Written By: Tina Samuels
Have you been thinking about diving into ecommerce but don't really know what your site should have to succeed?
Not every small business will be successful with using ecommerce, but with these essential ideas you have a great chance to beat the odds. The bottom line is ecommerce sites for business can really boost your sales, if you know what you're doing.
Give Them a Deal
Your ecommerce site should always offer some incentive for buying, be it free shipping, money off coupon, or a percentage off if the order is a certain amount. Not only does this give incentive to buy, but it gives incentive to buy more.
Shoppers looking to buy that $17 item will browse for something else when they know they'll get 20 percent off any $25 or more order. Free shipping also gives people the ability to buy items just as they would in the store without worrying about an additional charge for shipping.
Make Your Advantages Known
Keep your products in specific categories and make those categories easy to search.
You can put just the categories on the homepage with the specials, and have browsers click through to the specific items they are looking for. Always have categories labeled Clearance, New Items, and Deals so that those just looking for a bargain don't have to sift through page after page to find them.
Lock Down the Sales
To inspire trust among your shoppers, make sure that the ecommerce section of the site, where there will be actual payments given, is encrypted with an https and not a http.
The "s" shows that it is a secure website and you will not lose a sale to fears of getting swindled. There are many shoppers that check this and will not go through with a sale if the site is not encrypted.
Shopping Carts
While you may not remember the last time you saw a shopping site without a shopping cart feature, there are still some out there. Don't let your company be one of them.
Offer registration (this gives you something to email when sales pop up) and then offer shopping carts so people can browse and place items in a cart to return to later for purchase. It makes it convenient on the shopper and it makes it easier on the shop owner to not lose sales.
Don't Forget the Social Media
Having social media buttons will allow browsers to share and tweet products they want to share with their friends and family. This can result in even more sales and customers. Without these buttons, you are throwing away potential profits. Hopefully these essentials will give you a better leg-up on the competition and you'll see an increase in traffic and in profits.
Not every business is designed for ecommerce, but for those that do sales, it can definitely be a huge plus.
About the Author: Tina Samuels writes on the topics of technology, Steve Wynn, marketing, and social media.