Ecommerce Development - Important for small businesses

There is a lot of information about ecommerce websites out there, but not enough about what that means for small businesses. Ecommerce development and store set up are important services for small business owners to know about if they want to increase their bottom line and overall sales. This article will go over these topics from the ground up, so you can be assured that your business will be in good hands.

The first thing you need to think about when it comes to creating an online store is the operating system you'll use. There are two options: a self-hosted solution or an ecommerce website builder (e-commerce platform). With a self-hosted solution, you'll have to subscribe to a plan, pay monthly fees and take care of the technical side of things yourself. The e-commerce platform is free to use and will require less technical knowledge. You can outsource ecommerce development services if you feel the platform is too complicated or don't have time for it.

After you make your choice, you'll need to decide on what kind of look and feel you want for your online store. The options include clean white text over a black background (for a more professional appearance) or display of your products with an image on top (to show customers what they're buying). You can also choose between both of these options, which is what most small businesses do.

A standard e-commerce website should cover the following:

Create an online store for clients to browse and buy from.

Establish a secure payment system.

Allow customers to track their orders or review their orders in progress (if they have an account).

Provide feedback and let customers leave reviews. Allow users to leave ratings once they've left a comment on either an order or customer service issue. These ratings will be displayed to other users in your store, so they'll be able to pick who they trust.

If you ask for a discount, send it to the customer. If you list more than one item, ship the item that's been ordered first.

If a customer makes an error during checkout, refund the money and don't charge them again for that item. You might need to add an additional step in your checkout process for people who make errors (like having to enter a valid credit card information again). You might also need to set shipping thresholds so customers know that certain products can only be shipped if they have more than one item.

Include delivery information on your product pages and in the shopping cart forms (so customers know how much time they have before their orders will be shipped).

Use coupon codes on a regular basis. Find out which store they come from and use them accordingly.

Add social media sharing buttons so people can share your products with their friends via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Blogger. They will often generate more sales and have a higher conversion rate. On the other hand, display buttons on your website aren't likely to increase sales because people won't feel obligated to tell their friends about the site (which is what made them buy in the first place).

Provide free shipping for customers who order enough items. You could also offer free shipping on orders that qualify for volume discounts (for example, if you sell books in bulk).

Most ecommerce development providers will make this software available in a variety of languages. English is the standard and is used by most websites, but you can also buy software in French, Spanish, Italian or other European languages. Asian languages are also available, so if your target market is located there you'll be able to reach them with ease.

The cost of e-commerce development services can vary depending on whether you hire a freelancer or a full-scale team, but it should be in the ballpark of $1 - $5 per visitor to your site.

Conclusion: Ecommerce development services are important for small businesses that want to start selling online. You can sell your products through a self-hosted solution and maintain the platform yourself, or you can use an e-commerce builder and pay less per visitor to your site.

Author: David McIntosh

Publish Date : 2011-10-21

Source : https://www.latestarticlesites.com/etail/ecommerce-development/747869/

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