How to Grow Your Business with Ecommerce

Online shopping (ecommerce) has changed the way some products are packed such as from DVD’s to MP3 downloads and from movie tickets to online views. For the past few years, e-commerce has changed people’s lives on matters of purchasing and shopping. 

The Internet now has provided a quick way for people to buy and receive items that they want without necessarily going out of their homes or offices.  It is so popular that many online stores do not actually have actual physical stores to boot with.

 

How to Grow Your Business with Ecommerce

There are just some things you need to understand when it comes to growing your business through online selling. Here are three of such facts: 

1.     Just because it is there, you have to join the bandwagon.  First and foremost, you have to determine if your business is ready for it.

2.    Now, if you think that you are not yet ready, it is wiser to seek professional opinion just to be sure about it. 

3.    When you are convinced that you are indeed ready, one of the requirements in order to grow the online aspect of your business successfully is by creating an ecommerce website design.

Top Components of Ecommerce Website You Should Prioritize

E-commerce website design does not only involve embedding a cart system, maintaining good navigation points, determining cost of website building, and choosing qualified web designers and developers.  It also involves components that will help customers have satisfying moments while shopping in your website. Ecommerce can be tricky if you do not have the right people to do it for you.

While cost, reputation of the website design company, and web designers are important considerations when designing a website, there are other matters that should be prioritized too.  These are the following: 

Space for Storage. Do not allow the ecommerce website you built to bog down because the server lacks the right memory storage to handle sales, inventory, follow ups, queuing, and shipment monitoring.  The storage should function without limitations.

Protocols on Safety. You have to protect your customer and show them that they will experience secured moments buying or navigating in your website.  The safety protocols are very important especially if you require customers to provide vital information when they buy products from the site. 

Design the Site for Products and Customers. One way to discourage visitors is to find products irrelevant and they could not get through with several buttons on the site.  For example, the cart system is not working, there are no price lists in the site, there is no FAQ (frequently asked questions) portion anywhere, online customer service is muted, and a host of other problems that are frustrating to the customers.

Logo should be clear. Logos are very important and it is part of the brand recognition.  Customers are more inclined to believe that the site is legitimate when they see logos. 

Accurate and Relevant Photos. Do not make the mistake of embedding photos on the site just because you as a business owner like it; or as web administrator, you believe that the size saves memory space.  Customers want to find out what exactly you are selling since they cannot feel, touch, and inspect the product physically.  Photos will give them the opportunity to scrutinize the item. 

Do not forget links to social media accounts.  Yes, it is a good marketing tool only if your clients’ Facebook or Instagram accounts are link to their website and it has the appropriate like and share buttons so customers can spread around the website. 

Customer log in and registration. This is very important so your clients will know who their customers are, identify their shopping behavior, and they have details on how to connect with buyers from time to time. 

These components should be dealt with very seriously so you have to do it right the first time so there is no need for you to go back to step 1 or redesign the whole process in order to incorporate components that were left out during the discussion  or creation of the ecommerce website.

For some, web design might be an easy matter but for small business owners and new entrants to online selling, the task is daunting.  Thus, you also need to be informed of recommended features that an ecommerce website should have.

4 Recommended Features Your Ecommerce Website Should Have

If you are really serious when it comes to helping your client, ensure that these features are embedded in your ecommerce web design for their website. 

1.    You Need An Ecommerce Builder

It is a program that allows individuals to build, personalize and operate online shops or stores.  It should come with complete tools to get you through different stages of building an ecommerce site from hosting up to generation of reports.  Projection is very important so you will have an idea on the kind of ecommerce builder to acquire.  For example, if you projected a heavy traffic website, then look for this kind of program that has a bigger storage and bandwidth for that matter.

2.    Products and Related Products

Visitors navigate your website because you have products, ideas, or services to sell and promote.  Thus, it is important to categorize your products such as according to type or category or according to sales performance, or based on prices; it depends.  Sometimes, you do not only sell products but you also promote or sell accessories with the intent of pushing your major products.  Thus, it is important to include features like “customers who bought this product also buy these items.”

3.    Complication Free Navigation

With this feature, it is suggested that customers should immediately find what they are looking for.  It is very critical indeed that ease of navigation in your website should be given priority so you will not encounter lost of sales.  It means that customers did not find what they were searching for but actually you do have it; the customer simply does not have an idea that the product must be searched first through the search bar in order to be directed to that particular product. 

4.    Easy Check Out Features

Experience is also very critical in ecommerce websites, especially on the check out process.  If the customer needs to input several details in order to complete the process, that is inviting a lot of confusion on their part and as a result, they will get impatient and leave the check-out counter.  The ideal situation is that customers should only complete a few steps in order to check out together with their purchases. 

Other Requirements in Order to Successfully Grow Your Online Business

You cannot grow your business on web design alone.  You have to incorporate the following requirements in order to grow your ecommerce business.

Selecting the Right Software

You do not have to choose an expensive software to build your e-commerce website. The right thing to do is to choose a software that complements your business requirements. For example, why go for a software builder that offers huge storage when you projected that site traffic is not yet heavy for years to come?

Prepare for Attack from Imitators

One of the weaknesses with regards to e-commerce shops is that many processes are easy to replicate.  The moment that a customer starts to buy from you, your whole set up is already open to many vulnerabilities and competitors will take a serious look at what you have and improve it.  So, you have to have something unique for your customers to offset impact of imitations.

Wise Advertising

It is very easy to be tempted with advertising and there are many services which are very eager to get your advertising budget.  Thus, before you get excited with your brand and store promotions, it is better to you start the campaign at a minimal amount and see the impact first in order to avoid negative consequences of your advertising blowing up to your faces. 

Going Extra Mile on Customer Service

Many ecommerce owners are still ignoring the idea of going extra mile when it comes to customer service.  Remember that customers cannot feel and touch the product; thus, you have to make online shopping with your e-commerce website very memorable for them.  The old school style of customer service still works such as sending thank you emails instead of notes, asking for online feedback, on the dot response to online queries and emails or through phone, chat, or in various social media network. 

Talk To Your Customer

Feedback is very important even in online selling.  By talking to your customers, you will know if the products you sell are relevant for them, you will have ideas on how to make them loyal to your products and brand, and you will receive appreciation from your customers because you value their opinions.

Ecommerce has reduced the steps of acquiring goods and service and made buying of goods and services cheaper. A good website answers what the customer needs and has the right and relevant products that these customers are searching.  It also involves the components, requirements and features mentioned above so customers will have satisfying moments while in your website. 

Remember, their success is your success also! 

image credit: Garfield Anderssen/Flickr