The Best E-Commerce Marketing Strategies for Digital Commerce [2026]

Did you know that over 2.64 billion people shop online today? While more people are buying online than before, getting their attention has been harder.

So, how do brands manage to turn prospects into loyal customers while other brands struggle to get clicks? What makes people engage with one store and completely ignore another? With the ecommerce marketing strategies.

You can’t rely on discounts or flashy ads alone. You need certain strategies that build trust, create engagement, and drive consistent sales.

In this blog, we’ll explore top ecommerce marketing strategies that actually work in 2026.

8 Ecommerce Marketing Strategies to Increase Engagement and Sales

No matter what your ecommerce business is, every business objective is the same: increase brand awareness, increase engagement, build customer loyalty, and drive sales. You have two ecommerce marketing strategies. One is the unique value proposition (UVP), and the other is replicating other companies’ marketing strategies.

As you know, the unique value proposition is tailored to your and your customers’ needs. While you don’t need to replicate other business strategies, you can use basic ecommerce marketing strategies to achieve your business objectives in 2026.

Here are the top 8 ecommerce marketing strategies you need to add to your marketing plan.

• Offer coupons and discounts
• Highlight risk reducers to remove buying friction
• Use user-generated content (UGC)
• Provide live chat
• Showcase bestsellers
• Provide product or service testimonials
• Send a notification to stay on the customer’s mind
• Promote during special occasions

1. Offer coupons and discounts

Who doesn’t love getting a good deal? Coupons and discounts have always worked well in ecommerce marketing. You can’t say them just for lower prices because it helps to attract new customers, build your email list, and make your customers come back for purchase.

For instance, you can ask your new customers to use a “coupon code on your first order”, in exchange for an email signup. Through this, you can send follow-up emails with special offers or festival offers based on the products they purchased before.

You can see how GlassesUSA provides a coupon and discount on the homepage:

More importantly, don’t give coupons and discounts all the time. When everything is always “on sale”, customers will stop being excited, so make them wait and make a purchase. You can give special discounts and coupons during special occasions and product launches.

2. Highlight risk reducers to remove buying friction

One of the most underrated ecommerce marketing strategies is reducing the perceived risk a shopper feels before clicking “buy now.” Your homepage needs to have trust-building elements such as:

• Free shipping (or free shipping on certain orders)
• Fast delivery timelines
• Money-back guarantees
• Free and easy returns
• Secure checkout badges

These risk reducers reassure customers that they are making a safe purchase.

Image credits: Clinikally

Moreover, not every customer enters through your homepage. Most customers land directly on product detail pages through Google, social ads, emails, and other marketplaces. If your credibility boosters only appear on the homepage, many shoppers will never see them, which can lead to hesitation, abandoned carts, and lost sales. So, add your risk-reduction messages on product pages, ideally above the fold or near the “Add to Cart” button.

3. Use User-generated content (UGC)

One of the most powerful ecommerce marketing strategies is getting your customers to market your brand for you. That is what user-generated content (UGC) delivers. When customers post reviews, photos, unboxing videos, or social mentions, they create authentic proof that money can’t buy.

UGC works because it does two things:

• It drives qualified traffic from social channels straight to your store, and
• It builds trust through real voices instead of brand messaging.

Think of Red Bull’s “Red Bull gives you wiiings” campaign, customers voluntarily shared photos of the tin bottle with a personalized title “Red Bull gives you wiiings”. You don’t need a global budget to replicate the idea, just words can make wonders. Sometimes all it takes is a hashtag, a giveaway, or a simple request on “show us how you use it.”

4. Provide live chat

Live chat is one of the most effective ecommerce marketing strategies for removing friction at critical moments in the buyer journey. Whether you use a chatbot or a human support assistant gives shoppers the answers they need exactly when they need them.

Chatbots handle FAQs instantly, while human agents can step in for complex questions or high-value customers. Either way, live chat strengthens two key moments:

• When shoppers are browsing and need quick guidance.
• When they’re at checkout, and may hesitate or have last-minute doubts.

With this live chat, you can give more detailed information about your product or service to customers.

Image credits: Burrow

5. Showcase bestsellers

Think about when you walk into a restaurant and ask for a recommendation, and the server will point you to the most popular dish. It takes you toward what others already love. Ecommerce brands can apply the same principle.

Highlight your best-selling products or even best sellers within specific categories to guide customers toward others’ favorites.

When shoppers see what others are choosing, they feel more confident, make faster decisions, and can easily complete their purchase.

Image credits: koala

6. Provide product or service testimonials

Look at how Amazon provides testimonials, through which shoppers instinctively look for testimonials before committing to a purchase. With star ratings and text reviews, you can perform even better. Customer photos, short videos, unboxing clips, and story-driven testimonials add authenticity that brand-created content can’t match.

These visual reviews provide trust to customers who want to buy their brand product or service.

7. Send a notification to stay on the customer’s mind

Push notifications are highly effective ecommerce marketing strategies for re-engaging customers. Beyond exit-intent popups and email campaigns, push alerts give you a direct way to bring shoppers back even when they’re not actively browsing your site.

Mobile and desktop push notifications appear instantly on a customer’s device once they’ve opted in, which is ideal for abandoned cart recovery, flash sale alerts, low-stock nudges, and lead nurturing.

8. Promote during special occasions

Seasonal marketing may begin with the new year and end with Christmas. Every month, you can run themed sales, limited-time offers, contests, or giveaways. You can see that January alone gives you multiple angles: New Year, Pongal, and Republic Day. Each event allows you to create new campaigns, attract new traffic, and re-engage existing customers.

Look at how Myntra promotes during special occasions like "end of the season sale" at the end of the year.

Create Your Next Campaign with These Ecommerce Marketing Strategies

Coming to an end, ecommerce marketing can be hectic, but with these strategies, your brand can shine on top. You need to connect with your customers to answer questions, build trust, and remove friction at every step. When you combine strategies like UGC, best-seller highlights, live chat support, push notifications, and occasion-based promotions, you make it easier for customers to say “yes” to purchase.

If you need help to market your brand, reach NB Marketing Solutions, which offers full-service digital marketing support to help you grow faster.