Digital communications in the "e-commerce" segment

Gurushkin Pavel Yurievich PhD in Politics Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communications Management, St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya str., 7-9 gurupavel@ya.ru Other publications by this author

The e-commerce market in Russia has been growing rapidly in recent years: only in January 2021, the Association of E-Commerce Companies reported an increase of 44% year-on-year ^[5], and even after the end of the pandemic, the trend for online purchases is not losing popularity and, conversely, further growth is predicted, which will be influenced by demand for essential goods ^[3]. According to a study by the Online Market Intelligence marketing company together with Roskachestvo, the number of people making online purchases of goods and services increased by 4% in 2022. In order to remain competitive, businesses have to rebuild and adapt to new customer requirements and regulate their behavior. In addition, the digital economy in Russia is also on the rise with an increase in the number of mobile and Internet users ^[3]. As of January 2023, there are 129.8 million Internet users in Russia, which is 89% of the total population.

According to Data Insight research, in 2022, the volume of the online retail market in Russia amounted to 5.7 trillion rubles and 2.8 billion orders, while the average check is 2,010 rubles ^[6], which is due to an increase in the share of purchases on marketplaces - frequent orders for small amounts. The departure of many European retailers from Russia in 2022 also provokes the growth of online retail.

Customer loyalty is an extremely important factor for making an online purchase. The Yandex Market study ^[11] showed that the majority of online purchases (82%) are planned, and only 18% are made spontaneously. At the same time, 84% of respondents noted that they often make purchases in the online store where they have already bought before. 43% said they would choose a familiar store even if it didn't offer a discount. When buying from an unfamiliar online store, the majority tries to check its reliability (82%). The main criteria are the experience of friends (27%) and positive feedback (24%). 21% want to be able to pay for an order from an unfamiliar online store upon receipt. The reasons why Russians choose their favorite online store are: assortment (important for 40%), the number of PVZ (34%), convenient website or mobile application (31%), promotions and discounts (30%), speed and reliability of delivery (28%). At the same time, the importance of promotions and discounts, as well as the speed and reliability of delivery in 2022 decreased, and the importance of a wide network of PVZ increased.

According to the Romir research holding ^[8], the index of consumer activity in online stores increased to 235% by November 2023. This is 11.4% more than in 2022. At the same time, in the previous year, the behavior of online shoppers was characterized by greater stability and established patterns of purchasing behavior.

The growing popularity of online shopping is also influenced by the number of mobile device users. According to the international research company Ipsos ^[9], the share of online orders via mobile devices in 2023 amounted to 79% of the total number of orders.

E-commerce in Russia is becoming more and more in demand and popular, which opens up many opportunities for retailers who expand their business in this area. Despite some market features, such as a low level of trust in online payments and delivery problems, the online commerce market in Russia continues to grow.

Online stores occupy a strong position in the market of goods and services, faced with the need for competition and the desire to remain economically profitable for consumers. A reliable digital presence plays a key role for online stores, giving them the opportunity to freely advertise goods, services and maintain the company's brand, as well as create opportunities to benefit, in addition, it allows them to maintain a stable level of competitiveness.

The audience of online stores is gradually expanding, the main part of it is residents of megacities. According to a report by Yandex ^[7] presented at the National Advertising Forum in November 2023, the number of online buyers in Moscow is 76%, in cities with a population of over 500 thousand people - 66%, and in small towns and settlements 48%. In modern realities, most consumers of online stores receive information through digital sources and communication channels. In order to ensure optimal productivity, online stores must implement their activities by increasing the number of digital communication channels.

Professor Mara Einstein ^[4] talks about the effectiveness of native advertising or "undercover advertising", since at the moment the task of advertising and promotion on the Internet is for users not only to buy goods, but also to share content, because word of mouth is still an effective promotion tool. Advertising is offered to the consumer based on the data that he leaves about himself on the network. The Internet audience is growing rapidly, more than 1 trillion search queries are sent to Google every year. This means that simple advertising no longer gives the desired result, it is time for impression marketing, native advertising and content marketing.

The field of online commerce is highly competitive, which entails a sharp increase in the activity of online stores in the digital space. The spread of digital Internet technologies has also played an important role in this process. Thus, the communication activities of brands attract a lot of consumer attention to their own platforms on social networks and the Internet.

Interactivity is currently a developing trend that companies are actively implementing in their communication activities. According to the research of V.V. Godin ^[1], interactivity is the main characteristic of targeted marketing, which allows you to collect data about users by providing detailed statistics of their behavior. Accurate consumer statistics help to form a clear portrait of the audience, which is extremely important for the effective implementation of advertising and PR campaigns. Digital communications of online stores also benefit significantly from this data and have the ability to target the right audience.

In recent decades, digital communications have become an integral part of public life, changing the traditional ways of interaction and information exchange. With the development of technology and the spread of the Internet, mobile devices and social media, digital communications have a significant impact on economic, cultural and political processes. Nevertheless, despite the widespread use and recognition of this term, there are many approaches to its definition in the scientific literature. Various authors emphasize the specific aspects of digital communications, focusing on the features of digital information exchange, social transformations and changes in familiar patterns of interaction.

Alan Dennis and Barbara Haley Mistler ^[21] define digital communications as the process of creating, transmitting and interpreting information in digital form, which ensures interaction between people and organizations regardless of their physical location. They highlight the importance of technologies such as e-mail, messengers and video conferencing as the main elements of digital communications. Christian Fuchs ^[22] considers digital communications as a social process involving the use of digital technologies to create, exchange and receive information and ideas, which has a significant impact on public opinion and political interaction. He highlights the role of social networks and digital media in shaping modern public relations and communication models.

If you accumulate knowledge about the concept of "digital communications", it is a process of information exchange and interaction using digital technologies and platforms that allow people and organizations to exchange messages, visual and audio content regardless of geographical location. Digital communications are based on mobile and Internet technologies that ensure accessibility, instantaneous and global communication, while simultaneously influencing the social and cultural structures of society.

Nikulin D. N. ^[2] analyzed the mechanism of interaction of an online store with customers by means of digital marketing, revealed the predominant features of new tools compared to traditional media. Most of the communication mechanisms used by online stores make it possible to work selectively with fairly narrow segments of the audience. E-mail marketing and SMM allow, if necessary, to increase the accuracy of segmentation to one person, i.e. to carry out personal communication with consumers. This feature of digital communications allows you to more accurately determine the target audience of the store and segment it. The author clearly demonstrates that there are certain ways to promote products that work only in this area. For example, commodity aggregators that help the user choose the necessary product at a favorable price and positive reviews.

The advantage of using digital communications in the work of an online store lies in the possibility of an individual and maximally personalized approach to the audience, which is a determining factor in the process of creating effective communication campaigns with an optimal number of users.

Another advantage of this type of marketing is the ability to track the effectiveness of online activities according to various criteria, which allows you to better understand the interests and pains of the audience, track user behavior on the site. These tools allow you to optimize the ergonomics of a specific digital platform of an online store to increase customer engagement. For example, using tools that allow you to track the time spent on the page, the sequence of actions and the direction of view, you can understand where to place the most important information about discounts, promotions or new products.

Modern digital communications involve various opportunities for economic investments. When creating memorable and viral advertising campaigns, the customer's spending on working with the media and other information platforms is significantly reduced. At the moment, word of mouth is still a strong and fully competitive promotion tool. With the development of channels in the Telegram messaging service, it has gained a new life, since the speed of transmitting information about a product or service is much higher, for example, that which appears in "reviews" on marketplaces.

In the digital environment, the e-commerce platform works in tandem with the target audience. The advantage of such a symbiotic relationship is the high speed of receiving feedback from the audience. This contributes to the prompt and accurate identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the company's activities, ultimately optimizing its work. In addition, it greatly simplifies the mechanism of communication between customers and store managers, allowing you to quickly and fully disseminate the necessary information.

The target audience of online stores is regular consumers of digital information, which is also an advantage of using digital technologies in the development and promotion of the brand. They provide a unique opportunity to influence the target audience and convey the necessary information to them through appropriate channels. A well-developed digital communication system also contributes to the formation of the online store's image, which increases consumer confidence and stimulates the expansion of the customer base.

Thus, the use of digital technologies in online stores becomes not only an effective way to influence the target audience, but also helps to strengthen the brand image and increase consumer confidence.

Digital communications are becoming increasingly important for businesses seeking to promote goods and services in Russia. According to the Statista online platform ^[10], individual tools such as social media advertising, email marketing and search engine optimization make up a significant part of the planned budget for digital marketing and advertising in Russia for 2023 - 31%. However, it was 2022 that became a turning point for business in Russia, as some traditional methods of attracting customers became unavailable ^[6]. As a result, companies were forced to develop new channels and platforms for communicating with the audience and invest in comprehensive promotion. Priority areas in Russian digital marketing have become: strict budgetary emphasis on the VKontakte social network, mastering the capabilities of Telegram, developing video hosting, strengthening the development of IT technologies in marketing, working with AI tools, open and honest communication with users through content, working with various chatbots, podcasts.

VKontakte, Telegram and Odnoklassniki became the most active social networks in 2023. According to the Brand Analytics platform ^[6], after the departure of popular social networks from Russia, the volume of published content on these sites has increased significantly. VKontakte leads by a wide margin (13.6 million publications per day), followed by Telegram (7.7 million publications per day) and Odnoklassniki (2.9 million publications per day).

In 2023, companies' spending on influencer marketing increased. Compared to 2022, Telegram's popularity has more than doubled, and the average price of one advertising integration has increased by about 30% ^[12]. During this period, business expenses for promotion through YouTube bloggers increased from 1.69% to 3.57%. Today, of course, these figures are, for objective reasons, much lower.

The SMM promotion market decreased slightly in 2023, but the cost of targeted and contextual advertising accounts for 50% of the total advertising budget of companies ^[13].

The podcast market in Russia is currently under development. In 2020, VTsIOM estimated that only 19% of Russians listen to podcasts, and 66% did not even know what it was ^[12]. In 2021, only 11% of companies produced branded podcasts, most of the market was occupied by independent authors.

At the moment, 69% of companies consider content marketing to be the main type of promotion ^[12]. And the most popular formats are called text publications and visual content. In 2023, content marketing ranked third in terms of percentage of usage (69%), contextual advertising in search engines took the second place (71%) and social media promotion took the first place (77%). Contextual advertising in search engines (69%) and content marketing (55%) showed the greatest effectiveness. The use and effectiveness of SEO promotion are approximately equal – 48 and 49 percent, respectively.

Digital communications are also a key factor in the promotion of goods and services, for example, in the United States, China, and Latin American countries. According to the Global State of Digital Technology 2022 report prepared by Hootsuite and We Are Social^[10], social media advertising and search engine optimization are among the best digital marketing tactics used by businesses in the modern world. In addition, the report highlights the importance of mobile devices in the market: more than 90% of Internet users access the Internet through mobile devices.

According to Statista, an online platform specializing in collecting market and consumer data, 49% of Americans make purchases as a result of watching ads on social networks, while 69% believe that video is the most effective marketing tool and 84% of them make purchases after watching video content. 86% of consumers in Brazil say they would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with at least monthly. It is also important to note that 92.6% of Internet users in Argentina between the ages of 18 and 64 reported that they searched for product information and reviews on the Internet before making a purchase.

Speaking of promotion channels, according to the developer of HubSpot marketing programs, search engine optimization (SEO) is the most effective digital marketing channel for online stores, 53% of marketers consider it the most valid way of promotion. Social media marketing is the second most effective digital marketing channel for online stores: 38% of marketers prefer to develop the SMM direction. The average return on investment (ROI) in email marketing is 4,400%. Marketing campaigns with opinion leaders earn $6.50 for every dollar spent.

One of the main challenges that companies face when using digital communications is the high cost of advertising. According to a study by eMarketer ^[14], digital advertising spending in the United States amounted to more than $129 billion in 2021, which is 19.1% more than in 2020. Most of these costs come from mobile advertising, which grew by 33.8% to $96.6 billion. In addition, the cost of clicks on advertisements in digital communication channels may be higher than in traditional channels, which can lead to high advertising costs.

Social media and other digital communication channels make it easy for consumers to express opinions about companies' products and services. Negative reviews and comments can affect the company's reputation and reduce sales. According to a study by BrightLocal, 97% of consumers read reviews before buying, and 85% of consumers trust online reviews as well as recommendations from friends.

European online stores also successfully use digital communications in the promotion of goods and services. According to the Report Linker service ^[15], advertising revenue in Europe is expected to reach 178.6 billion euros by 2026, compared with 172.7 billion euros in 2022. The UK was the largest market in 2021 with 39 billion euros in advertising revenue, followed by Germany, Spain and France. Cyprus has been the fastest growing market with 24.7% year-on-year growth since 2016. In Switzerland, on the other hand, there was a decrease of 6.7% over the same period.

With the advent of social media, email, search engines and online forums, companies can reach a wider audience than ever before. However, with this increase in reach, competition and the need for companies to stand out in a crowded digital market are increasing.

Another advantage of digital communications is the ability to measure advertising results more accurately. Unlike traditional methods of promotion, such as outdoor and print advertising, the figure allows companies to track the number of touches of an advertising message, the percentage of purchases made and other targeted audience actions. This data can be used to adjust the promotion strategy in real time, ensuring maximum conversion.

Digital communications play a key role in today's e-commerce segment, especially in a growing market and increasing competition. The development of technology and digital infrastructure in Russia provides online stores with ample opportunities to interact with the target audience and increase consumer loyalty. The use of digital marketing tools such as SEO, content marketing, social media and native advertising allows online stores not only to effectively promote their products and services, but also to increase brand awareness.

Thus, the successful application of digital technologies in e-commerce helps strengthen the position of online stores in the market, increases their competitiveness and stimulates further growth of the industry as a whole. In the context of an ever-changing Internet commerce environment, adaptation to new trends and the development of digital communication channels are becoming the main factors ensuring the sustainability and development of business.