Top 10 Factors of eCommerce Success – Building a Successful Retail Business

E-commerce has become increasingly important nowadays as people are reluctant to make the trip to a physical store. In some locations, the brick and mortar stores have not reopened yet. Giving your clients the ability to shop online anytime and at their convenience certainly has become a necessity, but simply having an online store does not guarantee success. Today we would like to share with you the top 10 factors to make eCommerce success. 

1. Having a Professionally Developed Site

While it may be tempting to create your eCommerce store all by yourself, this requires very specific expertise, and even the smallest mistake can give your visitors the appearance that you are unprofessional. In addition, there could be some negative effects on your SEO performance and the usability of your site in general. This is why having a professionally developed website is absolutely essential for a successful eCommerce business.

2. Low Customer Acquisition Cost

Even though you would like to have as many users as possible visiting your site, you don’t want to pay a whole lot to get them. This is where your SEO strategy will come into play. By ranking higher in the search engine results, you will gain more organic traffic, and you will also be able to beat your competitors to the punch by offering the products your customers are looking for faster. 

3. Provide Accurate Recommendations 

Have you noticed that when you visit Amazon, they provide you with products similar to what you have bought in the past? Your site needs to offer customers the same type of services as well. Platforms like Magento perform best in this regard, but you will need to invest in professional development to get everything set up properly. This will pay off in the long run by showing your customers that you care about them by providing each person with a tailored experience. 

4. Simple UI/UX Design 

When someone visits your store, the last thing they want to do is spend time trying to figure out how to get to the checkout or other pages of your store, that’s why thorough UI/UX design is a must for a successful website. This is one of the most important eCommerce success factors because customers will not think twice about leaving your site for the competition if they feel it’s too complicated to use. If we think about the number of online stores out there offering similar products, there is no need to give your customers an extra incentive to leave. 

5. Be Transparent 

In addition to being upfront about your terms and conditions, you should also post your contact information as well. This is one of the key success factors in the retail industry because it gives the customer peace of mind knowing that they can contact you if they have a question, and it also shows people that you are a real business. Also, it is a good idea to share information about any fees with the customers right away. If you try to blindside them with some hidden costs at checkout, they are likely to abandon the shopping cart and lose trust in you. 

6. Boost Overall Engagement 

This is one of the most important aspects of successful eCommerce marketing. It builds an emotional connection between the customer and your brand. One of the best ways to do this is by using social media to engage customers with your business in real-time. Start by optimizing content delivery. It is very important that the platform delivers the right content to each individual shopper. While this will require some professional development, it will pay off big time in the long run. 

7. Implement Augmented Reality (AR)

AR is one of the keys to a successful retail solution since it boosts the user experience and helps customers make a decision about the purchase. For example, let’s say that you are selling makeup and other cosmetics products. Since each user will have their own needs and tastes when it comes to buying makeup, they need to try it on to see how it will look on them. Thanks to AR, this is possible. The computer or cell phone camera scans the user’s face, and the technology applies the makeup just like in real life at a physical location. This is just one of the many applications of AR in retail, and the possibilities it offers are endless. 

8. Include Voice Search 

Voice search is simp[ly faster than manual typing in a query. While it may seem extraneous, customers love these sorts of time-savers since sometimes they don’t know how to spell the name of a particular clothing brand cuisine they would like to try. The bottom line is that if you can make life a little bit simpler for your customers, you should do it. You never know what could turn a one-time visitor into a repeat customer. 

9. Responsive Web is Very Important 

More and more users are accessing the internet in general via mobile devices. Therefore, it is important that the mobile version of your site looks just as good on smartphones and tablets as it does on desktops. This is called responsive web design, and it is something that you are unlikely to create correctly if you do not have the right experience. Therefore, you should consult with a company that provides such services to make sure everything is done correctly. 

10. Offer Dropshipping 

If you are unfamiliar with such an eCommerce business model, this is when the customer orders a product from your store, and a third-party vendor delivers the product for you. This will save you a lot of overhead costs since you will not have to rent a facility to physically store all of the items, making it a perfect option for small and medium-size stores. 

Start Implementing These Ideas Today

We learned a lot of things in terms of how to build a successful eCommerce business, and all of this is what a successful e-commerce strategy needs. While some of them will require professional development, it is absolutely necessary to help you stay ahead of the competition and give your customers a great user experience.