Online commerce has taken the world by storm and forever altered the way we do business. Today’s consumers can make purchases from virtually anywhere – as long as they can connect to the internet. And they do. But, that doesn’t mean that all online businesses are created equal. Simply showing up online isn’t enough to guarantee success. E-Commerce giants Apple, eBay, Craigslist, and Etsy seem to have cracked the code. Together, they brought in total revenues of over $275 billion in 2018. These online sellers are both successful businesses and successful brands. You may notice a few notable companies missing from our list. We recently wrote about 19 important branding lessons from the top 5 U.S. retailers, including Amazon and Walmart. The most successful e-commerce businesses know that their brand identity and brand is everything. As we wrote previously: A brand is the sum total of the experience your customers and customer prospects have with your company. A strong brand communicates what your company does, how it does it, and at the same time, establishes trust and credibility with your prospects and customers. Your company’s brand is, in many ways, its personality. Your brand lives in everyday interactions your company has with its prospects and customers, including the images you share, the messages you post on your website, the content of your marketing materials, your presentations and booths at conferences, and your posts on social networks. We’ve studied what these 4 e-commerce brands are doing right. And, we’ve cultivated a list of 13 actionable branding lessons that apply to businesses of any size or platform – not just iconic internet businesses. Now, if you’re ready to run with the big boys of e-commerce, let’s get started. eBay Evolve to stay relevant. In today’s fast-paced digital world, technologies and trends often become obsolete before we’ve even had a chance to understand them. Online businesses that stand the test of time are relatively rare. And, this makes eBay a bit of an e-commerce unicorn. When eBay was founded, it was one of the first businesses to take advantage of one of the internet’s greatest strengths – connecting people with similar interests across vast distances. The e-commerce auction platform allowed people with niche interests to find other people with the same interests – and buy their stuff. Today, eBay still serves that function. But, competitors like Amazon have raised the bar for e-commerce user experience and driven eBay to become so much more. No longer just an auction site, eBay introduced the “Buy it Now” option in November of 2000. And, as the years passed, sellers started opening eBay shops that were truly dedicated to e-commerce instead of simply unloading a few unwanted items. Today, eBay is taking steps to elevate their overall user experience. They’ve introduced guaranteed shipping times, personalized homepages, price match guarantees, instant selling, and a line of shipping supplies for sellers. The e-commerce veteran is taking cues from their competition and stepping up their game. By evolving to provide a more..
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