Summary: When building an ecommerce solution the ordering process is of major importance as this is where the business earns money. This process needs to be informative and easy to use, in this step we will look at putting the web customers mind at ease during the process of your ecommerce solution.
It is so hard nowadays for newbies to decide on which ecommerce solutions provider to go with. To make it worse, there are so many shopping cart packages to choose from. If you are not sure which package to pick, calm down and take a deep breath. Then look at the feature list of the different packages.
If you are thinking of opening your very first store, take my advice and skip the higher tier shopping cart packages. Try to stick to ecommerce solutions which are priced around USD60 per month. In my opinion, this segment offers the best value for money in terms of features for the price you pay.
But before you sign up for a free trial, have a look at the feature list. Any ecommerce solutions worth their salt would have at 90% of the features listed below already available.
Security
Would you shop at a site you think was not secure? I did not think so. Ensure that the shopping cart you decide to subscribe to comes with fully encrypted 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protection. You will need this to ensure that your data as well as those of your customer are always protected.
Disk Space
Ensure you have enough disk space to host your images as well as other data on your store. For a new store, about 5GB of space should suffice. If you need more space, do not upgrade your subscription package unnecessarily. It could be cheaper to just purchase more disk space.
Since images take up the most disk space, always optimize your images before uploading to your store. Also, host videos on video sharing sites so they do not take up your disk space.
Bandwidth
If your store is new, it is most unlikely that you will be experiencing heavy traffic. Therefore 6GB of bandwidth should more than suffice. As with disk space, if you need more bandwidth, see if you can purchase more bandwidth instead of upgrading your package.
Number of Products
Most new merchants do not have many products on their stores. On average, an ecommerce store has about 500 products. But just in case, ensure that your subscription covers more than the average number of products. 1000 products is a safe bet. Best amazon tools for sellers gives freedom of product posting.
Payment Processors
Many stores use at least two payment processors to accept payments. One for international customers and one for local ones. The problem for many merchants is finding a payment processor for local customers. So before signing up, check the payment processor list to see if they have what you need is listed there. If it is not, inquire if the payment processor you want can be integrated for free or perhaps for a nominal sum.
Product Zoom Tool
If you are selling products which contain fine details. You should use this feature to offer a close-up look of your products to highlight finer details. This can be a deal breaker for many customers.
Quick Checkout
Quick checkout or one-page checkout is great for shoppers who want no hassle purchases. The drawback of this feature is that merchants would not be able to collect valuable shoppers’ email for followup campaigns and the shopper may not be able to receive order updates via email.
Drop Ship
Obtaining the services of a drop shipper is a viable option for new merchants who do not have any supplier contacts, do not have space to store inventory and do not have the resources to pack and ship the products. Even seasoned merchants use products from drop shippers to broaden their product range. Please note that you may not be able to get the best margins from drop shippers but you get a lot convenience instead.
Automated Email
Automated email is great as it saves time and if used properly, it can improve sales by as much as 15%. For example, using automated email to salvage an aborted order. You can use the automated email feature to inform customers about their product order status, product in stock status and also use it to distribute newsletters.
Cross sell
All in one software for Amazon works the same way as those little shelves that tempt you to buy stuff as you queue toward the till. Amazon has mastered the art of online cross selling thanks to their advanced algorithm that tracks and reacts to buying trends. Use this feature to help increase sales.
Stats And Data
How do you know what visitors are looking when they land on your site? One way to find out is by clicking on your ‘Search Words Used’ feature. This feature store all the search terms which are entered into the search box on your site.
A well equid commerce solutions with ample stats and data could help you better plan your campaigns and tweak your store to meet your customers’ needs and wants.
Free Ecommerce Templates
If you are just starting out in ecommerce, chances are you are on a tight budget. If that is the case, pick a shopping cart provider which offers attractive free ecommerce templates. This will save you a lot of money – as much as $1000 – on design fees. Change to a custom template once you can afford it.
Free Live Chat Software
Another good feature to have is a live chat software. This is a good conversion tool as you can address customer inquiries immediately and therefore improve chances of conversion.
SEO Friendly
SEO is very important unless you do not want your store to be found. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it basically means optimizing your store for search engines. If your store has been properly optimized, search engines will index it and accurately match it to search queries. Therefore, having a shopping cart that has built-in tools to help you optimize your store would be of great benefit.
Mobile Commerce
Stats have shown that more and more people are taking to mobile devices to shop online. The trend is apparent in Japan and Korea and is growing steadily in APAC countries. Ensure that your ecommerce solutions has this feature so you can have access to this market.
Facebook Commerce
If people spent the same amount of time trying to solve the problems of the world as they do on Facebook, there would be peace on earth, I should think. Facebook started out as a place for college students to keep in touch with each other but has grown into a giant virtual mall where people hangout, watch videos and shop. With over half a billion users and 25% of which say they would buy from a Facebook shop, do ensure that the ecommerce solution you select has a Facebook store app which will allow you to leverage your store’s Facebook presence.
If you’re looking to start your own online business I suggest doing your research first. Make sure you way your options and chose a company that will suit your needs for your online store. You want to go with a company that is affordable and that can design your website the way you want. Not to mention it’s important to go with a company that offers some kind of marketing package and does SEO. This is a very important thing to look for in a company, because how will customers find your business if they don’t even know you exist.
