E-commerce is big business, with Statista reporting 2.14 billion global buyers online at the end of 2021. Statista also revealed that, in 2020, e-commerce sales accounted for 18 per cent of all retail sales worldwide – a jump from 13.6 per cent in 2019. This figure is expected to reach 21.8 per cent in 2024.
The pandemic had a significant impact on online sales. Businesses which had a bricks and mortar store up until March 2020 and had no intention of opening an online shop suddenly found themselves with no other way of selling their products. At the same time, many restaurants hurriedly added commerce to their site, so they could drop off meals to local customers.
Of course, there were already big players in this space, the biggest being Amazon. Again, according to Statista, in 2017, Amazon’s market share in the US e-commerce retail space was 37 per cent. But by the end of 2021, the e-commerce giant was estimated to account for half of all e-commerce retail sales in the States.
While most businesses nowadays aren’t likely to challenge the big names like Amazon and eBay, it is easier than ever to add commerce to your website. Even if you are a successful bricks and mortar retailer, taking that business online is very different.
Here we consider some of the factors you should consider:
What are you selling?
If you decide to add a commerce aspect to your website this doesn’t mean that you are a traditional shop. Your business could be selling a raft of different items – including perhaps tickets to a conference; a timed appointment – anything from a nail technician to a visit to meet Father Christmas; to a ticket to see a band. There are challenges to selling tickets and this is why you’ll often see a timer on the screen giving you a limited time to complete a transaction. If you are selling tickets to a conference or event, then there are companies such as Eventbrite and Ticketmaster which can handle this for you.
Stock levels
If you are selling items from a physical shop – you can see how many are available. If you are then juggling this with another channel, such as an online store too, then you’ll need a way to manage stock levels – so you’re not selling something you physically don’t have.
Showcase your products
If you are selling something in an actual shop – then your potential customer can see and touch it and even try it on – and you’ll be there to encourage that sale with some excellent customer service. Online, that product will need to sell itself – so you need to consider some high-resolution photography or videos, as well as comprehensive – but quick to read – product information. Make sure you provide all the information a customer will need – such as all the colours, sizes, uses etc that apply.
Engage with your customers
We’ve written a lot before about bounce rates and making website visits easy and efficient for your visitors. Statista says that only 2.17 per cent of e-commerce visits convert into purchases – which is a worryingly low number. If you manage to sell anything online, then that’s a success.
If your potential customer is already familiar with your brand and has perhaps shopped with you in ‘real life’ previously – whether that’s on the High Street or at a local craft fair – then your e-commerce store has to share the same branding and culture. If you go for something different, your regular customers will be confused.
You also need to make the whole process of buying something as easy as possible. Again, we’ve written in previous blogs about menus and search and making it easy for a potential customer to find what they are looking for. If your shop is difficult to navigate then they won’t stay.
Paying for goods
It’s important to say that while you might have an e-commerce site integrated into your website, the payment side will be outsourced to a provider such as PayPal, Apple Pay or Stripe. This keeps things easier and safer – for you and your customers. You might want to offer a few payment options – but there will typically be some potential customers who drop out at the check-out because they aren’t familiar with your payment options.
Data
While your company isn’t dealing with the payment side of things, you will be asking clients to provide a certain amount of personal data – so, for GDPR and data protection purposes, you need to be clear how you are storing this data, for what purpose and for how long etc.
The shopping cart
In our recent blog about forms, we explained how visitors will simply click away from your website if you ask too many questions. The same is true of a shopping cart – it needs to involve as few steps as possible. We’ve all abandoned a shopping cart near the end of a purchase when we’ve been asked to prove we’re not a robot too many times or the retailer simply wants what seems like too much information.
While many retailers now offer the option of completing a sale ‘as a guest’, the ideal situation is persuading a shopper to register. This, of course, will make the next purchase easier for them – if they can remember the password – but it also gives you as a retailer the opportunity to capture valuable information.
Shipping
The chances are that you will just be shipping solely within the UK but if you do decide to ship overseas as well, this can open a can of worms. You’ll need to be able to make it clear what your shipping costs will be, as well as negotiating the different taxes, including VAT, which this can involve. Where you are shipping to can also affect when a credit card payment is taken – either at the point of order or the point of dispatch.
It's also worth noting that your credit card provider might put certain constraints on where the item is being delivered to.
If you are just delivering within the UK, sometimes it’s worth offering free delivery – as this can encourage people to purchase. Alternatively, you might offer free delivery once a customer has spent a certain amount online – and that’s worth flagging up to your customer.
Fulfilment
Of course, if you’re selling somebody something online, you’ll need a system for picking, packing and posting that item. This can be time consuming, so it’s worth factoring that in.
Marketing to your customers
As mentioned above, if you can encourage shoppers to give you additional information and sign up to emails etc, then you are then in the position to keep them up-to-date with your offering and send them special offers.
Codes, vouchers and promotions
New customers to an e-commerce site are very often tempted there in the first place with a discount voucher, perhaps shared on social media. Also, if you visit an e-commerce site initially, there’s often a pop-up message offering a percentage off to a new customer – typically in return for signing up to receive offers.
All of these codes/vouchers etc will need to be integrated into your site, as well as any promotions or offers you might have running.
Mobile version
It goes without saying that your online store should also function within a mobile version as well – as that’s where the majority of us are probably doing our online shopping from.
Cross-selling
If you’re used to selling in a shop, then when somebody is at your till buying an item, it’s natural to suggest other items which might go well with that. Alternatively, you might point out if there’s a promotion on that item – buy two, get one free etc.
Amazon and the like are already very good at flagging up items you might like but it’s also possible to track a customer’s journey or journeys and do this on even small e-commerce sites too.
Customer support and returns
We’ve all got a friend who will ‘buy’ five garments for an event online, fully intending to send four back (or even all five). We also know that not everything that is purchased online actually reaches a customer – for many different reasons – or is faulty or damaged when it arrives.
As a retailer, you’ll need to have a system in place to not only deal with this from a practical point of view but also from the aspect of customer care – so your customer feels valued and confident that you’ll sort out any issues.
It’s worth having a FAQs section on your website which covers issues including returns and how to solve any questions regarding shipping, privacy information and payments etc, as well as how to print out a label for any returns and the process involved – booking a courier etc. You might also want to include a chat function or some way customers can reach you easily – such as WhatsApp or Facebook messenger. Nowadays, many customers – particularly younger people – are less inclined to make a phone call if they have an issue.
Product reviews
You might want to offer customers the chance to leave a product review – particularly, of course, if it’s positive. As a consumer, these can be very useful, especially when buying a garment. Some clothing retailers offer customers the chance to say if a garment is true to size (bigger or smaller) and this can help customers decide what size to purchase. Obviously, a raft of positive reviews could also encourage a potential customer to press the ‘buy’ button.
Building your shop
Here at Lake Solutions, we will use a variety of software suppliers and providers in the marketplace to deliver your site, such as Ucommerce and Shopify, while website providers such as Umbraco and Sitecore have their own too.
If you want to find out more about e-commerce, do get in touch on tel: 020 3397 3222.