e-Commerce strategies

Electronic commerce, known as eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over the Internet. It has exploded in popularity over recent years; almost all big retailers have an eCommerce presence. Due to its low headcount and overhead costs in comparison to physical shops, getting customers to do business via eCommerce is a financially advantageous preference.

There are several strategies to making an eCommerce site popular with patrons. They all start in making a site effective.

A secure and intuitive Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is fundamental to a successful eCommerce site.  Online security is a real issue with online buyers. Their level of comfort around the security of their transactional data is the ultimate decision maker. For a new eCommerce site to get in the game, the safety of a customers information – both in reality and in perception – must be paramount.

From there, remember the old adage of keeping it simple. To keep customers clicking toward the checkout page, make the interface clean and uncluttered. Allow customers the choice to checkout from each page. Maintain the site’s links scrupulously, and that product descriptions are accurate in real time. And remember to make customer service readily available with a phone number or online chat option so that issues can quickly be resolved before the sale can stall.

Remember that a visitor to your eCommerce web site has much less investment in making a purchase than one who drives to a store. This is why Pay-per-click ads like those with Google and PayPal can be big parts of successful eCommerce strategy. Partnering with an established eCommerce site like Amazon is also a way to build numbers for new products. An eCommerce site needs to dig deep with SEO and SEM techniques. A closer relationship between keyword searches and the content on the web page will tip the site towards a sale, which is the best method of all towards building repeat business.