Our world becomes more digital every day, with one study reporting that the number of worldwide internet users has grown to 5.45 billion in 2024, or over 67% of the global population. With the rise of online marketplaces and social selling, there’s never been a better time for entrepreneurs to start their own ecommerce businesses and earn digital sales in this growing online landscape. In fact, one study forecasts that global ecommerce sales will exceed $8 trillion by 2027.
Learn more about how digital sales work, how they differ from digital marketing, and how to implement strategies to improve the digital sales process for your own company.
What are digital sales?
Digital sales is a term that refers to the process of selling products or services through virtual channels like websites, ecommerce stores, apps, social media sites, and digital sales rooms. Ecommerce merchants use digital sales channels to identify and reach new potential customers to make sales conversions online. For example, a dropshipping entrepreneur selling clothing products sourced by a third-party supplier could use digital selling by setting up an online store through a reliable ecommerce platform like Shopify.
Digital sales vs. digital marketing
Digital sales and digital marketing sound similar, but they differ in a few important ways:
Similarities
Digital marketing is the process of leveraging digital channels to market a brand, product, or service to potential customers online. Digital marketing and digital sales are similar in that they both use virtual channels like websites, emails, and social media to reach potential customers. Similar to the relationship between traditional marketing efforts and traditional sales processes, digital marketing efforts can lead to digital sales. For example, a digital marketing strategy using paid promotional content on TikTok could lead to a customer clicking on your website and completing a digital sale.
Differences
Digital sales and digital marketing involve different scopes and goals. Whereas digital sales focus solely on completing transactions with customers online, digital marketing can include longer-term goals like building brand recognition for a business. Digital selling involves turning qualified leads into paying customers through online transactions, while digital marketing focuses more on generating new leads or building awareness for a particular brand, product, or service.
Strategies for effective digital sales
- Use a reliable ecommerce platform
- Invest in your sales team
- Leverage social media
- Build a recognizable brand
- Use social proof
- Develop inbound lead generation strategies
- Collect and analyze data
An effective digital sales model involves using dependable tools with a well-trained team on a variety of virtual channels:
Use a reliable ecommerce platform
Digital sales are only possible through reliable digital platforms. To facilitate effective digital sales, research and choose a high-quality ecommerce platform that offers useful tools for selling online. For example, Shopify is an ecommerce company that makes it easy for entrepreneurs to set up an online store with a variety of features, including customizable store themes, inventory management tools, and secure payment processing through Shopify Payments.
Online store owners rely on Shopify for digital sales, since it offers a simple user-friendly interface while also boasting advanced features like automated shipping and tax calculation, plus automatic abandoned shopping cart reminders for customers with unpurchased items in their carts.
Invest in your sales team
If your business has a sales team, provide them with the right resources and training to set them up for success. Hire sales reps who understand your products or services and align with your company’s core values. Focus on sales enablement strategies like mentoring programs or sales playbooks with detailed information about how sales teams should interact with potential customers.
Consider investing in a customer relationship management (CRM) system that allows your team to input customer data and track interactions with leads. For example, a sales rep could input information about a high-quality lead generated from an email marketing campaign and a different sales rep can reference that information to follow up. A good CRM software system can save your sales team time and ultimately improve the customer experience around buying your products or services.
Leverage social media
Create a digital presence on social media platforms to encourage more digital sales from customers spending time on those platforms. With one 2023 study reporting that roughly 58% of shoppers in the United States purchased a product after seeing it on social media, these platforms provide ecommerce merchants with the opportunity to connect directly with a digital audience, answer questions, and showcase products.
Run advertising campaigns on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, or partner with influencers who have audiences on social media platforms that align with your company. For example, on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, Joe Cornfield, CMO of stainless steel accessories brand Vitaly, spoke about his decision to move away from paid ads and opt for a more organic strategy.
“We decided to take another look at influencer marketing and approach it from a 100% organic perspective,” says Joe. “We decided to start gifting our product to influencers, no questions asked, completely organically, just seeing what would happen.” Ultimately, this decision paid off for Vitaly and resulted in increased digital sales from organic relationships with influencers on social media.
Build a recognizable brand
Another digital sales strategy to consider is building a brand that customers recognize and value. Develop brand guidelines that establish visual aspects of your brand, like a logo or color palette, as well as more nuanced aspects of your company, like your brand voice. Defining clear brand guidelines for your sales team makes your communications more consistent, from website copy and product pages to live chats or emails. Consistent communication across virtual channels can increase your brand recognition and lead to more digital sales.
Use social proof
Social proof refers to the psychological phenomenon of people making decisions based on the actions, behaviors, and opinions of others. Leverage this phenomenon by including existing customers’ positive feedback on your website or marketing materials. For example, you could include positive reviews on your online store’s product pages or add customer testimonials to paid TikTok ads.
Develop inbound lead generation strategies
Explore inbound digital marketing strategies designed to organically draw audiences to your products or services. For example, using search engine optimization (SEO) strategies like keyword optimization and backlinks could improve your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). Another option is to invest in content marketing strategies with blog posts or YouTube videos featuring compelling, entertaining, or informative content designed to drive traffic to your online store.
This content marketing strategy worked well for entrepreneur Mimi Ikonn, who cofounded the hair extensions brand Luxy Hair in 2010. She increased the brand’s digital sales through a YouTube channel that eventually earned more than three million subscribers. In an episode of Shopify Masters, Mimi says, “Great content, first and foremost, is something you’re interested to learn about and then share. As long as you can learn something and easily explain it to others, you can make videos about any topic.”
Create content that relates to a topic you’re passionate about and simplify the information in a digestible and entertaining way to build a YouTube channel that earns inbound leads for your company.
Collect and analyze data
Gather as much information as possible about your digital sales strategies, including customer data and sales data about which digital channels work best for your target audience. Focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) like customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value, and lead conversion rates.
Analyzing KPIs related to your sales performance lets you make informed decisions about which digital sales channels and strategies are working and which you should improve. If you use Shopify as your ecommerce platform, you’ll automatically have access to Shopify’s analytics and reporting tools to better inform your digital sales process.
Digital sales FAQ
How are digital sales different from traditional sales?
Digital sales take place through virtual channels like online stores and social media platforms, whereas traditional sales involve a salesperson focusing on selling a product or service to an individual prospect. Traditional sales includes strategies like cold calling, whereas digital sales uses strategies like search engine optimization, content marketing, and email campaigns.
What is a digital sales room?
A digital sales room (DSR) is a virtual space designed for sellers to interact with buyers, answer questions, and make digital sales online.
What are examples of digital sales?
An example of a digital sale is a customer receiving a marketing email announcing a product launch, clicking on a call to action in that email that redirects to an online store, and completing a purchase of that product through the store.
