Essentials For Building a Successful eCommerce Business

Perhaps the most vital component in eCommerce ventures is ensuring your customers are happy and satisfied. For startups and small to mid-sized businesses, creating and maintaining a great website is not the only component in securing this satisfaction. A great website has to be backed by high quality service and an equally high quality product.

There are several other aspects to successful eCommerce that need to be considered. Following are the factors that every business owner should evaluate to ensure success.

Expertise in store design:

Effective website management is key to uninterrupted service. A website is the first point of contact between the customer and your business. Depending on the website, casual surfers will either be converted into customers or turned away. As a result, your website needs to be designed in such a way that it not only draws visitors to it, but also helps convert them into clientele. Remember, for eCommerce businesses, the website is like a visiting card or a point of reference for converting the visitor.

Some points to consider are as follows:

• Visually, your website will still need to communicate your business’ details
• Navigation around your website should be easy and hassle-free, otherwise it can lead to loss in interest by the visitor or potential customer
• Payment options should be trustworthy and easy to complete
• Understanding and awareness of industry standards helps make it easier for your clients to reach out to you; this also helps you to fulfill their requirements better and without too many hassles

Store Implementation:

Store implementation is more about getting the business strategy and vision correct. This then can guide the establishment and final execution. Researching and analyzing the strategy can ensure that the implementation is on track. Some of the areas that need careful consideration within store implementation include:

• Position of your business
• Choosing the right platform to showcase your business service/product, such as Magento, BigCommerce or WordPress plugins such as WooCommerce
• SSL services and implementation
• Content Management Systems
• Shopping cart setup and management
• Merchant account integration
• CRM implementations
• API integration
• Cloud implementations
• Marketplace services
• Mobile commerce
• Site performance and scalability

Store management and support:

Store management and support require the right metrics and assessment to ensure uninterrupted operations. Unless consistently supported, management of an eCommerce store can also derail quickly, leading to losses in time and money. Some of the areas to consider within store management:

• Pre and post-sales support
• Real time inventory management
• Order processing
• Customer relationship management
• Google Analytics
• Generating sales reports
• Social and outbound marketing support
• Seamless exchange and refund management
• Pointers to store loyalty and abandoned cart data
• Relevant email marketing
• Relevant PPC and SEO efforts

To recap quickly, the areas that are essential to a successful eCommerce business include:

• Management of the store, including listing, categorization, content, etc.
• Management of processes, including order fulfilment needs beginning with taking an order, tracking it, checking for fraud, etc.
• Ensuring inventory is managed effectively
• Managing customer care requirements

About Author

Jagruti Patel manages the application development division at Analytix Solutions which includes custom software, website and eCommerce site development. She has a diverse and cross cultural background ranging from working with startups to established brands across different continents.