Ways to Increase Sales From Your Online Store

Transcription

1 Ways to Increase Sales From Your Online Store The text in this document is copyright 2013 Infinite Softech. You may quote this document in whole or in part, online or in printed format, as long as proper attribution is given. Proper attribution should, at a minimum, include the following:,

2 Introduction Ø In 2012, 57% of Internet users shopped online Ø 50% of overall sales were web-influenced Ø This number will increase by 16% in 2013 Ø Online sales for Canada at the year-end 2016 will be as high as $ billion Surely these numbers indicate that the future belongs to Ecommerce. Very soon, most consumers will start shopping online. It is therefore imperative for any business to create an Ecommerce website to maintain and enhance its consumer base. If you are planning to open your Online Store or your Online Store is not generating enough sales as you expected out of it, this document is for you. We often read or listen that Internet has leveled up the playing field for Ecommerce and it has become the virtual main street of the world providing the online buying experience to user. Though it may seem that Internet has removed the limitations of brick and mortar world but at the same time it's been challenged by its own unlimited nature. It may appear that online Ecommerce solutions have extended our reach to unlimited consumers but it is important to realize that these unlimited consumers are being chased by unlimited competitors. Consumer psychology plays a significant role in online buying and if not addressed appropriately, may pose certain limitations to your online business. It is, therefore, important to understand these limitations and their solutions to boost sales from your Online Store. 2

3 1. Is your Online Store visible to your consumers? adopted search engine optimization techniques (SEO) to increase their site's relevance and popularity. How to cut through your competitors to present yourself to your prospective consumers? If you have an online store, you most likely expect Google to bring traffic to your site. But a single search like 'online t-shirt store' produces nearly 500,000 results and the probability that your new online store will appear in top search results is minimal especially since all your bigger competitors have SEO does not necessarily require expensive consultants. You can optimize your site by the correct use of meta-tags and title tags and good site layout and relevant content. An important way to achieve this is by choosing an Ecommerce platform that supports implementation of SEO techniques. This will provide you tools to effectively market your Online Store. 2. Does your Online Store look professional? A good design is a balance between looking professional and maintaining usability and can be a deciding factor for users to make their online purchases. Your website is your first contact with your consumers. A clean and user-friendly design can build trust in users that products and order fulfillment will be of high standard. On the other hand, poor design and layout can prompt users to look for other sites as they may feel unsure to make online purchase from a store, which seems unprofessional and not user-friendly. W3C guidelines can ensure easy navigation and easy accessibility of products for a userfriendly interface. Look for an Ecommerce platform that has built-in W3C specifications into its structure. In addition, ensure that the Ecommerce platform has few basic templates to produce a professional looking web store. 3

4 3. Can your customers find the products they are looking for? Once customer is on your Online Store, his/her experience in first couple of minutes decides if he/she is going to buy from your store or not. Customers can easily grow frustrated if they can't quickly find the product they are looking for and can abandon the website. If your Online Store has poorly laid out categories or lack of search facility, consumers are bound to wander away from your store. Choose an Ecommerce platform that has ability to present products with nested categories and ability to support products belonging to multiple categories. This will present customers a range of choice that can be filtered in various ways. Quickly presenting the required information to your users can hook them to your web store. 4. Are you providing peripheral information to consumers? (Sales person of brick and mortar) In a brick and mortar store, a salesperson suggests customers about other products that can enhance their purchase or complement them. Sometimes customers rely on salesperson for additional information like peripheral requirements of a product or best plan to buy the product or available promotion on that product. If your Online Store fall short of this kind of up selling, you lose an opportunity to transform a onetime customer to a frequent customer who would come back to your store again and again. Your Ecommerce platform should have ability to link products with related and complimentary products and present them automatically on products page. A sound promotional engine should be in place which can help you build promotions and present them prominently at appropriate places on your website. 4

5 5. Is your website secure? Internet security has always remained a major concern with online consumers and these concerns are periodically reinforced with high profile Internet fraud news stories. Even though Security has come a long way, with strong encryption becoming the norm, security is still a matter of concern with online consumers. In short, if a website doesn t look secure to a consumer, the consumer will not buy from the website. Decide on an ecommerce platform that employs strong encryption for payment processing and consumer data retention. Your website host play an important role in securing your website. Ask your hosting provider about the security system at the data center that physically hosts the consumer data. As well, ensure that hosting facility has proper disaster recovery procedures, servers are backed up daily, and back-ups are periodically stored off site in case of physical disaster. Importantly, all the above measures need to be communicated to the consumers to gain their trust. Generally online shoppers are aware these days to look for a small lock and in the address bar to ensure security before going ahead with online transaction. However it is important to still reinforce at checkout pages that consumers are in secure area and their information will not be compromised. In addition, an important way to gain consumers trust is to have a prominently displayed Contact us page with phone number and physical mailing address. Consumers will have confidence that they can contact you in case of any question or incident while shopping online on your website. 6. Is your Checkout process simple enough? Almost 50% of consumers abandon the checkout process. Studies show that the top reasons for abandoning the checkout process are: 5

6 Possibly as an Online Store owner, you are shocked to know about this loss of customers. It is now imperative to take the steps needed to reduce this shocking loss of sales. Registration required to buy Product was out of stock Hidden charges at checkout Customers were there for just price comparison No time to complete the checkout. Problem 1 and 5 are somewhat related. Some customers just don t want to register but want to make purchase. Though for marketing purpose it is good to have customer s data for future promotions, your Online Store should have option of guest checkout in case user doesn t want to register. For already registered customers, platform should auto fill most of the checkout details like billing and shipping information with a provision for user to override it. For problem 2, the E-commerce platform should track stock and match sales to stock. If the E-commerce platform's stock tracking function detects a product has sold out, the online store can either flag the item as out of stock for the consumer or doesn t show the product on website. Ensure that the ecommerce platform always displays the running total of purchases prominently with all overheads so that it s not a shock for customer to see those hidden charges only at checkout. For customers who come to website only to compare prices, ecommerce platform should provide features like Wish list so that these customers are not forced to go till check out to compare prices. As well, storeowners can provide retail price and online price upfront for customers to decide or possibly comeback to their wish list section. 7. Is your website multi-lingual? Whole essence of having online store is to reach customers beyond what brick and mortar store can serve. Though English is a common business language, it is important to consider other important languages for business like Spanish, Arabic and French etc. Computers don t offer accurate translations and making a site multi-lingual invariably requires human translation services and this mean contracting out at a 6

7 translation services and this mean contracting out at a very high hourly rate. An Ecommerce platform can cut down translation time if properly architected. The system should allow all translation to be done centrally. A translator can quickly translate product names, descriptions, etc. without having to toggle between multiple screens. This will reduce the time and effort required for translations. 8. Does you website offer multiple currencies and metric system? An online store has potential to cross borders to reach your customers across the world. Your customers may use different weights and measures, and currencies depending on geographic region. If your products get popular in, say Spain, then your website should be capable to handle Euros to gain and maintain your newfound market. Choose an Ecommerce platform with customer-friendly features like allowing customers to see goods in their own currency and measurement system. CONCLUSION Effective Ecommerce Website = Increased bottom line 7

8 Statistical data says that an Ecommerce solution to any Website can substantially increase profitability for the Website or business owner, as well as effectively drive traffic to your site, provided you choose the right platform which can cater to not only your current needs but scalable for future business expansion as well. Contact us Infinite Softech Website: Phone: Mailing address: 2024 Malbrook Road, Oakville L6J1Y7, Ontario Canada 8