Quick Tips and Examples of Running Successful eShop

Running an online store is far not as easy as it seems at first sight. However, if you are a smart merchant, you can’t ignore the fact that we have already entered the era of e-Commerce, so ‘the game is worth the candle’.

Did you know that by 2016, more than $320 billion will be spent on online shopping according to Forrester Research? Just think about it! This is impressive.

Of course you would like to put your finger into this hot, delicious pie. The problem is that now online commerce becomes something ordinary. That is, online stores pop up like mushrooms making tough competition to each other. Even the most quality expensive design can’t guarantee high conversion rates. Moreover, even if you run a successful street store, it doesn’t mean that the same thing will happen on the net. Cyberspace requires certain changes in your business strategy, psychology, and deeper understanding of the difference between the two parallel worlds.

To make your online store stay afloat you need to keep in mind hundreds of details like replenishing products stock, driving more traffic to your store, inventing new promo campaigns, responding to unsatisfied customers, training your employees and so on.

So, the goal of our today’s blog post is to lay down some concrete tips on global e-business strategies. In other words, to share some secrets on how to make people living worldwide buy from you and bolster them with good examples of e-commerce stores that managed to become successful despite the difficulties they met on their way to popularity.

Follow these life hacks and they will help you deliver superior customer experience, boost business efficiency, expand product market and raise your income.

Here goes…

Pricing issues

Let’s begin with pricing issues each online business should consider.

When you sell on many markets simultaneously, be aware of the prices for product or service in every region. Simple currency converting doesn’t work, as one and the same commodity may turn to be overpriced in the US while understated in the UK. Make modifications if possible.

Even if you have currency switch on your site, set prices in the relevant local currency as unfamiliar one may seem confusing to the potential buyers and scare them away causing frequent website abandonment.

Mind your price presentation! Rounded numbers look more customer-friendly and simplify the purchase decision making for them.

It’s better to adjust payment methods to the ones buyers in different countries are accustomed to (local payment methods); otherwise your website can fall under the risk of seeming suspicious to the customer, which will undoubtedly negatively influence your revenue.

Show sale taxes and VAT the way customers in the particular region are familiar with to enhance their comfort and devour any possible apprehensions.

Accurate business plan

Success rarely comes spontaneously. Most often you need to have powerful business strategy, know your goals and tactics, weak points that require additional investments as well as all risks you are going to undertake. Focusing on particular niche can help you make a start and then penetrate into other business spheres.

Try on customers’ shoes

Study your customers, analyze their actions. You should know why they prefer you to the competitors and what products they really need.

Take full control over the purchasing price

It’s a copy-book maxim for any retailer to buy low and sell high. To bring it to life you can negotiate, constantly monitor manufacturers’ market for the best bargains, buy close to the producer and consider private-label goods.

SEO optimize your store

Never thrift on search engine optimization of your store. Try all available online marketing strategies (advertising, SEO, blogging, social media, etc.) to help the buyers easily find you among the others.

Take care of excellent customer’s shopping experience

Look critically at your website content, product presentation, landing page, promo actions, shopping cart, checkout, support service, user interface, and so on. Are they really good-looking, simple, interactive, personalized and user-friendly? If they are – you’ll be OK too.

Some specific recommendations on the previous point

A good navigation should guide the user through website pages and the whole purchase process. Here is an approximate list of navigation elements essential for e-commerce website:

• Main menu;
• Sidebar navigation list;
• Search bar that is easy to find;
• Footer with legible subsidiary menu and contact information;
• Uniform interactive elements, like buttons that look and function identically;
• A system of breadcrumbs along the top of the page that lets the buyers know their present location and quickly skip back and forth from one page to another.

Large, short, understandable calls to action and registration forms with minimal number of fields stimulate buyer’s activity.
Similar products and accessories display can also raise the amount of your sales.

Detailed product reviews, including other buyers’ testimonials and the possibility to ask their Facebook friends what they think about the item, utterly augment the degree of confidence.

High quality images and impressive product presentation are must-haves for any serious online store as people can’t touch the things they buy, so you should create the atmosphere where they nearly feel or taste what you sell.

Punctuality is the politeness of princes.

Remember this proverb and deliver your goods in time. Don’t flop with customers’ expectations. Keep them in the course and ask for feedback. Such communication will help you turn a random buyer into patron, build friendly relationships with your customers and the community. But don’t forget to encourage the loyal clients through social media, promos, events and all other kinds of online activity you can think of.

Stay updated

Give yourself a trouble to revamp the information on your website with seasonal, monthly, weekly or week-end offers. Search new ways for improvement, make bold experiments. The tactics will help you stay fresh and interesting and make your customers pop into your store on a regular basis, not to miss an advantageous deal.

Get responsive

Mobile devices continue to grow popularity, so break the limits. Let your customers shop on the go, sitting in their cars in never-ending traffic jams. Save their precious time for more important things, like communication with family and friends.
Make your web store adjust to screen resolution of the device a buyer has at hand at the moment. (These numbers should entirely convince you: 81% of smartphone users access the Internet via their mobile devices, 59% browse the Internet on their phones while waiting.)

The speed of loading is crucial

No matter how beautiful your site is, a user will abandon it if it’s too slow. Just think about these numbers: every 2 extra seconds of loading time will plus 8% to the abandonment rate.

Web trends are fickle

Web design trends are so changeable that it’s sometimes simply impossible to get into the stream. So don’t turn your online business into perpetual chasing of something elusive, better concentrate on more essential things. Please note that not all of the innovative techniques will necessarily fit your business. The matter is very individual, and some of them can make your website rather incongruous.

Suitable e-Commerce platform

The choice of an appropriate engine for your online store may be rather challenging as you can’t simply take the one that perfectly fits somebody else.

Here you should take into consideration all features you need at the moment: the size of your business, your personal web development skills, simplicity of maintenance, opportunities for future growth, plugins and extensions availability, and many other factors. ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison’.

A unique product makes business successful

Yes, everything is that simple: offer your customers a unique product or service at the most competitive price and enjoy the result.

Make surveys

Use data and analytical tools to comprehend and trace the distribution of order profitability. Also balance your marketing, delivery and promotion expenses to maximize conversion and profitability at the same time.

Apply narrowing filters

Including various filters and searches by brand, color, size, price, etc. considerably cuts consumers’ path to the desired item and saves them much time and efforts.

Show as many products as you can on one page

Best practices of the most profitable e-commerce stores prove that it’s great to have an option to display all products on one page. If you don’t have tons of them in one category, of course.

How much do I save?

It’s an ingenious trick to state not only the price of the item on sale, but the exact sum of the discount. It’s always pleasant to know how much you save.

Zoom as much as you can

Supply your products with great zooming effect. This will help the buyers examine the items to minor details in order to avoid any disappointments after receiving them.

Indicate significant “match” information

There are lots of products that have specific ‘fit’ criteria. It can be clothes for different body-build types or digital equipment compatible or not compatible with other appliances. This information is extremely important. Display it if you want to sell the stuff, of course.

Are there any items I want left?

Just agree that it’s very irritating when you get to know that no selected items are available in stock now when they are already in your cart. Respect customers’ feelings – warn them about such things beforehand.

Don’t hide delivery options

Most of the buyers are not indifferent to the terms and conditions of your delivery options. So, please, make sure to provide a link to the page with a relevant information somewhere in the bottom, where they expect it to find.

Get your commission from redirecting to another retailer

If you can’t ship the selected product for some reason, it’s better to redirect your customer to the shop that can than just give up on deal. This way you get your commission from the bargain together with buyer’s satisfaction. View this as an extra opportunity to show how much you care about your clients.

Inform customers with emails

When you order something on the net, you want to be sure in your order status. So calm down your customers with emails and confirmations, and they will pay you back with loyalty.

You’ve just read 20+ tips of running a successful e-Shop. We don’t know how helpful they seemed to you, so please let us know about that in the comment section. Maybe you have something useful to add to this list from your own e-Commercial experience. We would really appreciate if you take your time and drop us a line.

We’d dare to guess that now you are going to ask: “Where are those great examples of the most successful e-stores we promised to showcase in the very beginning of this post?”

We always try to keep our promises. Here they are, the most profitable e-Commercial stores you can learn from.

Amazon

Staples

Dell

Ebay

Think Geek

Philips

Adidas

Microsoft

Intel

Chanel

Nicola Bathie

Bait Footwear

Kristjana S Williams

Toure Designs

Kiki and Bree

Ann Taylor

H&M

Overstock

Via Snella

Etnies

Trilby Phoenix

Etsy

Design by Humans

Alex and Alexa

River Island

Crate and Barrel

Ten Little Monkeys

Free People

Storenvy

Coast

Underarmour

Columbia

Callaway Shop

Sony

White House Black Market

Shop Flick

M. S. Rau Antiques

Everything but Water

Melaleuca

One + Only

Wine Store

Incase

DSW

Innovative Baby

Premium Ecommerce Solution

If you are looking for a premium e-commerce solution I would recommend Shopify. Shopify is secure, easy to use, and best of all, offers fully customizable store designs. Over 20,000+ stores run on Shopify. Start your free, no-risk, 30 day trial now.

About the Author

Helga Moreno is a learning junkie, requiring a new dose of fresh information every day. She is always keeping her notepad at hand in order not to miss a single thrilling event happening in cyberspace. She diligently puts down all her thought in order to share the most interesting of them with web community in general and TemplateMonster’s readers in particular.