More and more retailers are these days making a transition from brick-and-mortar stores to eCommerce, viewing it as an effective extension to the physical store that enables them to expand customer base and increase profits without needing to invest in physical locations. However, online retailing doesn’t come without challenges, beginning with the right eCommerce platform.
Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you kick-start your eCommerce project:
Plan an eStore is just like a Physical Store
Just like you would prepare a full-fledged business plan when launching a physical store, you will have to take similar steps while creating an online store. The first and foremost step is to choose a suitable eCommerce platform in line with the business requirements, just like you would choose a location for your physical store. Further, as your physical store contains different shelves to display products, an online store has several categories and sub-categories wherein you can classify your products, making it easy for shoppers to locate the items they wish to buy. Also, you must know how to present your merchandise, how will you accept payments, how will the products be delivered, how to promote the store, and a lot more.
Product Listings
Next comes uploading products and entering product details in pre-determined fields, as provided by the eCommerce shopping cart platform. As a means to provide pertinent product information to customers and help them make informed buying decisions, product listings must be accurate, complete and up-to-date, containing SKUs, titles, descriptions, images, prices, attributes, shipping details, manufacturer information and other details.
Visual Presentation
Just like visual merchandisers strive to create a flawless in-store experience for customers by effectively displaying products, eCommerce entrepreneurs must also pay attention to creating highly-functional eStores, sorting products in appropriate categories, ensuring a smooth checkout process and making the store attractive by adding visually-appealing graphics that engage shoppers, drive them to love the brand and complete the purchase. Also, make sure you add clear and compelling product mages that help you boost sales and consequently, conversion figures and business’s bottom line.
Content
Content can help you make or break your business. The more effective, precise and accurate it is, the better your conversion rate will be. So, it is a must to add unique product titles, write engaging, pithy and informative product descriptions, create balanced and credible reviews, add revised prices, and update product availability status regularly and a lot more. Make sure to add content that engages, informs, and converts.
SEO
Marketing is no longer door-to-door but search and click. And to get higher rank in all the major search engines, you must working in tune with the latest SEO strategies and techniques. The eCommerce store must contain keyword-rich content, optimized Meta tags, optimized images, strong backlinks on relevant anchor text and correct HTML code.
Establishing Omnipresence
With so many marketplaces and comparison shopping engines available for customers to shop from, you certainly don’t want to lose such opportunities to reach out to the prospects. Thus, selling across multiple channels has become a must for online merchants, enabling them to expand the reach of products internationally.
Responding to Customer Queries
It would not be wrong to say that many of us, at some time or the other, have called customer care executives to get our doubts cleared before making a purchase. So, just as we expect prompt response, we must also respond to customer queries just in time. It is essential to provide email and chat support to online shoppers as it is the only way to redress their grievances, help them buy a product and know their feedback & suggestions.
Conclusion
It is certain the when an established retailer would decide to sell online, he may come across a number of surprises! With almost all questions answered, you are in a position to enter the eCommerce era and add “click” to your physical retail business.
How QuikTek Can Help You?
Whether you run a brick-and-mortar store or are already into eCommerce, QuikTek can help you fuel your efforts through a wide range of eCommerce services. We have built our approach on 4 pillars to make sure that YOU provide a seamless shopping experience to your customers:
Catalog Processing
From managing product SKUs, uploading products using Excel/CSV files to adding unique product titles, engaging descriptions and visually-enticing images, we do it all.
Product Data Optimization
To help you improve product discoverability, engage existing customers and new shoppers alike, we cleanse, enrich and optimize product data, ensuring it is accurate, error-free and up-to-date.
Back-Office Support
We can help you manage the day-to-day activities of your eCommerce business including managing inventory levels, responding to customer queries, keeping a tab on competitor’s product prices, maintaining online stores and managing customer orders efficiently.
Product Listings
Across Every Digital Touch-Point: Our product data entry specialists hold extensive experience in uploading products on eCommerce stores built on different platforms such as Magento, Volusion, osCommerce, Bigcommerce, etc., and creating optimized product listings on across marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Sears, Buy.com, etc.
Let’s Get Started!
To find out how QuikTek can ensure smooth transition from brick-and-mortar store to eCommerce, kindly initiate an enquiry or write-in to us at mail@quiktekinfo.com.
