By Mashum Mollah
Over the last twenty years, our shopping habits have changed considerably, with consumers moving increasingly from traditional brick and mortar shops to online stores.
Additionally, through 2020 alone, internet retailing is expected to have generated around $4 trillion. Furthermore, this behavior in customers shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
As consumers move to e-commerce platforms worldwide, most retailers already recognize the need for a strong internet presence. Additionally, the retailer has recognized the need to keep a backup to their offline operations.
Furthermore, selling online can reach new markets and generate more sales. These sales would never have been possible in the pre-internet days.
However, while having an e-commerce store is undoubtedly crucial for retailers, being online isn’t enough. There are many other considerations you should bear in mind when planning or running an online store.
6 Core Components Needed To Make Your Online Store Successful
Here are only a few Core Components essential for making your online ventures successful.
The need for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Almost all retail journeys start with an internet search, typically on Google, to find product information (Google’s search engine accounts for 87% of the market). Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a series of coordinated, heavily involved techniques used by online marketers to push a website up the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), leading to increased visitors.
With so much potential traffic (and therefore footfall) generated by search engines, you would be well-advised to invest in SEO.
If you wish to see the greatest return on investment (ROI) on your website, you can try SEO. The bottom line is that you can have the greatest, best-designed website in the world, but if your site isn’t seen, it isn’t working, and you will never realize its potential.
Monitor sales, identify popular products, and stay on top of profit margins
The traditional retail model often made it quite challenging to stay on top of inventory, profit margins, and best-selling products. However, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be top of your game in the internet age when it comes to understanding the nuts and bolts of your business.
Popular e-commerce platforms feature in-built monitoring tools or add-ons that can be used to keep a close handle on your sales and profits.
For example, a Shopify product tracker can help you trace the actual revenue generated by each online sale by factoring-in all the overheads involved in making the sale.
Furthermore, these tools make all this invaluable data available in just one streamlined, at-a-glance interface, giving you a complete overview of your company.
Attract – and keep – visitors with an attention-grabbing homepage
The old saying goes, ‘first impressions count,’ and perhaps nowhere is this more applicable than with a website’s homepage. In many cases, visitors to your site will be completely unfamiliar with your company, so you must ensure you grab their attention and engage them immediately – the minute they land on your page.
Estimations vary, but most experts agree you have between three and five seconds to grab the interest of your site visitors before they click back to their SERP – in most cases, never to return. Just like you would spend time meticulously planning a real-world, physical storefront, you should put an equal amount of care and attention into laying out your homepage.
As an essential guide, look at putting your products front and center and try to establish your authority while also instilling a sense of trust in your users. A well-designed homepage can often mean the difference between a sale or a click-away – ignore its potential at your peril.
Clear Logo
Did you notice how one can understand the brand with a single look at the Gucci brand’s logo? Similarly, when you see the logos of different cars, you can understand which car company it belongs to.
So, why don’t you do the same for your company or business? If you do not have a clear logo for your business, invest in one. You can also design your logo to keep it catchy and bright, attracting potential customers.
Additionally, your logo should be easily identified and unique to your brand. Your business logo stands as a symbol of trust and identity, which makes it easy to recognize your service or products.
So, your logo should reflect your company or brand’s ideas and products.
Promos And Offers
You can never go wrong with offers and promos that offer discounts for customers and members on your online store. Any business that offers exciting promo codes has one goal in mind, which is to increase sales.
So, if you want to increase your business sales and attract more customers online, offer promo codes to your customers. Additionally, try to provide these promo codes on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. You will see how your sales increase during these periods.
Furthermore, if you want to keep your sales high, you can always give your customers different offers on your online store. This will result in more customers purchasing from your online store because they get offers on every purchase.
Keep An Online Chat Option
You should provide an option to connect with your company’s representatives on your online store. So, you ensure any customers facing any problem in your online store can connect with customer service to resolve their problems on the online store.
Additionally, having a 24-hour helpline will ensure more customers purchase from your store. They can ask for help or inquire about your products anytime.
Furthermore, an available online chat option helps customers who are uncomfortable speaking on the phone. When your customers’ behaviors are varied, your business problem-solving options should also be varied.
Conclusion
So, now that you know six core components that can make your online store successful, let us know how these components helped you. What are your thoughts about businesses shifting more towards online stores than having a physical store?
In the long run, do you think the future of business growth will be through online stores? Share your thoughts about growth in online stores with us.
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