What is VP and what does it mean in e-commerce?
VP (Value Proposition) is the definition of what a customer of a given company or brand receives and what costs they have to bear for it. In short you can describe VP with the equation:
value = benefits − costs
For e-commerce, a well-formulated value proposition helps build the image of our store or product as better than the competition and encourages the consumer to spend their money with us. In an increasingly competitive online business (when a unique edge — a USP — is harder and harder to come by), the value proposition is most often a combination of several benefits that build real value for the user.
To achieve that, remember three success factors:
Value must be delivered and recognized — that is, our product or store should genuinely respond to real consumer needs and pain points; the Value Proposition Canvas is a very helpful tool to find them,
Value must be argued and communicated — our value proposition should be clear and visible also to people who hadn't been in contact with us before, e.g. it's a good practice to expose it contextually at various stages of the user journey,
Value must be measured, tested, and improved — for the value proposition to work, its evolution must be based on real data — it may turn out that our edge is not price after all, but e.g. fast shipping and great customer service.
value = benefits − costs
For e-commerce, a well-formulated value proposition helps build the image of our store or product as better than the competition and encourages the consumer to spend their money with us. In an increasingly competitive online business (when a unique edge — a USP — is harder and harder to come by), the value proposition is most often a combination of several benefits that build real value for the user.
To achieve that, remember three success factors: