Helping you Sell Your Products Online
E-commerce has become a vital part of Modern Day Living
eCommerce has become a vital part of modern-day living. Being able to shop online for countless products without leaving the comforts of your home or office makes e-commerce a truly convenient way to shop.
Helping you with eCommerce so you can Sell Online
- eCommerce Principles of Web Design
- Choosing Domain Names
- Choosing and Comparing Different eCommerce Platforms
- 25 Ways to Make Your First Sale
- Setting up and Managing Your eCommerce Analytics
- Shipping and Fulfillment
Schedule a Call Today to talk about your Online Needs.
Ecommerce Principles of Web Design
10 eCommerce design principles that will help your website become a Full-Fledged Online shopping Experience.
1. Helping you come up with your own unique design
S.B.Webb will give your site its own unique personality that will help set it apart from the competition. Of course, this is done in a good and smart way. We think of your e-commerce site as a physical store. We give it a unique style that will entice your customers to come back again and again. Make visiting your e-commerce site an experience in itself.
2. Identify your target market and we design the Store for them
It is essential for businesses of any nature to identify their target market. That way, you can make your efforts for tailored-fit for them. Targeting the Customer that with buy the product you sell is crucial for success…
…So choose a target market first, ensure that your products are appealing to them, and design your site in ways that can attract them to it.
3. Ensuring that your e-commerce site is user-friendly
Navigation is essential for any e-commerce site. Your site will likely contain one to hundreds of products…It is Important that your buyers have a easy shopping experience. Organizing your products into categories, and providing a search function makes it so the customers would be able to go straight to products that they want.
4. Ensure site security at all times
S.B.Webb Protects your website from Hackers. E-commerce sites are most commonly targeted by cyber-felons not only because of the money coming in but also with the customer information that these online felons seek. S.B.Webb helps protect your customers information and gives assurance that your customers are safe as they transact with you. and we don’t just say it – we do it!
5. Keeping your e-commerce site light
Some people over do their e-commerce sites. They fill it heavy objects, large-sized photos and flash files, which at one side makes their sites quite appealing, but in another side makes it slower, unresponsive, prone to crashes, and not friendly with mobile devices. We keep it light so your Customers have a quicker and easier shopping experience
Aesthetics should never compromise the performance of your e-commerce site because it will just turn your customers away.
6. We consider minimalism
One way to help keep your eCommerce site light is by practicing minimalism. We always aim to keep it simple as to not overwhelm your customers. We always remove redundant and unnecessary elements. Furthermore, We don’t use too much variation of colors and fonts.
7. The Search option is really important
We mentioned the search function as part of improving user-friendliness but we would like to mention it again because its importance is worth reiterating. The search function can dramatically set apart your site from other sites that do not have it.
8. We are Really Serious with the Product Descriptions
The product description is one of the most undervalued elements of e-commerce sites. Unlike physical stores, e-commerce sites cannot provide the customers an on-hand experience of the products before buying. This is one of the downsides of e-commerce. We counter this by providing product descriptions that can give the customers the look and virtual feel of the products for sale. Your customers will truly appreciate a website that does this.
9. Put your brand to work
The purpose of your brand is to give identity to your business. Keep your brand visible on all pages, and keep your brand symbols consistent. This will help your customers recognize your brand from a pool of other brands. We build up your brand and make it work for you.
10. Use the power of Call to Action
You started your business in order to reap profits. Your site will have a lot of visitors, and a lot of these would look into your product offerings, but not all would eventually make a purchase.
One way we help you increase your conversion rate is by using a call to action. Call to action is a term which means to invite people to do an immediate response. In your case, these responses ultimately lead to a purchase.
Of course, saying “Buy Now” won’t exactly work as is so you can make use of other means like “Ad to Cart”.
We remember these steps when designing your e-commerce site and We are sure to come up with a brilliantly-designed site.
Schedule a Call Today to talk about your Online Needs.
Choosing a Great Domain Name
When coming up with a domain name, you should consider the following reasons…
1. Your domain name is your permanent online address
Your domain name is your permanent address in the vast world wide web. This is what your customers would have to search in order to get to you and your products. You can do a lot with your site in as much as you can do a lot with your house, but the address remains the same. So think of an online address that you are willing to carry in the long run.
2. Your domain name can help in increasing your brand awareness
Your store name is the biggest chunk of your domain name. We suggest that you spend more on a (.com)..The extra investment will pay off in the long run. Also Keep the domain as small as possible… No one wants to remember a 24 character website domain name
3. Your domain name can help earn your customers’ trust
Having your own domain name helps assure customers that you are a legitimate business. Spending a little bit more can help fortify your credibility so why not, right?
Example: www.sbwebb.com instead of using a platform domain like www.sbwebb.wix.com
We hope that we were able to convince you to really take that extra step to get your own domain name …
Now, here are some things to remember when coming up with a domain name for your e-commerce site:
1. Make it short and catchy
Make sure that your domain name is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and catchy enough to be remembered.
2. Play with words to come up with a unique domain name
One way to come up with a domain name that is uniquely yours, and at the same time, catchy and memorable. Think of how YouTube and Facebook are such unique names. Hopefully, you too will be able to come up with a domain name that will one day be as popular as these two are.
3. Choose a top-level domain that works best for you
Usually, sites go with “.com” top-level domain but you may consider country-specific domains if you intend to keep your business in a specific country.
4. Choose a domain name that you can grow with
Your products may be limited at the moment but this is because you are just starting. You should choose a domain name that
will still be able to represent products that you might want to add to your offerings in the future.Better yet, don’t use domain names that are too restrictive so if you do add products, your domain name won’t make your customers think that you do not offer such products.
5. Keep it legal
Ensure that your domain name is not too close with a competitor and that you do not violate anyone’s trademark.
6. Seek the help of name generators
There is a bunch of tools out there that can help you come up with possible names for your business, which in turn will help you come up with a domain name. Use name generators to help you brainstorm but it would still be best if you can devise a domain name that is uniquely yours.
Your products may be limited at the moment but this is because you are just starting. You should choose a domain name that will still be able to represent products that you might want to add to your offerings in the future.
Better yet, don’t use domain names that are too restrictive so if you do add products, your domain name won’t make your customers think that you do not offer such products.
Choosing and Comparing Different eCommerce Platforms
Many players of the e-commerce industry, especially the newer and smaller ones, would really opt to use commercial platforms so they can focus their time and resources on other aspects of the business.
There are a number of e-commerce platforms out there but here are some of the most popular:
Shopify
Woo-commerce
Godaddy
BigCommerce
There are many e-commerce platforms out there but we’d leave you to check on the others if you think even one of the four mentioned above is not for you. But now that you are aware of at least four e-commerce platforms, we’ll let you in on some factors to consider when choosing whats best for your e-commerce site.
In deciding which e-commerce platform to use, here are 10 factors that you should consider:
- 1. Think of your goals.
- Think of how you anticipate your business to grow and choose a platform that you know could cater to your growing business and its requirements.
- 2. Consider integration
- One of the advantages of ready-built platforms is that a lot allow integration to other technologies, as well as with social media sites. This will help increase your customer base, and ultimately, increasing your sales as well.
- 3. Choose what’s best for your products
- Some platforms have features that are best for specific products. If your offerings are limited to a specific type, you may want to consider a platform that works best for your product type.
- 4. Check the competition
- Investigate your direct competitor and check what platforms they are using. Check what’s good and what’s bad with their e-commerce sites. This will help you decide whether to use the same platform or use a different one. Your budget matters.
- 5. Your budget matters
- Setting up an e-commerce site will undeniably entail costs. Choosing a platform, themes, plugins, and value-added services further add up to your bill. Ensure you choose a platform that you can afford even on months when your sales may not be as good.
- 6. Weigh hosting options
- Another consideration is whether you’d go hosted or self-hosted. Would it be okay for you to manage your own infrastructure as with Magento and WooCommerce? Or would you prefer to go with a hosted option such as Shopify and Volusion?
- 7. Don’t forget about backend features
- Features on the forefront are important but so are those at the backend. Ensure that features on the backend are okay because you will be spending your time here.
- 8. Consider compatible payment and shipping options
- Not all platforms allow third-party payment processors. It is best to be able to provide customers with as many payment options possible to enable them to pay in the manner they wish. Also, consider what shipping methods are native to your platform. Customers would also appreciate fast and affordable shipping options for their purchases.
- 9. Support is essential
- Not all platforms provide as much support to store owners as the others. Especially if you are new to the online retail business, support is a necessary service from a platform.
- 10. Never forget about security
- Security is really important for your e-commerce site. The platform you’ll choose should provide you with ways to help keep your site’s security intact at all times.
Schedule a Call Today to talk about your Online Needs.
25 Ways to Make Your First Sale
Now that you’ve set up your eCommerce website, what’s the next step you need to take? Of course, it’s time to make some sales! If you’re clueless on how to start raking in sales, we’ve come up with 25 ways on how to make that first sale!
Make Your First Sale via Social Media
1. Market yourself on Facebook
Facebook is a goldmine of visitors waiting for your next big idea. You can choose to market your products or services through Facebook, but you can also choose to promote your business for a free. Through Facebook advertisements, you can segment data according to your needs; if you’re looking for people living in Toronto to sell your local product, you can do so. On the other hand, you can even select your target market by demographics or by interest — the possibilities are endless.
2. Business-to-business ecommerce? Go LinkedIn!
If you’re looking to connect with people interested in your business, LinkedIn is the best platform to market your services. Effectively build connections through LinkedIn and reach out to potential customers to sell your product.
3. Harness the power of video marketing
Video is an effective medium, especially for products. You can create a YouTube channel that’s dedicated to doing reviews or unboxing your products. It is effective since people can see the actual product; unboxing videos have already generated 11.3 billion views, an indicator that people are interested in these kinds of videos. A better way to unbox your product is to ask an influencer on your niche.
5. Pin it!
Do not underestimate the power of Pinterest! Pinterest has been a successful marketing tool that helps different kinds of enthusiasts to connect, and even purchase your product online. This has become especially effective with hobbyists and moms; create amazing images and videos that will touch their interests, then pitch your product/service.
6. Satisfy that Insta-itch
Instagram has been an effective tool to market products online, especially with its lightweight platform and easy to use interface. Some small-time business owners have already set up their stores in Instagram. It’s easy to get found on Instagram with its hashtags. Don’t forget to hashtag your posts for easy discoverability!
Making your Website Search-Friendly
7. Put your business on Google
Google My Business is an effective tool to put your physical store on the map. Contrary to popular belief, some consumers still prefer brick and mortar stores or even patronize both. Don’t miss the opportunity to leverage your sales online and offline.
8. Search engine optimization (SEO)
Some say that SEO isn’t a good idea because it’s spammy in nature, but SEO is necessary. To properly implement SEO changes to your website, you should understand that SEO is a technique to make a website properly appear in the search engine results page for the appropriate keyword search. It helps your website “catch” the right audience for your website.
9. Study how to use Ecommerce Web Analytics
Net sale isn’t just the only metric that you want to track. You would want to understand which marketing channel works the best to promote your products. You would want to check which days in a week should you brace yourself for orders, or which days need bumping. When you learn to understand your site’s analytics, you will begin to understand your buyer’s behavior and make changes accordingly.
10. Create a mobile-friendly website
Google, as a major search engine website, has announced that they will prioritize those websites that fare well on mobile content before considering a website’s desktop version. Aside from this development, one thing that you should consider is that more people are browsing and searching through their mobile phones. A mobile-friendly website is a necessity for a website now more than ever.
11. Start Blogging!
Blogging is another tool to use for your marketing efforts. It’s a great way to attract visitors organically. With blogging, you can target user queries and answer those questions that can even lead to a sale. Come up with articles that solve a problem using your product or service, or write to demonstrate mastery on a specific topic.
12. Include Email Marketing in Your Strategy
Email marketing has a lot of potential to generate sales, yet some companies do not tap and often times neglect this channel. A study conducted by the Data & Marketing Association placed email with the highest conversion rate of 66% against the other marketing channels.
13. Jumpstart Sales with Google AdWords
If you want to gain instant exposure without the grueling work and wait for SEO, then AdWords is your best bet. Be prepared because it’s still a paid marketing tool; keyword bids can still vary depending on how competitive your niche is. Bidding on the right keywords will yield great results as it can pull in leads for your business at a fraction of the cost.
14. Join Online Forums
Forums were a thing of the past, but it has always been around to use as a tool to get right in front of your audience. Even though most of the groups migrated to Facebook already, there are some communities that stuck around — and that’s where you would want to be. Forums are usually grouped by interest; this can help you target the right audience for your product.
15. Try Affiliate Marketing
A commission based marketing channel can also be beneficial for your business. The success of the campaign can be attributed to your product, and how well you pay for your affiliates. Attract affiliate marketers that have a big influence online to maximize the ROI from your budget.
16. Go Global
Once you’re ready to set foot on another country, it’s time to consider how your website will go against those in native languages. You can set up and optimize your site for local efforts by targeting and bringing in content made in different languages. Go global!
Going Beyond the Barriers of Your Website
17. Ask for product reviews
Getting your products to be reviewed is the online guerrilla marketing method of PR. You can target ultra-niche websites to get way more bang from your efforts.
18. Get Featured in a Press Release
A good press release about your ecommerce site can help get the word that your shop is up and running. While it is old-fashioned in nature, press releases are written similar to a news item — which sets a serious, professional tone for your brand. As long as you don’t overdo publishing press releases, it wouldn’t impact your site in a negative way. Have a press release written and submitted to other websites for the purpose of promotion, not to spam them for links or another malicious purpose.
19. Make Your Product Sell Itself
Why did Joy Mangano’s Miracle Mop worked and generated a million-dollar sale? Because it was unique because it was newsworthy. Being able to reinvent the conventional mop makes it easy for you to clean your home is something customers would want.
20. Do Wholesale Selling to other Retailers
Again, business-to-business opportunities are something you should consider in selling your products or services. If you offer products and services that can help other retailers, you can easily start moving your products and even do wholesaling.
21. Build a Sales Team
As a business owner, you can’t do it all. Eventually, you will need to create a team that will help you drive in the sales to your company. Your sales team will help you get the revenue and catch up on missed opportunities that can be turned around.
22. Give Coupons for Perks and Discounts
Everyone loves discounts, so coupon codes are something they often watch out; if you can provide coupon codes without affecting the image of your brand, you can proceed so. There are some brands that cater to different levels of household income, so giving away too many discounts may be counter-productive for some websites.
23. Be in Good Terms with your Suppliers
Online stores rely heavily on their good relationships with suppliers, especially during the peak of the shopping season. A recent study conducted by Planning Perspectives Inc. (PPI), found out that “Ford, General Motors, FCA US and Nissan collectively would have earned $2 billion more in operating profit last year had their supplier relations improved as much as Toyota’s and Honda’s did during the year.” Building healthy relationships with your suppliers help in maintaining the supply to keep up with the demand of your customers.
24. Prioritize Trust and Security
This does not only encompass personal information security, but this also reminds you that your actions reflect on the image of the company. Make your way to the top of the competition using clean tactics to attract customers, and you will gain your own followers in time. Brand image is important, after all.
25. Pay S.B.Webb to do all this for you…
Schedule a Call Today to talk about your Online Needs.
Setting up and Managing Your eCommerce Analytics
You have a Well designed eCommerce site running on your chosen platform, and with a brilliant domain name at that. Now what’s next?
It is crucial that you integrate analytics in your eCommerce site. Analytics help you get a grasp of what your customers are like, what products are best for them, and how you can improve your online store – and these are all from a bunch of data that do not, in its face, answer these questions at all.
Your site will acquire tons of customer data. Names, addresses, purchases, payment methods, and many other more data, can be acquired from all the transactions in your online Store. Analytics can help you make sense out of these data and turn them into actions and decisions that can help your business grow. Players in the eCommerce industry make use of analytics for two serious tasks: checking customer acquisition efficiency and scaling out growth. You would want to determine how successful your efforts are in acquiring customers, as well as in growing your sales.
Analytics can specifically help you with the following examples of data:
- Time on site:
- The average amount of time your visitors spend on your site.
- Pages per visit:
- Number of pages navigated by customers per visit.
- Unique visitors:
- Number of visitors that visit your site for the first time.
- Returning visitors:
- Percentage of visitors that re-visit your site.
- Conversion rate:
- Percentage of visitors of a certain page that make a purchase.
- Bounce rate:
- Percentage of visitors that visit a certain page but leave with no purchase.
- Customer lifetime value:
- The profit that you get from a customer throughout the period for which they remain as your customers.
- Customer acquisition cost:
- The amount of money you have spent before having made a sale.
Understanding values can help you determine if there’s something wrong with your product, your page, of your site, and how you can address these. For example, if you have high bounce rate, your product on that page be priced too high. On the other hand, if you have high conversion rate on a specific product, you might want to stock up on it as you might run out of such product. Another example is that you might have high customer acquisition cost that in the end might mean that you are spending more than you are profiting, putting in you at risk of bankruptcy.
Analytics can really help you make smart decisions for your business. Make sure that you tap into it in order to maximize the benefits and reduce the risks of your growing business.
Schedule a Call Today to talk about your Online Needs.
Shipping and Fulfillment
One of the toughest challenges in building an eCommerce business is managing shipping and fulfillment for your products. It gets tougher as the demand for your business begins to grow. As you begin to understand how shipping and fulfillment work, you can adjust your options and choose the best one for your business.
Once you have orders rolling in, choose the best shipping model to match the demand for your eCommerce site:
Self-Shipping Service: This is where it all begins. You do all the manual labor from packing the product to bringing it to your local carrier. They ship your packages and you wait until it arrives at your recipient. As you grow your customer base, you can build a partnership with the courier as they pick up the products from your place. Consider deviating from this kind of shipping model once you’re capable of upgrading your shipping services.
Third-Party Fulfillment & Shipping: Orders are received automatically and these are shipped from the third party fulfillment warehouse of your choice. Your fulfillment center is responsible for all picking, packing, shipping, storage, and product return operations, but you still own the inventory.
Drop-shipping: If you want to free yourself from purchasing inventory or keeping tabs of inventory, this is your choice. They automatically receive your orders and your drop-shipping partner delivers this on your behalf. You can read more about getting started with a dropshipping business here.
Let’s say your business model requires some sort of a hybrid of the order fulfillment models described above. For example, your supplement and nutrition company uses a third-party fulfillment warehouse to handle the shipping of your bags of protein, after all, this 3PL has fulfillment centers closer to your customers and their shipping discounts really help save on shipping costs! Or perhaps you’re beginning to sell across multiple sales channels, such as Amazon, Etsy, or eBay. This is when you’ll want to start looking into an advanced multi-channel or mixed marketing fulfillment software platform such as Ordoro.
Charging your Customers for Shipping
This seems to be the game-changer for eCommerce stores — a customer places an order on your website, then suddenly thinks twice once they notice that they have to pay for shipping their purchase. Did you know that asking for shipping fees is the reason why 55% of shoppers abandon their carts?
There are three ways to deal with abandoned shopping carts due to shipping charges:
Free Shipping: This may look counterproductive, but encourage your customers to spend more to get free shipping. The Walker Sands Future of Retail 2016 study found out that nine out of 10 of the survey participants said free shipping was the No. 1 reason why they shop more often. There are different ways on how to offer free shipping:
- Adding more items/specific promo items to qualify for free shipping – this is the most favorable approach, a win-win situation for both consumers and businesses.
- Online promo codes to avail free shipping – oftentimes found on affiliate sites; a good approach to reach out and encourage people to purchase goods through your website.
- Enable the shoppers to select the slowest time of transit for their goods.
Charge customers for exact shipping costs: If you’d rather be upfront with the shipping costs, you can charge them for exact costs. You can help your customers decide on which shipping option they would prefer through shipping calculators. Visit our Dimensional Weight Calculator and check if it’s a great option for your website. Red Stag clients receive substantial shipping discounts off the FedEx and UPS Base Rates.
Offer Flat Rate Shipping: This is perhaps the safest option if your customers prefer to check out their purchase without accruing additional expenses just to avail of the free shipping option. Pro tip: assess your cart abandonment rates, and define obstacles that hinder your customers to buy from your website. Offer the best of both worlds — free shipping for an X amount, or charge flat rates for other types of purchases.
Packaging your Products for Shipping
If you plan to take care of packaging your products out for distribution, you should consider the following aspects for packaging:
Check the type of product you’re shipping: You should consider the product’s weight, cost, fragility, and other regulations in selecting the best packaging for your product. There are some shipping companies that do not allow batteries to be transported, and others have special restrictions or qualifications needed to ship such items.
Select the most appropriate packaging material to protect your products: We recommend that you should use high-quality corrugated cardboard boxes for parcels. Never use or reuse old boxes for shipping as it may have lost some of its rigidity. If you are in doubt of your packaging’s specifications like its recommended weight and size of shipment, check with your box supplier for more information.
Protect your parcel with a good seal: Use pressure-sensitive tape in sealing your parcels. Make sure that you secure each seam with H-taping.
Put a label on it: This is where the details of your parcel can be found. Affix the label on the shipment on the top surface of the box so your package stays upright during transit.
Scaling your Shipping Strategy
As your eCommerce business grows, self-shipping won’t be sufficient to handle your shipping demands. To take your shipping strategy to the next level, it’s time to consider eCommerce fulfillment and drop-shipping options. Red Stag Fulfillment has properly defined what a fulfillment center’s duty is:
Red Stag Fulfillment has properly defined what a fulfillment center’s duty is: When an order comes in, your fulfillment warehouse will pick the right items to put in the box, pack them carefully, and ship them to your customer. When an order comes in, your fulfillment warehouse will pick the right items to put in the box, pack them carefully, and ship them to your customer.
On the other hand, here’s how drop-shipping works: Dropshipping is a fulfillment service where your business doesn’t actually own the physical product you’re selling.
“You are essentially acting as a middleman, where customers visit your store, catalog or website and place an order. After the order is placed, you pay a third-party (your drop ship fulfillment or manufacturing company) to ship the item directly to your customer. Your profit is the difference between the price you sell the item for and what you pay for it wholesale plus shipping.”
To put it simply, order fulfillment is how you get your products to your customers. Drop-shipping is just one example of order fulfillment.
How is eCommerce fulfillment different from drop-shipping?
These two models are vastly different from each other.
There are some considerations between fulfillment and drop-shipping that you have to weigh in. Do you have enough budget for an initial investment? Are you ready for unforeseeable events that may require your attention to act as a middleman between your fulfillment center and the buyer? Is your business prepared for a thinner profit margin since you have to pay for extra costs?
When you think your shipping strategy needs to level up, consider which option is best for your status quo. Do not rush into scaling up your shipping strategy as it can affect your business once you’re not prepared for the extra demand in resources.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Electronic commerce or eCommerce is a term for any type of business, or commercial transaction, that involves the transfer of information across the Internet. … It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge.
- Faster buying/selling procedure, as well as easy to find products.
- Buying/selling 24/7.
- More reach to customers, there is no theoretical geographic limitations.
- Low operational costs and better quality of services.
- No need of physical company set-ups.
- Easy to start and manage a business.
- Wide range of products and services. Electronic commerce through the internet enables the customers to choose a product or service of their choice from any vendor anywhere in the world. …
- Convenience. …
- Saves money. …
- Saves time. …
- Adequate information.
There are six basic types of e-commerce — Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), Consumer-to-Business (C2B), Business-to-Administration (B2A) and Consumer-to-Administration (C2A) — and all of them represent a different purchasing dynamic.
B2B is one of the most common types of e–commerce. This is when a transaction of goods or services occurs between two businesses. B2B is one of the largest types of e–commerce in the U.S., with total sales eclipsing $9 trillion in 2018. In fact, B2B is expected to be double the size of B2C by 2020.