If you want to sell goods, the online shop is the first point of contact for your customers.
The shop not only serves for sale of your products, but also as a figurehead of your company.
Before you start, you need a good and competitive e-commerce strategy and should consider exactly how you can achieve your goals best.
We show you what you should consider to guarantee not only satisfied customers, but also high sales figures.
1. Set goals and define target group
A first SWOT analysis serves as a gauge of all your measures and creates the basis for the target definition of your e-commerce strategy.
In addition, it is worth taking a look at your competitors. What do your competitors do well, what bad and what can you learn from it? How do you say the target group and which channels do you use?
Clarify for you, which users want to address and what measures are needed. Here are personality traits such as age, origin, gender, educational status, income and much more important corner points. Helpful questions can be:
- How old is the person and is it more male or female?
- Which income is the person available?
- Which shopping habits does the person?
- On which social media channels is it often on the way?
2. Mobile First. Customer First of All.
Around 45 percent of all customers in all over world access online shops over a mobile device on online shops. While the laptop used to be the number 1 medium for online shopping, it is today the smartphone.
Consider with your e-commerce strategy so that around half of your customers never get the desktop version of your shop.
So think about the mobile user. The shop should also work mobile smoothly, offer a good usability and attractive design. Large systems, such as shop ware, offer for every shop an already present responsive design.
But attention: Again, here is a look at your goals and target group. If your customers are over 60 or you sell in the B2B area, the desktop first approach for your shop could still be worthwhile.
3. Find the right shop system: e-commerce with system
Before you think “we have always done so,” asking your existing system landscape and data structures. There are many different shop systems on the market and some are better suited for your goals and requirements than others.
Inform yourself in good time about all advantages and disadvantages of the respective systems. Ask yourself here:
Which functions must my online shop have?
Which data must be exchanged between the merchandise industry and the shop system?
Are there any customer data that must be migrated from an old shop system?
Calculate expenses and any emerging problems of system migration generously in your prelaunch plan.
4. Facilitate payment process
Amazon, Zalando, eBay – Order and pay with just a few clicks, very easy. The customer of today is spoiled.
Also you are competing for these customers and therefore your payment and logistics processes must always work properly.
A selection of different payment methods is important to address as many customers as possible and do not lose the competition on the way to purchase in the ordering process.
Take a look at what combinations in the market are meaningful and usual. Find out which payment types require your customers and offer exactly this.
Bind trust elements such as quality seal in your ordering process. Thus, the willingness of new customers for prepayments increases demonstrably.
5. Design and usability must be right
Voice Search, Virtual Reality or Artificial Intelligence.
Reclaim current technique trends and developments in the shop strategy. Do you also offer social shopping features or 3D animations?
Gimmicks should never be used for self-purpose. Only if it makes sense for the customer, it makes sense for your shop
Man is comfortable – and your customers are it too. Hold the design slim and clearly, avoid long flow texts and a complicated checkout process.
If not available, first develop your CI, CD and your fire before putting yourself on the development of your shop.
Pay attention to an
attractive, modern design and inform you about usability trends that really
pick up your customers.
6. The product information must be right
As far as your value is concerned, data is the new oil and your product data is your most important sales argument.
So use it properly and treat them well. Concern for an appealing product presentation and a detailed description of your products and services.
This makes your online shop not only trustful, but also awakens positive emotions at the customer and reduces your returns.
The Point of Sale has the great advantage that customers can always touch products, watch them from different perspectives and with the sales staff can lead to a conversation.
These POS benefits must be collected in e-commerce with as many product information as possible.
Size, material, weight, color, functions and other important information can be the coffe on the scale for a purchase decision at the customer.
A PRODUCT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (PIM) helps you to efficiently manage the complete range of product data, use and keep it up-to-date.
The big advantage is the central administration and playback across all channels. The care effort for your marketing measures decreases with a PIM enormously.
7. Test, Test, Test
Sounds banal, but it is not. Before you bring new features, designs or your entire shop live, you should definitely insert an intensive testing round.
Even small bugs can have a big impact. Ask yourself:
Are all forwarding work?
Is the design consistent?
Does the customer find where he should?
Does he have all the information he needs?
etc.
Go to your shop and think like a customer. Check all functions on heart and kidneys. Even if the test phase eats a lot of time: this time is valuable and should not be neglected.
Conclusion
A Customer Journey and TouchPoint analysis serves as a basis for all strategic thinking you are planning.
As a lead agency for digital
transformation, we analyze your existing shop and find exactly the right
strategy for more sales, more leads and more customers.
