With the prediction that eCommerce will surpass $2 trillion worth of sales in the next few years, it is the right time to invest in it.
Now, to create a successful eCommerce website, you need to think of yourself as a customer.
When you shop online, what is it that you look out for?
Let’s say you are visiting an apparel eCommerce website:
- Easy to navigate menus?
- Good looking pictures of the product from different angles?
- Variety of colors and sizes?
- A proper description of the material used.
- Reviews and feedback from other customers?
- Return and exchange policy?
- Refund as store credits or bank account?
- Free delivery and days to get delivered?
These questions will help you out in narrowing down how you want to go about your eCommerce website. Now, let’s get started with some other factors that you must keep in mind before getting started with your eCommerce website development.
1. Discover Your Niche and Carry Out Market Research
Before getting started with your eCommerce web development, you must have an idea of what it is that you wish to sell. It could be something that you are most passionate about. So, if you are into outdoor adventure sports, you can create an e-commerce site to sell sports gear, snowboards, winter wear, and other sports-related things.
Once you have narrowed down your niche, use the Keyword Planner Tool to find out the high volume of search results for your product. These keywords will help you find a lot about your audience so that you will be able to target them easily.
2. Purchase a Domain Name and Hire Experienced Ecommerce Web Developers
The domain name has to be to the point and easy to remember. It should signify what you are selling so that people can identify your brand. You can purchase a domain name on GoDaddy.
Ecommerce web developers should be thoroughly tested for their skills before letting them move forward with the project. They must have the right kind of experience in eCommerce website development so that they can deliver a high-quality website.
3. Select an Appropriate Ecommerce Hosting Platform
There are many popular platforms available in the market that will help you save time and money. Some of the best eCommerce platforms are Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and WordPress.
Find those eCommerce web developers that are familiar with these platforms and can integrate various plugins, payment gateways, and deliver a fully functional and user-friendly website. Integrating a third-party application is also a part of eCommerce development services.
4. Set up Social Media Accounts for the Website
Social media marketing is absolutely free and also gives amazing results. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are some of the top social media platforms to target your potential customers. It has been proven that the sales of businesses with social media presence has increased by 32%.
You can easily increase your reach and conversion rates through these social media channels. Big brands like Amazon, eBay, Flipkart have invested a great deal of effort in social media marketing. These developers can let you have a custom eCommerce development according to what you desire.
5. Price Your Product
Well, this is easily one of the important aspects of any eCommerce business.
- Price too low and you lose on the profits. (Underpricing)
- Price too high and you lose your customers. (Overpricing)
Calculate your product costs:
Let’s say you are selling a pair of shoes:
Cost of shoes: $20
Cost of acquiring customers: $6
Delivery cost: $2
Additional expenses: $2
Total cost: $30
Now, make sure you price your product more than $30 to generate profit. Anything less than that will incur a loss to your business as a whole.
6. Workout Your Payment Gateway
Credit cards are accepted on the eCommerce website through a payment gateway, PayPal, and Stripe being the most famous ones. You will have to set up a secure checkout process followed by creating a Privacy Policy & Return Policy.
Tip: WPForms makes it super easy to accept credit card payments on your WordPress site
Do a little research before finally going ahead with it. Also, you must add a 24×7 working customer care number so that customers can reach out to you if they face any issues during the payment.
7. Figure Out Your Shipping Methods
Okay, so here is a twist. 61% of shoppers leave shopping in between after seeing a high shipping fee. So, make sure to strategize your shipping and delivery methods accordingly.
Also, where are you planning to store your products? You must work out your inventory space before starting to stock up the products.
Some questions that you must answer are:
- Who will deliver your products?
- How will customers track their packages?
- What about the packaging?
- Will there be any extra delivery charges?
- What locations can you deliver to?
8. Run an A/B Test on Your Website
A/B testing is the method of comparing two different versions of a web page, email, or some other marketing resource and calculating the performance difference. You do so by offering both the versions to two different groups. You will then see how each of these versions perform.
A/B testing lets you know what content, products, phrases, pictures, videos, testimonials, and other components work in your favor. Even the simplest modifications may affect conversion rates.
To Sum Up
Be mindful of small aspects like customer care and return & refund policies. These will play an important role in making your customers come back to you again and again. If you are able to provide your customers with top-notch service, they will feel comfortable in trusting your brand.
Also, once your eCommerce website is gaining traffic and getting enough conversions, you might want to invest in a mobile version of your website. It is being said that by 2021, 53.9% of all US retail eCommerce is expected to be done via mobile devices. How cool is that?
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