e-shop development

e-shop development – Mistakes you should avoid

Most people who deal with the electronic commerce are unfamiliar with the Internet and as a result are unable to avoid specific mistakes.

This does not happen to large companies that have a great number of qualified employees and work exclusively on e-commerce projects, but to small businesses that wisely saw the market trends and decided to expand their activities in electronic commerce.

It is not necessary to have a physical store to decide to deal with electronic commerce and to develop an online store. There are many businessmen today who have online shops, without having any previous experience of trade.

What we describe below is 10 mistakes that, in our opinion, someone who deals with electronic commerce and e-shop development can make.

1. Ignorance of internet marketing

Few of those who have online stores are familiar with internet marketing strategies. Very few know how to promote their e-shop effectively through search engines and even fewer how to reduce the cost of pay per click advertising on Google adwords and increase the CTR (conversion tracking rate).

If you do a research on owners of electronic shops and ask them about the terms pay per click and search engine optimization, many of them will look at you strangely.

The issue is that internet marketing is vital for a successful online store. Not only is the issue of projection which is of course very important, but also the issue of conversion rate and all those small but effective techniques that can launch the profits of an online store.

More details for the promotion of an online store you can see here.

2. The decision to sell the wrong products

It is impossible to sell all products on the internet. Most people avoid purchasing products that require using their senses to decide. Hardly anyone would buy a perfume over the internet if they were not familiar with the scent or expensive clothes if they didn’t try them on to see if they fit.

Also it’s impossible for an online store to be profitable when products are sold in very low prices. When you add the shipping cost to the final price, then the final cost of the product will not be so low.

Try to trade products of mass production with which consumers are familiar and for which they do not have to wonder if the product is as nice as it looks in the photo.

3. Quality customer service

How can you run an online store and not offer quality customer service.

A customer service should:

- Offer the opportunity to communicate by phone using a free of charge number such as 0800#.

- Organize a call center.

- Respond to emails within hours.

- Offer a product return guarantee in accordance with European legislation (14 days from receipt of the product).

- Offer a money back guarantee.

- Call customers after checkout to confirm the order and to thank them.

- Offer direct monitoring of the progress of the order with SMS messages.

Many more can be added to this list. Certainly the quality of customer service is one of the main factors in a successful online store.

4. Mandatory registration of customer

Research showed that 50% of the online shops require potential customers to register before purchasing a product. The logic behind this behavior is hiding in the enrichment of the list of newsletter and email list building. This is a very big mistake. Do not put obstacles to the customers, since they will have to register, choose a username, choose a password, probably wait for a confirmation email, click on the confirmation e-mail, enter username, enter password, etc.

5. Wrong e-shop development

The professional online stores are simple and plain. They only focus on their logo, the presentation of the product and the "Buy Now" button. Most internet users do not wait longer than 5 seconds. If the product page does not open until then and you do not see them on your online store, you will probably see them on the store of your competitor. Certainly that someone is a good developer does not mean that they also have good taste! This is another matter of course. If your online store is 2-3 years old or older and you have noticed a drop in sales the previous year, you will probably need to spend some money for its renewal.

As you can understand, the development of an e-shop is not easy. You should therefore contact a specialized company in e-shop development.

Our company, Plushost.gr, is specialized in e-shop development and has plenty years of experience in e-marketing. See the features of the e-shop application we provide and feel free to contact us to send you a detailed offer.

Also, make sure that the visitors can find the product they want in 2-3 clicks without having to waste extra time.

6. Hidden costs

It is true that many online stores show the final price of the product one step before the customer completes the order, that is during checkout. This has resulted in customer frustration.

At first, the catalogue price appears and when customers go to checkout then the tax and shipping costs are added to the price. The only sure thing here is that the customer will not complete the order but they will leave your online store and it is highly possible that they will never return.

7. Incomplete product descriptions

When your e-shop is completed and delivered to you by the web designer company, you will have to enter too many products. Do not let your impatience carry you away. This is the moment you enter the world of electronic trade.

Describe the product as best you can and when you complete the description, only then proceed to the next. The description along with a picture of the product help the customer form a total picture of the product. It may seem obvious, but browsing the internet you can see many online stores making this mistake.

8. Test your online store frequently

Each online store has occasional problems. Test your online store frequently to have the same experience with your customer. Nobody wants to see a 404 error page when inserting a credit card. Links that do not work, images that do not open, problems with the script, are things that happen and do not affect only customers, but also search engines.

9. Specialized e-store

Try to maintain the category of the products you are most familiar with when it comes to sales. It is good for you to try and expand your activities, but try to stay in the area you are qualified. If you lose your area of expertise, you lose a piece of the market.

10. Lack of product renewal

The presence of new products is very important for the online store. It motivates customers to often visit the online store and gives the impression of a busy e-shop.

An online store that offers the same products for months shows a gradual decline in visits and sales. A good idea is to connect a blog, through which you can comment on new developments in the field.

In Plushost.gr, our satisfaction is your own successful online store.