5 E-commerce Basics That Make or Break Your Online Shop
The commercial disruption caused by the COVID19 pandemic has made many businesses reconsider their reluctance to invest in online sales. Regardless of the size of the business, small, medium, or large; the lockdowns across the globe provided a rude awakening for most.
The fundamental issue is, if a business relies on their High Street or physical presence alone, it means they have a single channel to market. Any business relying on a single channel for sales, is vulnerable to events beyond their control, as well as exposure to risks of “Disruptive Technologies”.
Creating a website that is fit for E-commerce (or online shop) is a very different proposition to the normal commercial business website. There are many other factors at play including how visitors find, purchase, obtain, and return products (or services). This means web developers and designers must get to know the customer’s business intimately, otherwise the end results will be a victory for artistic expression but a commercial failure.
So here are what we believe you should focus on when you are putting together an e-commerce website.
1. Form vs function
We always advise clients to focus on function before worrying about the looks, but this is even more important in an online shop.
Take a look at the 2 most successful e-commerce websites, namely Amazon and e-Bay. Neither are a paragon of artistic expression or creative design, but they generate massive amounts of revenue that most of us only dream of.
If a developer comes to you and their first concern is about “How it looks”, we really advise you to show them the door. That is not how an online shop development should start.
2. It dices, It slices, and so much more!
Product categorisation will make or break your online shop. Products should be sorted into logical groups, but in addition they need to be found via multiple routes.
For example, let’s say you are selling T-Shirts. Most clothing items come in different styles, sizes, colours, and fabrics. Your customer should be able to find a specific T-Shirt using any search criteria they choose, and not what you think they should search for. So they should be able to find the T-Shirt by selecting materials, size, colour, style, brand, etc.
Remember, your product can mean different things to different people, so your e-commerce platform should be able to Dice, Slice, and Make Julienne Fries.
3. Be Clean and Mean
Keep your pages simple and easy on the eye. Simplicity is the key, so that visitors can focus on the product rather than be distracted. Visitors are not looking to buy your website design, they are looking to buy your product.
Images must be compressed, and only used where necessary (remember Amazon or e-Bay). Make sure all your images are properly sized and compressed. You do not need 4MB images on a mobile device, as a 200K image will look just as good.
No flashy whiz-bang stuff that will distract and take up valuable bandwidth, and ‘real state’ on your visitors screen. There is a real price to pay for flashy and over-designed pages.
4. Departmentalise
Okay, so department stores are going out of fashion, but the concept has not. Create a navigation key logic that allows visitors to easily visualise and departmentalise your portfolio. This makes it easy for them to find their product of interest in their logical group.
Some sound logical, like all your T-Shirts should be together, and shorts should be in another group, but for some products you need to be more thoughtful. Some products and services are not as easily categorised, but there is no reason as to why you cannot include a product in multiple groups
5. Think like a customer
We hear this a lot but not many people actually practice it. Thinking like a customer means:
- Lexicon – Use their language and not your internal references, lingo, and names. Most people know what a V-Neck T-Shirt looks like, so don’t get creative with the name!
- Variants – Use variants that people understand such as size, measurements, etc.
- Illustrate – Show them as the client might use them. If you are selling a desk, an oven, or laptop bag, show them the line drawing with dimensions. If you are selling clothes, show them on people not on hangers.
- 3-Clicks & You Die – If you make a product more than 3 clicks away from any landing page, you have just lost a customer. People buying online are impatient (that is why they are buying online), so make it easy to find.
- Don’t Hide – If you are selling things online, you are asking for money online. Savvy online buyers will check your domain. People have to trust you, so don’t hide your websites under Anonymous or Private Registration. By the same token, do not use Gmail, Hotmail, or any other generic email services. Your email address should be the same as your domain name.
Summary
Setting up an e-commerce site is very different to setting up an ordinary website. Go to a professional who has done a few sites, and can demonstrate how easy it is to use them (note, not how clever the design is!).
We have a range of affordable e-commerce tools and solutions, so check them out on our website or contact us for more information.