There is no doubt about the fact that, running an online shop in the present day world is a very hard task. It is an everyday challenge to stay ahead of your competitors with an engaging, innovative and fresh approach. Online retailers need to make sure that their online eCommerce stores are perfectly equipped with the latest functionalities and features to provide users with a great shopping experience.
There is no doubt about the fact that, sales from mobile devices are on the rise. Merchandise worth overbillion’s was sold by online shop’s like Amazon in the year 2009 to mobile device buyers. The company sold around $3 to $5 billion in yearly sales only through mobile devices in the year 2012. Apart from that, on 2013’s Black Friday, 21.8% of overall online sales came from mobile devices. This is a clear indication of the fact that if a website is not properly optimized to work across different devices then, it is probably losing out on a vast amount of potential revenue.
One thing that needs special attention here is that, though 37% of overall online traffic came from mobile devices, only 21.8% accounted for online sales. Thus, it may be the fact that, customers may have used their mobile devices to price shop and browse their items and went on to make their purchase from a tablet or a desktop.
Unresponsive Stores are Abandoned by 30% of Visitors
The recent study conducted shows that almost thirty percent of visitors abandon a site if it is not responsive. Designers therefore need to focus more on their responsive design skills as well as on the key elements of an ecommerce website to offer customers with a satisfying experience. It is also vital to remain well aware of the various eCommerce frameworks like Magento, Bigcommerce, Shopify, Prestashop and more.
If you are planning to sell something online, preparing an eCommerce plan is the first step towards building an effective online store. Starting from website goals to your target audience, you need to consider different factors so as to determine how much time and money you require to build an eCommerce website that perfectly caters to your business needs. However, building an amazing website will not help you to maintain a consistent flow of traffic to your website. You need to continue with a multifaceted promotional strategy that is targeted towards your audience. These are the few essential elements that you should consider while developing an eCommerce website.
Easy Navigation and Consistent Flow
It is the requirement of every website to provide users with an easy navigability so as to keep them interested and maintain an easy flow. It is important for you to make sure that visitors do not get confused with excessive information and unnecessary clutter on your site. It is always a good idea to maintain separate pages for various categories of products and/or services you are selling. The idea is to present the users with an enjoyable experience so that they make return visits to your website.
Responsive Design
You must be well aware of the fact, how much important it is to have a responsive website these days. With the growing focus on mobile devices, people are now shifting towards making purchases from their smartphones and tablets instead of using desktops and laptops. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to provide users with a well-designed responsive web layout that helps them to make purchases even on the go.
User-friendly Purchasing Process
When a person wants to buy an item from your website, he/she would definitely not want to click on different options or fill out long forms so as to complete the entire process. A long purchasing process always turns out to be a put off driving potential sales opportunities away. You need to ensure that visitors are provided with a short and convenient purchasing process with equal focus on security so that they can shop freely and happily.
Highlighting Deals
People prefer shopping online not only because they get to buy their preferred products from the comforts of their home but, also to save money. Highlighting special offers, deals and promotions on the home page of your website is an effective way to make more sales. You may also showcase percent-off sales, freebies, discounted items and more to attract more visitors to your site.
Options for Customer Care
When visitors to your online eCommerce store are not able to find the product and/or service they are searching for, they immediately look for customer care options. Providing your website visitors only with an email address is simply not enough. Apart from including contact options through phone numbers, you should also offer access to different social media channels to submit complaints or for urgent queries.
Focus on designing a web shop which is inspiring and appealing. Always try to give your website visitors the best possible experience so that they can make purchases confidently. Remember that easy usability is the key to success of your eCommerce website that will give your visitors enough reasons to come back again and again.
Rise of Mobile Ecommerce
Mobile web has found a noble meaning in the new-age world. The introduction of Smartphone, iPad, tablets, etc has triggered the increasing use of mobile among the consumers in the market. Such a rise of the mobile influence in the world has left open a wide and untapped market for the e-commerce businesses. Today, more and more businesses are aiming to develop a mobile friendly version of their e-commerce websites. After all, the mobile e-commerce websites can easily catch up to the pace of the users on the go while, making their products easily accessible and available anytime and anywhere.
The recent launch of CSS3 and HTML5 has further made it easy to develop a mobile e-commerce site for a range of devices at ease. Moreover, the rise of Smartphone usage has also predicted an alternate to the use of desktops and laptops in the coming 5 years. Therefore, if you are aiming to gain more business traffic through your site, then it is time that you consider developing a mobile version of your business site and make the most of the potential market.The rise of such technologically advanced modern features clearly sets the pace of development for the e-commerce industry.