The ecommerce data for the first half of this year, collected by Kantar for the Argentine Chamber of Electronic Commerce, are conclusive: 106% growth over 2019; 314,602 million pesos invoiced and 92 million units sold with 54 million purchase orders. Marketplaces and brand sites grew and mobile declined, but the cell phone continues to be the preferred device for online consumers. The conversion rate went from 1.07 to 1.46 and home deliveries from 39% to 60%. Among companies that sell on and off, during the first quarter, online sales participated with 18% of the total, and in the second, with 49%. The revelation of such growth was the initial framework of e-Commerce Day 2020, of whose presentations we summarize three.

The formats and challenges

Ana Laura Fleba, Digital Commerce Director of Unilever, highlighted the importance of the marketplaces that emerge, the retailers that become marketplaces, the brands that already sell directly to the consumer, the expansion of the offer of payment methods and that many entrepreneurs and brands are using social networks to show but also to sell. He described dark stores as interesting, a solution as a last miler resource and also to take advantage of spaces in physical stores, as some supermarkets do to gain proximity and speed.

He recommended the usefulness of automation and chatbots, which depending on the scale of the business can be used to provide support, sell, retain consumers and underpin a good service experience. He called on organizations to open their minds and take risks, but distinguished between small, more flexible players and larger structures, which face greater challenges when it comes to decentralizing decision-making.

Always talking about the challenges to be taken on, he mentioned the need to professionalize and train not only those who are dedicated to ecommerce but everyone, to boost business faster.

Traditional retail in new scenarios.

Santiago Revello, Sales and Revenue Manager at Brandlive, referred to the strategies of retailers and brands in this context of acceleration, which impacts stock availability and channel integration. Reviewing the behavior of the offer during the pandemic, he cited as striking the case of Key Biscayne, which in its online store offered a face mask, something completely out of its line but which, with a successful entry price product, merged brand power and context. He also highlighted two categories that in the hard months of the pandemic would have had little rotation, such as flip flops and travel products, and yet showed successful cases in July: Havaianas, with a record that he described as historic, and Samsonite, shipping suitcases.

Regarding the new role of physical stores, Revello stated that they are not going to disappear, but they face the challenge of reconverting and adding value not only in distribution. He pointed out the importance of the user experience and omnichannel and recommended that even if the product is in the company's main warehouse or at any other point, it should come from wherever it is closest, in addition to giving the consumer the possibility of picking it up in person or buying it at the store and having it delivered to their home. The physical store will have a fundamental role, he concluded, the point is to use it strategically in favor of the entire business.

Instagram as a partner

Remembering that more than 70% of online purchases in these months were made from mobile phones, Victoria Blazevic, Brand & Communication Manager at Tiendanube, recommended bringing traffic to the business using Instagram in the three stages that users go through: discovery, search and purchase decision.

For the first, he advised using hashtags to reach audiences who do not know the brand but may be interested, without forgetting influencer marketing, already used by many brands to reach their audiences. Finally he talked about Reels, the new Instagram functionality that competes with Tik Tok and allows you to record 15-second clips with many creativity options.

For the search stage, when the customer still does not know where to buy, he recommended configuring Instagram Shopping, to link Instagram and Facebook with the ecommerce and help those who already know the brand through the networks to buy. In this instance, he said, it is important to provide additional information, such as stock availability and show the product in use or with an unboxing strategy that the influencer himself can develop, displaying good packaging and that the product was designed especially for each user.

Already at the decision stage, Blazevic recalled that clear information must be given and all that the customer needs, both about the benefits of the product and all the others that the brand offers: installments, agreements with banks, shipping method, etc. Finally, he recommended not forgetting the social group so that people who bought can convince those who still have doubts. This can be done with a testimonials or store ratings section.