More and more people are thinking about starting an online store, either because they see a great opportunity in the marketplace or because they already have a physical store and they want to maximise revenue by taking their business into the digital space.

As online shopping becomes more safe, more and more consumers are opting for this option. According to a recent Nielsen poll, over 85% of the world’s online population has used the internet to make a purchase and this figure has almost doubled from the two years prior to conducting this poll!

So why are people flocking to shop online?

A big factor is convenience, consumers can shop 24/7 in the comfort of their own home at a time suitable to them, they are not restricted by a store’s opening hours or location.

Differences between an online store and physical store

When a customer walks into a physical store, they can see all the goods on display, specials or store promotions and a smiling shop assistant ready to help. This same feeling needs to be created in an online store.

This can be done by the use of promotions on the homepage that change regularly, displaying a selection of products when a customer first visits the site, cross selling, displaying clear contact details and giving a general overview of what they store’s about.

By its remote nature (and because of media sensationalisation), the internet is perceived as a low-trust environment and so it takes a little bit more to convince the customer that they are shopping from a reputable store and that they will be getting what they have ordered.

Trust and word-of-mouth are the biggest influences in the type of store a consumer will shop at. You can create trust by reassuring the user that your online store is safe and secure through secure certificates, bank logos and other industry accreditations, not hiding your phone number or address and making the customer feel like they can easily contact you, should a problem arise.

Word of Mouth can be achieved by including a testimonials section on the site. Seeing what other people say about the product or service goes a long way in reassuring the customer that you are a reputable store and that others have had a positive experience.

Live Chat on a storefront is another way that you can instantly connect to customers, offering them advice at the exact moment that thye are looking for a product.

Once this trust is gained and a customer has a positive experience with a store, they keep coming back. 60% of customers (Nielsen poll) say they mostly buy from the same site so it is very important to capture that customer when they’re first starting their search for an online product or service.

Design is your storefront

Site design plays an extremely important factor in creating trust for the consumer. Many retail outlets spend a lot of money on fitout and rent at the right location to create the right look and feel, yet will scrimp on their online store. The design of the site is the storefront of your physical store, it’s what they customer sees and it’s often the first impression they will get. They say you only get one chance to make a first impression – make it good!

Going back to the trust issue, a well designed store will help to create trust in the customer, it looks like you’ve made the effort, so you care about your products and ultimately them as a client.

There are plenty of off the shelf e-commerce solutions around, a lot of them offer you every feature under the sun but when it comes down to it are quite restrictive in term of look and feel or adding on features that aren’t out of the box. More features does not equal a better experience and sometimes site features overrul usability on a site.

Not all features have to be added a once but don’t scrimp on price and functionality, do as much as you can afford because the better your online presence in terms of look and feel, functionality and search engine visibility, the more customers will visit, more sales will be made and the more a customer will want to come back.

The internet is full of average online stores, these can still sell but imagine how much more they can sell with a well designed, usable site!

Marketing principles still apply

There’s still a belief out there that the internet is this miraculous place where instant fortunes will be made overnight. All you need to do it put up an online store and products will sell themselves, making you a millionaire while you sleep. Unfortunately this is not the case, otherwise I wouldn’t be here running a digital design company, I would be sitting on the beach in the Bahamas watching my bank balance rise.... For some reason, basic marketing principles often fly out the window when talking about online.

Once an online store is made live, you cannot sit back and let the site run itself. Just as in a physical store, an online store will need promotion. Whether offline or online, something will need to drive traffic to your store. You can consider a range of ways to promote your site online, advertise on other websites, use Google Adwords, optimise for certain keywords that your customers will search for, join affiliate programs and cross link from reputable sites and directories. Just as in the real world, promotion is an ongoing process, do it often and do it wisely.

This has been a very general overview of online stores and e-commerce. Watch this space for more online shopping tips and articles.

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Posted in: Tips and Tricks