Starting an online business can be pretty formidable. There are numerous things to consider including the hosting, website, design, ecommerce inventory management and marketing. Here are 10 things to consider when starting ecommerce business.
1. Domain name and hosting
An e-commerce website begins with dependable hosting and an ineffaceable domain name. The selected online solution must have high speed servers. It should also ensure that your online business is always running. Additionally it should offer quick and easy set up with the domain name in order to make your e-commerce solution hassle-free and smooth.
2. Customizable templates
Creating a professional-looking and attractive site is imperative for the online business. Although everyone does not have the essential skills to set up a website, but your software must offer you a collection of exquisitely designed templates and themes that can be tailored to exhibit your business. Customization must be quick and easy to allow users reorganize product listings and elements with just a couple of clicks.
3. Shopping-cart tools
This is the foundation of you e-commerce business. You must be able to meticulously manage inventory, maintain user profile and track orders. Clients appreciate sold out order alerts and inventory count. Some of the other important features include loyalty programs, ability to create and maintain coupon codes, discounts as well as change variables like sizes, colors and automatically calculate shipping costs and taxes.
4. Conversion tools
Sometimes you need to convince customers to make a purchase. Hence, you must push your clients in the appropriate direction and use conversion tools like customer reviews, wish lists, product comparisons, viewing histories, recommendations and much more in order to convince them. Additionally, reminder emails to clients can also be quite useful.
5. Payment Systems
One of the most indispensable features to consider is your website’s shopping cart payment system. In order to augment sales, users must be able to make payments with their preferred and convenient mode of payment. The payment options include, mobile payments, credit cards, debit cards, Google Wallet and PayPal. For cards, ask the vendor which payment getaways are used. Also, ask the vendor how the system can integrate with your merchant or bank account and also how is your client’s information and your personal information handled.
6. Third Party Apps
You must make use of business applications to operate your online business. Consolidate these apps with your e-commerce business in order to run it more easily and efficiently. This in turn will also make it much faster. There is absolutely no need to manually operate data manually, instead use these apps and save yourself a lot of time. You can also prepare shipments or send order updates or generate financial reports with these compatible apps.
7. Mobile storefront
Mobile commerce has skyrocketed in popularity. Get ahead of your competitors by selecting a mobile service that provides a mobile storefront. This is turn can help you reach more users on the gadgets they use often. Useful mobile commerce features include preferences for mobile payments, receptive designs to enhance the way your mobile storefront appears based on the gadget being used and also its ability to manage and operate your online business from your phone.
8. Marketing and analytical tools
Operating a website online is just like operating any other site- you will require the appropriate analytical and marketing strategies and tools in order to make it successful. Some important marketing tools to consider include search engine optimization that helps you rank on search engines like Bing, Google, Yahoo etc, content marketing campaigns, content management systems, social media marketing and email marketing.
9. Customer support
This is extremely important for your e-commerce business. Whether you have billing inquiries or require tech support, it is always disappointing when immediate customer service is not available. All e-commerce solutions do not have the same customer support, hence you must ensure that the one you pick is there whenever you need help. For instance, Ashop Commerce, Bigcommerce, Shopify and Volusion offer live-chat, email and telephone support. All of these also offer community forum and user guide.
10. Security
It is indispensable to keep both your customer’s information and data safe. Hence, select a reliable shopping cart with fraud score, secure socket layer and payment card industry compliance. Disaster recovery and data back up are also imperative for any online business.
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