Introduction
Marketing has come a long way ever since its inception. And to this development, consumer behavior has not been an exception. It has evolved tremendously. However, this evolution has not been independent of business growth. With the adoption of incumbent technologies, penetrating internet services, and galloping rate of smartphone acceptance, marketing in general and ecommerce, in particular, has evolved and consumer behavior has transformed considerably.
One of the major trends that we witness today is the coming into being of hyperlocal ecommerce platforms. Before you start to wonder as to what hyperlocal ecommerce is, it is ecommerce done at an unmatchable speed. The vendors and sellers in the hyperlocal ecommerce model, are so closely related to each other that delivery times are naturally slashed to a few minutes– may be 10 or even lower, depending upon the buyer-seller proximity.
Drivers of hyperlocal ecommerce
So, what set the ball rolling for ecommerce businesses? Why are businesses striving to become lightning-quick? Or for that matter why are on-demand economies on the rise? Maybe the dire need of today’s ravenous consumers to have things at convenience and often at slashed prices has fuelled it. And this inner drive to go for more frequent online buying than ever is again snowballed by several factors. Let us delve to explore.
Availability of smartphones
A smartphone in every hand has contributed tremendously to why ecommerce has gone hyperlocal. Had it not been for this and the convenience that comes along with mobile shopping, ecommerce would not have grown so immensely. If statistics are to be believed, a whopping 91% of people make online purchases through their smartphones.
Couple-working culture
Lives have become taut with both husband and wife becoming employed. Getting back from work at 7 p.m. and then going to the kitchen to cook is an idea that doesn’t go down well with the existing consumer base. Moreover, dual-income families usually earn enough to care little about why they shouldn’t be buying things online.
Pandemic
Though the sudden outbreak of the pandemic made consumers go for hyperlocal ecommerce deliveries from the confines of their homes, on-demand deliveries existed before that as well. The pandemic just acted as an accelerator for the already existing on-demand economies.
Sedentary lifestyles
Apart from this, the consumer’s wishfulness to have a sedentary lifestyle and avail products at their convenience made hyperlocal ecommerce become the order of the day. Statistics retrieved from an article in Forbes, assert that 79% of shoppers shop online at least once a month. This tells just how huge the ecommerce industry has become. Offline buying is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Online buying, which broadly translates into ecommerce, and which if realized instantly, translates into hyperlocal ecommerce, is rapidly catching up with the business trends in vogue and online ecommerce businesses are leveraging significantly from the customer buying journey of the modern age.
But the sailing is not so smooth. As the ecommerce landscape is amassed with competitors and is open to newer technological upgrades consistently, businesses therein have their sets of challenges to deal with. Technological growth, use of AI, predictive learning, internet of things, NLP, etc are all getting integrated in ecommerce business operations and processes.
Though these technologies may be exploited by businesses to their advantage, they come along with a set of difficulties that online businesses must learn to handle.
Challenges and opportunities for businesses in hyperlocal ecommerce
Operational Efficiency
Hyperlocal delivery platforms allow businesses to cater to customers within a specific geographic radius. While this enhances convenience for customers, it also presents a challenge for businesses to streamline their operations and ensure the efficient delivery of orders within a shorter distance. This encourages businesses to fine-tune their workflows, optimize inventory management, work on removing procedural bottlenecks, and strengthen logistical capabilities.
Customer Engagement
Courtesy of hyperlocal ecommerce platforms, modern-day businesses have gotten closer to their target markets. They help businesses build amiable customer relations, bridge the existing gap and foster deeper customer engagement by connecting them directly with local customers. However, this proximity also entails the challenge of delivering personalized experiences and building strong relationships with customers. Opportunities exist in the form that onboard businesses can leverage ecommerce platforms to gain valuable customer insights, provide tailored recommendations, and run customized ads and localized promotions, resulting in enhanced customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Supply Chain Localization
Hyperlocal ecommerce platforms encourage businesses to focus on sourcing products or materials locally, aligning with the platform’s ethos and catering to consumer demand for locally sourced products. Though this can be challenging, it presents an opportunity for businesses to collaborate with local suppliers, support regional economies, and contribute to sustainability by reducing transportation distances and carbon footprints, thereby emerging as socially responsible businesses.
Community Building
Who doesn’t want to be the most talked about business? Or which business would hesitate or let go of a chance to build relationships with the community? Succinctly and rationally stating, no one.
Building and nurturing a community requires a significant investment of time and resources and is one of the most pursued activities by businesses. It involves consistently engaging with community members, responding to their queries, and organizing events or initiatives to foster interaction. For bootstrapped startups or businesses with limited personnel or budgets, committing resources solely to community building can be a challenging job. But if your business can do that, rest assured, the community will provide unparalleled competitive advantage to you.
Partnering with hyperlocal ecommerce delivery platforms enables businesses to increase local reach, improve customer trust, and create strategies tailored to their locale. This fosters closer community relationships, stimulates the local economy, and enhances the overall customer experience, thereby contributing significantly to community building.
Brand Visibility
Modern-day ecommerce platforms allow businesses to gain visibility among a targeted local audience. However, standing out and sustaining that position in a competitive market can be challenging and often daunting. By remaining onboard such platforms, businesses are in a better situation to develop comprehensive marketing strategies focused on local search engine optimization (SEO), localized content creation, and online reputation management. Through this, businesses can increase their brand visibility and attract more local customers.
Rapid Response to Local Trends
Responding promptly to changed consumer needs and preferences can be arduous for businesses existing independently. Since hyperlocal ecommerce enables businesses to remain accustomed to local market trends, they are more likely to react promptly to any behavioral change that may arise as a consequence of market volatility. With a more targeted and localized presence, businesses can respond promptly and adapt their product offerings to satisfy evolving customer preferences. This prompts businesses to stay on their toes, remain agile, innovate, and continuously find out ways to stay ahead of the curve.
Data-Driven Personalization
Hyperlocal ecommerce platforms generate tremendous amounts of data on consumer preferences, buying behavior, and location-based patterns which standalone businesses cannot easily produce. Even if they produce, its analysis and interpretation can pose a stiff challenge for them.
By harnessing this data through detailed analytical tools used by hyperlocal ecommerce platforms, businesses can gain valuable insights to personalize marketing strategies, product recommendations, and offers. This level of personalization presents tremendous opportunities for businesses where they can create satisfying customer experiences, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty.
Summing up
Businesses, ever since their inception, have existed to be profitable. With technological growth disrupting the established industry norms and practices lately, and with competitive forces disturbing the equilibrium of industries, achieving and sustaining profits has no longer been a cakewalk. Businesses need to catch up with that change and its pace anyhow. Hyperlocal ecommerce platforms are surely a remedial destination amidst this challenge. They are, in fact, a big respite for ambitious entrepreneurs and businesses inhabiting such competitive spaces.
Given the pace of ecommerce advancement and the growing complexity of consumer behavior, the takeaway is that businesses ought to stay agile and highly informed about what the consumers of today prefer the most. To enable that, businesses must prioritize efficient logistics, inventory management, and customer-centric strategies, and they can conveniently do so by exploring the options to go hyperlocal.
