AN ANALYSIS OF THE DIGITAL

MARKETING STRATEGIES USED BY

INDIAN
E-COMMERCE WEBSITE
ABSTRACT
This study examines the digital marketing strategies employed by Indian e-
commerce websites, aiming to provide insights into their effectiveness and
implications for the industry. The research explores various tactics, trends, and
potential areas for improvement in the rapidly evolving landscape of online
commerce in India. this study further delves into the key components of these
strategies, encompassing social media marketing, search engine optimization,
and user engagement approaches. By scrutinizing the successes and challenges
faced by Indian e-commerce platforms, this analysis contributes to a
comprehensive understanding of the evolving digital marketing dynamics in the
country, offering valuable perspectives for practitioners and researchers alike.
KEYWORDS:E-commerce, social media, marketing techniques.
INTRODUCTION
The e-commerce platform is a very helpful tool for expanding businesses.
Website traffic is the most crucial and most difficult factor for any e-commerce
enterprise. Digital marketing is a crucial component of marketing because it is
utilized to promote content on social media platforms. You are able to just a
matter of minutes, reach millions of users. Electronic channels are fast
becoming an essential component of traditional unconnected retailers'
diversion system. In order to investigate the impact of electronic commerce on
merchants' choices of delivery channels, this paper employs a game-theoretic
approach. Every successful ecommerce retailer uses a digital marketing
strategy.
Market size of e-commerce industry across India from 2014 to 2018, with
forecasts until 2030(in billion U.S. dollars)
 FIG
URE:1
India has enormous potential in the e-commerce sector because of the
country's expanding internet user base and advantageous market
circumstances. The Indian e-commerce market, which is expanding at an
exponential rate, was valued at over $22 billion in 2018. By 2030, this amount
is projected to increase to $350 billion. MOST PREFERED E COMMERCE SITE IN
INDIA FIGURE:2

Ma
rket size of e-co
The way India shops and trades has changed dramatically in recent years. One
of the industries that is expanding quickly is e-commerce, which is encouraging
a whole generation of business owners and large-scale production for small
and medium-sized businesses. However, selecting from the thousands of
ecommerce sites available in India is a challenging undertaking. If we're
considering shopping online. Here are some of the best ecommerce sites in
India where you may buy practically anything you need for everyday use or
launch your own business.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for the targeted, measurable, and
interactive marketing of products or services using digital technologies to reach
and convert leads into customers and retain them. It is a broad term that
describes a set of marketing processes that encapsulates all available digital
channels to promote a product or service or build a digital brand. The key
objective is to promote brands, build preference and increase sales through
various Digital Marketing techniques.
Online advertising is a marketing strategy that involves the use of the Internet
as a medium to obtain website traffic and target and deliver marketing
messages to the right customers. Online advertising is geared toward defining
markets through unique and useful applications.
Electronic Commerce:
E-commerce has become an integral part of business in the modern world. It is
generally associated with buying or selling a product by using the Internet as
the platform. Information and communications technology (ICT) is used in e-
commerce marketing to create and add to relationships among organizations
and between an individual and an organization. At present, about half of the
world prefers purchasing items online at their convenience. The cutting edge
for business today is electronic commerce broadly defined electronic
commerce is a modern business methodology that address the needs of
organizations, merchants and consumers to cut costs while improving the
quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of service delivery. The
term also applies to the use of computer networks to search and retrieve
information in human and corporate decision making.
More commonly, e - commerce is associated with the buying and selling of
information, products and services via computer networks today and in the
future via any one of the myriad of networks that make up the Information
Superhighway. Combining a range of processes,such as Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI), electronic mail (e-mail), World Wide Web. This movement
has been broken up into two main sectors: business to business (B2B) and
business to consumer (B2C). E -commerce comprises core business process of
buying, selling goods, services and information over the Internet. The E -
commerce information available on the Internet is huge and still growing.
The effects of e commerce are already appearing in all areas of business, from
customer service to new product design. It facilitates new types of information
based business processes for reaching and interacting with customers – online
advertising and marketing, online order taking, and online customer service to
name a few. It also reduce cost in advertising, sales and distribution by
managing orders and interacting with a wide range of suppliers and trading
partners, areas that typically add significant overhead to the cost of products
and services. Finally e - commerce enables all the formation of new types of
information based products such as interactive games, electronic books and
information on demand that can be very profitable for content providers and
useful for consumers. The companies believe that e - commerce can result in
improved efficiency in finding and interacting with customers, in
communicating with trading partners and developing new products and
markets.
Clearly, a key element of e - commerce is information processing. All steps of
commerce except for production, distribution and delivery of physical goods
are forms of information gathering, processing, manipulation and distribution
which computers and networks are perfectly suited to handle.
Need for Digital Marketing
Many people use online marketing and digital marketing interchangeably
because they do not realize that they have subtle but very important
differences between them. Digital marketing uses all digital channels available
to communicate with the target client/audience. Digital Marketing includes a
large number of platforms for analyzing the behavior of the target client and
helps in understanding how to better target them in the future. Digital
marketing is a broad term that describes a set of marketing process that
encloses all available digital channels to promote a product or service or build a
digital brand. Online Marketing on the other hand, refers to marketing through
the internet. This includes social media, E-mail marketing and search engine
optimization (SEO).
Therefore, online marketing is part of a whole digital marketing campaign, yet
it can stand by itself and on its own. Digital marketing, however, requires online
marketing to be complete and thorough. Lot of marketers believe that digital
marketing is just a synonym of Internet marketing. At its core, digital marketing
revolves around the Internet, which explains why people tend to believe that
digital marketing and Internet marketing are synonymous. Nonetheless, they
are different. Internet marketing falls under the category of digital marketing.
Internet marketing encompasses digital marketing services such as search
engine optimization, display advertising, and email marketing; nonetheless,
what about voice broadcasts, fax broadcasts, podcasting, wireless text
messaging, mobile instant messaging, and mobile apps? Internet marketing is a
subset of digital marketing. It is a fact the most important component since
majority of the digital marketing activities fall within the boundaries of internet
marketing. The latter channels and services transcend the narrow definition of
Internet marketing. Digital marketing refers to mobile marketing, digital
telephony, and digital video recorders as well.
With tighter marketing budgets these days, allocating spending and measuring
return on investment are paramount for any business. Business owners and
managers need real-time statistics to demonstrate the value of marketing
initiatives. As a result, digital marketing has become an integral component of
company marketing strategies. The needs for traditional marketing channels
are converging with digital tracking methods, and in time, what we consider
traditional, may transform into completely digital marketing formats.
Faster Information
Digital Media enables companies to get their information across the public
faster than ever. Instead of printing inserts and waiting for the Sunday paper to
announce their sales, companies now can let the world know about an exciting
promotion through email, social networking, their websites and Internet ads. In
today`s competitive business world time plays a very important role. Digital
Marketing helps in saving time and thereby facilitates companies to reach out
to their end users in a very short period of time and in turn serve them better.
Greater Reach
By using the Digital media businesses can reach out to more customers than
ever before. A simple promotion featuring a giveaway or a freebie can earn a
business hundreds or thousands of Facebook fans and email and text message
subscribers, meaning that the business can send a message to these consumers
with just a touch of a button. However, digital media also means that those
consumers can reach back. Through negative comments on Facebook page and
other social networking sites, like Twitter and blog, customers can use digital
media to take a complaint that would have otherwise been between the
customer and the company.
Technology
Using digital media means using new technology both to create and support
the media. New technology can be an asset for today’s businesses. When smart
phones and laptops are adapted in order to use digital media, it surely can
positively influence other areas of business. For example, such mobile
technology makes communication among employees much easier. It is only by
using technology that we can metamorphose the way businesses are done in
much simpler and effective way.
Options
By using digital media, businesses now have many more options to choose
from. They can choose from the right time and the best channel they should
use to spread information out about their businesses. Instead of choosing
among a TV or radio commercial or a print advertisement, they can now create
media that is a combination of audio, visual, text and interactive media. This
mixed media can appeal to a larger audience with differentiated preferences.
However, it is also more costly to keep up with the ever-changing technology
and may require the creation of new strategists who can think and create
digital.
Digital Marketing Strategies
1. Mobile Video Advertising
Now a days, mobile video advertising is the buzz word in the market.
Mobile advertising is the communication of products or services to
mobile device and smart phone consumers. The mobile video advertising
spectrum ranges from short message service (SMS) text to interactive
 advertisements. In fact, mobile video ad spend in the United States more
than doubled from 2013 to 2014—up to $1.5 billion—and is predicted to
reach $6 billion by 2018, according to e-Marketers.
2. Search Engine Marketing
This portion of marketing is critical for a small business. It gives them a
chance to compete with larger companies by being visible in search
engines. Since people use search engines to find products both online
and locally, it is important that the company place high in search results
for words that relate to what they are selling. Professional Internet
marketing firms offer this service under the name of search engine
optimization.
3. Native Advertising
In case of native advertising, one might not even know that he is reading
native advertising until he’s deep into it. That’s because its format and
writing style mirror the content of the website he is visiting, which
creates a less disruptive advertising experience. In other words, the
person thinks he is reading a story or column, but it’s really an
advertisement (Native Advertisement). Most major publishers are
pushing a native advertising strategy these days. One may find it on
every platform from the trendy Buzzfeed to the elite Wall Street Journal.
One of the most famous examples of successful native advertising was its
campaign with Netflix for the new season of “Orange is the New Black.”
4. Content Marketing
This strategy revolves around giving a prospective customer information
about your product or service, as well as information in general.
Everyone is trying to sell, but those that can inform are more likely to get
sales. People will attribute a certain level of expertise to a company, and
this instills confidence in the consumer. Content marketing in the past
was often done with printed brochures and guide books, but today, this
can be done with articles and other forms of information on a business's
website
5. Behavioral Targeting
If one has ever planned a trip online—booked a hotel room or scheduled
a flight—and then started seeing ads for restaurants and attractions in
his destination city, he has experienced behavioral targeting. Behavioral
targeting uses web browsing and search data to better target ads toward
the user’s expressed interests.
6. Social Media Marketing
This type of marketing can be tricky. Everyone talks about social media,
but the truth is, it can be difficult for companies to integrate social media
with their business. The type of media used, as well how it is used, is
dependent upon the type of business the person have. For some
companies being in touch with their customers and giving them breaking
news can be an important element of success.
7. Email Marketing
This form of marketing is crucial to a small business online or offline.
Essentially email marketing is about building a list of customers and
prospective customers. This list of names and emails are people who are
interested in your business, and you know this to be true because they
have opted into this list themselves.

Cases of Flipkart and Amazon

E-Commerce has effected radical changes in the business by providing
net–enabled market for all manufacturing sectors. As per the study E-
Commerce industry in the country is likely to be worth about USD 38
billion by 2016 Due to the usage of internet and mobiles it noted that 60-
65 per cent of the total e-commerce sales are being generated by mobile
device and tablets . In 2016, 80per cent of shopping queries were made
through mobile devices, compared to 69per cent in 2014. Indian
ecommerce brand Flipkart and Amazon have locked horns again in an
attempt to gain supremacy over Indian consumers with their respective
sales and television campaigns. Flipkart was launched in October, 2007
by the duo, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both alumni of the Indian
Institute of Technology, Delhi. As of today, it is the first billion dollar
company in the Indian e-commerce context with 20,000 employees, 26
million registered users, technology that enables 5 million
shipments/month, 8 million daily page visits and 13 state-ofthe-art
warehouses. [Link] is India’s leading marketplace with over 20
million products across 70+ categories including baby care, books,
clothes, games and toys, home and kitchen, footwear, jewellery, laptops,
etc. Their journey commenced with selling books in the year 2007 and
progressed to consumer support 24x7 in the year 2008, to including
music, movies and mobiles, cash on delivery in the year 2010. In the year
2011, Flipkart incorporated features such as card on delivery, dedicated
logistics for faster delivery, 30 day replacement policy to having an in-
house brand Digiflip in the year 2012. In the year 2013, they sold one
hundred thousand books in a single day and offered same day
guarantee. Four years ago when Flipkart kicked off its first flagship Big
Billion Day sale, things went haywire. The e-commerce giant wasn’t able
to handle the unprecedented traffic and its owners were left apologizing
to the shoppers. That’s just an example of the mindset of Indian buyers
towards e-commerce and the possibility of new opportunities in the
market. In the year 2014, they had a billion dollar funding, acquired
Myntra, provided In-a-day guarantee and scheduled delivery. Flipkart
allows payment methods such as cash on delivery, credit or debit card
transactions, net banking, e-gift voucher and card swipe on delivery.
Flipkart (2017). [Link] is an international e-commerce company
founded in 1995. The name reflected the vision of Jeff Bezos, to produce
a large scale phenomenon like the Amazon River. With Amazon, Amazon
announced its presence in the Indian e-commerce space. It also aimed at
providing a trustworthy platform for the Indian retailers of all sizes to
make their presence felt. Starting with books, movies, in due weeks
Amazon introduced additional categories including mobile phones and
cameras. It provides an array of services such as safe and secure online
ordering experience, convenient electronic payments, cash on delivery,
easy returns, consumer service with 24x7 support, and a globally
recognized and comprehensive purchase protection provided by
Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee. Amazon is also accessible on mobile devices
allowing consumers to shop anywhere. It also provides features such as
the Search inside feature with the help of which users can browse inside
books. Not only this, the store features a collection of over 12,000 titles
in English and Hindi across DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and Video CD
formats. Amazon (2017). Amazon and Filpkart have inbuilt systems to
facilitate marketing within their portal. They facilitate placing ads in
product listing, suggested products, marketing emailers etc. The future
of e-commerce in India is not in terms of popularity but as to which
company is at the finest position to dominate India’s online shopping
market. Both the companies are leveraging Digital Marketing in one way
or another. Amazon is going to launch video content on its Prime service.
With a hope to lure millions of Indian shoppers by offering movies and
other video content, Amazon is planning to sell books, smartphones, and
 other products. Both the e-commerce giants are having different digital
marketing approaches to expanding their online business. Flipkart and
Amazon are fighting to become the number 1 e-commerce company. The
shift towards digital marketing from traditional advertising by online
retailers Flipkart and Amazon had worked out well as awareness of last
year’s sale events—The Big Billion Days and Great Indian Festival—has
increased significantly compared with previous years, according to a
RedSeer study. Low-cost social media promotions have worked as a high-
return channel of promotion for the etailers as a majority of the
respondents are reached through this medium. This continues the trends
started by Flipkart last year where it achieved high returns using
primarily digital channels,” said RedSeer. Conclusion With the advent of
E-commerce, the digital marketing has become a huge business facto
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The Researchers examined research papers to obtain understanding of
electronic commerce in India. Thus, a variety of books, periodicals, WebPages,
articles, etc. We have examined definitions, conceptual frameworks, evolution,
and important players, current trends about internet growth, penetration,
prospects, preferred payment methods, etc., opportunities, and obstacles to e-
commerce. Every piece of information is secondary data, and where
appropriate, references have been provided. The majority of e-commerce
websites in India have incorporated digital marketing tactics that aid in
boosting sales and brand equity.
Objectives
 To research the digital marketing tactics that e-commerce websites utilize.
 To determine the current state of Indian e-commerce websites.
 To determine the prospects and obstacles facing Indian e-commerce
platforms.
 To determine the size and forecast of ecommerce of India.
LIMITATIONS
1. Customers occasionally experience network issues.
2. The second drawback is that clients are unable to touch the merchandise.
Occasionally, subpar goods are delivered
ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY DATA
The following social media marketing techniques are used by a few Indian E-
Commerce Websites:

STRATEGIES FOR DIGITAL MARKETING TAKEN UP BY AMAZON

Amazon interacts with users and keeps them satisfied with their online
shopping experience. Amazon is a major and straightforward online retailer.
Amazon is a frequent user of social media.
Twitter followers
26.5 million Twitter users. 315 million face book users in India alone
YouTube followers
462 million views in total across all recordings presence on Pinterest and
Instagram as well as regular updates on new products, deals, and discounts
made possible by interesting videos and pictures. Applications available for
every major platform, such as Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.
Strategies for Digital Marketing Taken up by Flipkart
Flipkart introduced a number of effective digital marketing techniques.
Google Adword
To advance the brand Google Adwords step-PPC Search advancement-Products
offers based on advancement photographs, Show-Category based substance
advertisements, Gmail-text ads based on topics or content,The targeted
catchphrase is FLIPKART. Paid advertisement rank: 4 or 5.
Flipkart's successful Brand campaign
The campaign 'Har need keliye best deals' is based on the insight of discovering
value across an array of categories. Flipkart has unveiled its latest campaign
'Har need keliye best deals' featuring ArchanaPuran Singh and Jackie Shroff, in a
set of two ad films.
Facebook strategy:
Create a Flipkart category-focused page (e.g., books, games, fashion, etc.) to
increase fan engagement. 3.3 million Likes on the page. The focus is on
customer commitment and procurement.
Twitter Strategies
Flipkart has 246K followers on Twitter, real-time connectivity, and real-time
query response.
YouTube Strategy
It runs a ton of YouTube campaigns instead of having a channel. For example,
the Search Page, Display Ad, Video Promotion, and so forth.
All 34 videos that were uploaded have received 3.2 million views.
Pinterest strategy: Offers and deals depending on Pinterest. 290 Followers and
8 Boards.
Strategy for Content Marketing
It maintains an official blog. The blog page provides updates on companies,
markets, technology, etc.
Mobile Marketing Strategy
There is a website that is optimized for mobile marketing. All-platform mobile
app (iOS, Android, Windows) 5 million downloads, 4.3 stars, and a reaction to
every unfavorable review.
Associate Promotion Strategy
Receive up to 15% for every online porch
Strategies for Digital Marketing Taken up by Myntra
Facebook Strategy
Myntra's Facebook page is among the select few Indian e-commerce business
pages with a community of over one million members. There is a lot of
consumer traffic on myntra's Facebook page.
Twitter strategy
The Twitter content structure on Myntra is similar to Facebook, with the
exception that the handle is overly full of user inquiries.
The Pinterest strategy
Pinterest offers a variety of styles and designs. Everything is provided here,
including the newest trends and content from celebrities and design blogs.
They are creating a really good network here, and if Pinterest develops more, it
will become really well-known.

Google Plus
When Google first opened the stage to companies and corporations a year ago,
Myntra was given access to Google Plus.
YouTube strategy
For video content, it is quite helpful. That would have been treasured not only
by their target audience but also by Myntra in establishing their authority in a
way that gets stronger and stronger.
Blog
StyleMynt is Myntra's blog, which goes well with its online [Link] is often
updated and discusses various subjects related to design and style, as well as
design patterns and style advice.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR E-COMMERCE WEBSITES
 Cyber & Data Security. When it comes to ecommerce, one of the biggest
challenges faced is security breaches. ...
 Online Identity Verification. ...
 Attracting the Perfect Customer. ...
 Customer Loyalty. ...
 Converting Shoppers into Paying Customers. ...
 Competition & Competitor Analysis. ...
 Price & Shipping. ...
 Product Return & Refund Policies.
FINDING
1. The researcher discovered in this study that a number of Indian e-commerce
websites have effectively used digital marketing techniques.
2. Digital marketing techniques aid in the expansion of e-commerce websites.
3. It's incredibly simple to attract the attention of targeted customers using
digital marketing techniques.
4. Using digital marketing techniques raises the worth of a brand.
5. By disseminating user-generated product reviews, digital marketing
strategies assist other customers in making purchases.
CONCLUSION
Digital marketing technologies enable e-commerce sites to reach millions of
customers instantly. Professionals in digital marketing can help turn
impressions into sales by using proven methods and strategies. E-commerce
websites offer advantages over traditional marketing at a lower cost, using
tools like email, content, social media, and search engines. Competitors like
Amazon and Flipkart use various digital techniques for marketing. Digital
business involves buying and selling on social media platforms, making digital
marketing a visually appealing and simple way to promote various platforms.
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