Help inspire customers to buy products they might not have come looking for with personalized recommendations. Invite customers into the fold by showing them popular items that are currently trending, but be sure to also make suggestions based on their unique browsing habits. Customers are more likely to buy suggested products if they’re truly curated to them as an individual. In fact, 80% of customers are more likely to buy from a company that offers personalized experiences.

Using the robust customer browsing and buying data you already have, you can build and optimize recommendations for each customer. You can further tailor these recommendations by product types or customer segments for maximum impact.

While personalized recommendations and the AI that powers them allow you to leverage data you wouldn't otherwise have access to, you shouldn't underestimate the knowledge of your team itself. When it comes to buying food and beverages online, goods are often on the higher end of the scale. Customers aren't just shopping with you for your products, they also want your expertise. You can meet this need by replicating an in-store scenario where customers can ask directly for advice and recommendations.

AI is incredibly valuable, but can only go so far – it can’t compete with the knowledge of a food or drink expert. If you know which accompaniments best complement your goods, let your team use their expertise to ensure these are offered to the customer.

PPC is a key acquisition channel, with the potential to drive new customers at product and brand level. When it comes to ecommerce, one metric matters above all else: conversion rates. Growing your conversion rates should be the key factor in establishing your advertising strategy. However, it’s important to keep in mind the value of each conversion on your site. If ad clicks and engagement end up costing more than conversions are worth, it’s not an effective strategy.

In other words, if your conversion rate is too low for your product margin, you will lose money on every ad click or view, regardless of how awesome and on-brand your ads are.

Food and beverage retailers should be especially sensitive to these margins. Unless you are a supermarket, your AOV is likely relatively low, especially if you’re an artisan or specialist food & beverage seller. These smaller margins can make it especially hard to get a solid return on ad spend.

Additionally, there are restrictions on advertising alcohol in most countries that prevent you from using advanced techniques such as audience remarketing. This means that – even more than it would ordinarily – literally every conversion counts.

Getting products to customers in good shape is paramount to a positive experience. It’s also a food safety requirement, making it one of the most important factors of your strategy.

The right packaging materials will depend heavily on what exactly you’re shipping.

Common lightweight perishable packaging types include styrofoam boxes, custom styrofoam cut sheets, insulated liners, air-filled insulation liners, and insulated pads. There are also heavier duty packaging options, including glass and insulated containers.

Be sure to consider whether you need to add additional packaging like padding, insulation, watertight plastic bags, or wrapping, all of which protect products from temperature changes.

The type and the level of cold storage materials you’ll need will depend on the packaging you choose. With styrofoam, the thicker the packaging, the less ice or coolant you’ll need. So while using very thick styrofoam might seem appealing, the packaging will come at a higher cost and take up more room in a package.

A less obvious factor in getting deliveries right is ensuring the small details are accurate. To make perishables shipping realistic long-term, you need to charge accurate shipping rates to avoid losing money.

There are many factors that affect shipping rates, and getting each of these factors right is key to showing accurate rates. Typically, ecommerce platforms don’t include native functionality that allows retailers to customize rates on a granular level.

One scenario that might be affected by this lack of flexibility is a retailer shipping a lightweight, but large package. By default, the package’s shipping rate is calculated based on its dead weight. However, this rate could likely be incorrect because of a few factors. First, carriers base their rates on dimensional weight, which accounts for both dimensions and weight. Second, packaging or insulation materials that go in the package aren’t always accounted for, which may return a rate lower than it should be.

Last-mile delivery can also affect the rates you show. The last step of a shipment is often the most costly, often taking up as much as half of the overall shipping charge. The cost of this part of the shipment depends largely on the type of address it’s being delivered to. A residential address carries a surcharge, as it typically requires a carrier to go out of their way and into a neighborhood to deliver the package. A commercial delivery is cheaper because it requires the driver to deliver packages in more densely populated areas, costing them less time and effort.