If you have decided to start selling online, you’re entering the world of e-commerce. There are many things to think about as you start looking around for e-commerce site solutions and agencies that can help you execute them, and it’s important to arm yourself with plenty of research. The more you invest time into the research and planning stage, the more likely it is that you will end up with an e-commerce site that will make sales and grow along with your business–keeping that virtual cash register dinging for years to come. Here are some questions you should be asking about your e-commerce site at the beginning of the process. When planning your e-commerce site, don’t overlook the efficiency benefits that automation can bring to your operations. Implementing eCommerce automation strategies for tasks like inventory management, order processing, and marketing campaigns can streamline processes, reduce errors, and free up more time for strategic business activities.
Are analytics integrated into the site?
You already know that analytics are essential to your website, and they become even more important when you start selling products online. In an e-commerce store, the entire decision-making process—from discovery to research to checkout—happens online. This means you should be calibrating every step to push customers towards making a purchase, using tactics that range from upselling (Add this to your order for just $10!) to suggesting similar products (Other people who purchased widgets also bought whatsits). But you can’t do this if you aren’t armed with a thorough analytical picture of how people are using your website, so make sure that Google Analytics is integrated into your new e-commerce site from day one.
Which payment and shipping options will the site support?
A comprehensive e-commerce solution like Magento or OpenCart will allow for a wide variety of payment options. Magento currently supports credit cards, PayPal, checks, money orders, and external payment modules like Cybersource, ePay, eWAY and many more. Check out our Magento website development services to learn more about payment integrations. Also don’t forget about the importance of fraud protection when it comes to managing e-commerce payments. Having precautions in place to prevent chargeback fraud, return fraud and other misuses of the payment solution you pick will stand you in good stead as your site begins to gain momentum among a wider audience.
For shipping, you’ll want to decide what shipping provider you want to use, and be sure that it will integrate with your e-commerce site. Depending on what platform the site is built on, most e-commerce solutions support just about any shipping options, including shipping to multiple addresses and flat rating shipping, and should support UPS, UPS XML (account rates), FedEx (account rates), USPS and DHL.
Will you be able to make updates yourself, without the help of a developer?
If you want the ability to make updates to your site content and product information without having to call your web developer every time, discuss this with your web agency at the beginning of your e-commerce site build process. Your developer should suggest an e-commerce solution such as OpenCart that has a user-friendly backend that you can easily learn to update yourself. This will save you time and money in the long run, because you’ll be able to quickly add, remove or edit products and information on your site. Your site will be accurate and consistent, and you won’t get billed by your web company every time you need to make an edit.
How many different products does the site need to support?
Even if you think you’re only going to be selling a few products on your new e-commerce site, it’s important to take into account any product options. If you only have five products but there are 10 customizable options for each product, that will add layers of complexity to your site build. Additionally, you’ll want to think about how your products will be structured into categories and subcategories. These can be added later, but starting your site with a clear category structure will save you time and headaches (and possibly development costs) later on.
Will the store allow room for growth?
Your site should be built on a platform that will allow you to add many more products, categories and other features. What if you want to start shipping internationally? What if you want to bundle products or run promotions? Even if these aren’t your top concerns right now, you may want to do them in the future—and you definitely won’t want to discover that you need to start from scratch and rebuild on a new platform when you need to add a feature.
We hope this post helped you get started on planning your business’ new e-commerce site. If you would like to talk to us about your e-commerce needs, get in touch with us here.
