Identify key parameters and Shelf Monitoring your progress versus competition every 3 months at least. Tweak and correct the measuring standards where and when required to improve performance standards.
5. Comprehensive Lat-long Analysis
Monitoring product performance at the pin-code level enables brands to scale up the performance versus competition at the granular level. Such detailed comprehensive digital shelf monitoring can upswing brand presence across the cities on multiple platforms. The digital shelf monitoring solution, mScanIt offers such unique detailed monitoring to boost your brand presence.
Benefits of e-commerce Shelf Monitoring in the digital commerce ecosystem
Knowing how your product performs on a platform versus competition sometimes may not be enough – The monitoring should have a wider perspective covering different needs of different platforms and what they need to excel on various quick-commerce, and e-commerce platforms. Here are some of the key perks of e-commerce shelf monitoring:
1. Performance Enhancement
By Identifying performance gaps on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as availability, share of search, content quality, ratings, reviews, and seller performance, etc. brands can enhance their overall performance on e-commerce platforms and geographies. This requires continuous monitoring across platforms, setting and updating thresholds regularly.
2. Optimized Customer Journey
Enhancing customer experience is the top priority for every brand in the competitive e-commerce landscape. A thorough Shelf Monitoring allows brands to identify areas of improvement in the customer journey. This includes analyzing product detail pages and tracking customer sentiments via feedback ratings and reviews. Every step of the customer journey from interest and awareness, discoverability to the purchase phase. Optimizing these aspects contributes to a seamless and satisfying customer experience.
3. Actionable Competitive Insights
Do you know where you stand versus the competition? Tracking SKUs across categories, sub-categories, and product variants on multiple platforms and geographies helps in strategic decision-making. The insights help build an understanding of the root causes behind performance gaps. It enables brands to take targeted actions with data-driven insights and build strategies with a detailed action plan, timelines, and accountability. E-commerce Shelf Monitoring enables brands to capitalize on strengths, identify weaknesses, and stay competitive in the market.
4. Maximized Revenue Potential
By optimizing various aspects of e-commerce operations, brands can maximize their revenue potential. This includes improving search visibility, pricing strategies, and overall customer satisfaction. It can help boost market share and sales.
5. Adaptability to Market Trends
With the ever-changing e-commerce landscape, staying proactive is crucial. An e-commerce Shelf Monitoring enables brands to adapt quickly to market changes, ensuring they remain relevant and responsive to shifting consumer demands.
6. Enhanced Brand Reputation
Addressing performance gaps positively impacts the brand’s reputation. Consistently delivering a high-quality experience builds trust among consumers, leading to increased loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.
Final Thoughts
E-commerce Shelf Monitoring can prove to be a solution to multi-faceted enabling performance optimization and upswing growth. In a competitive landscape, every quick commerce and e-commerce marketplace has a different set of challenges, with expanding business in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
For brands venturing on multiple platforms and multiple geographies tracking and monitoring competitive trends and positioning of own brands versus competition is to optimize brand performance. E-commerce Shelf Monitoring can prove to be your perfect companion for market growth, enabling competitive intelligence to drive monitor, and optimize your product performance vis-a-vis competition along with extensive E-commerce Shelf Monitoring for platform-level optimization.
Take your e-commerce effort to the next level with data-driven decisions and in-depth analysis and intelligence with E-commerce Shelf Monitoring.
Get in touch to learn more about shelf monitoring.
