E-commerce Best Practices

Online shopping has become quite popular in recent years, with estimates saying that 52% of Americans have made an online purchase in the last year. Whether you’re a small business owner looking to reach more people or an individual trying to make some extra money, erring on the side of caution when it comes to eCommerce is a smart move.

Here are the best practices for running your own eCommerce store and highlight several items that should be considered before diving into this type of venture.

Choose an eCommerce Platform

Once you’ve chosen your niche and are ready to start building your eCommerce store, it’s time to choose an online shopping platform. Several different platforms like Shopify, Magento and Bigcommerce offer everything you’ll need for moving forward with your new venture, from customizable templates to built-in promotional tools. Choosing the right platform will depend on your budget and the needs of your eCommerce business.

Build a Solid Website

Once you have an eCommerce platform in place, you can start working to build a strong website. Taking your time to carefully build a quality website with a well thought out design will help ensure that visitors will enjoy their shopping experience and return to your site in the future. A great website will also work to attract new customers — your goal is to create a space that feels welcoming and easy-to-use, while offering the best customer service possible.

Designing an eye-catching website can be tricky, especially if you’re not well versed in web design. Hiring an experienced designer or developer can help ensure that your eCommerce store has just the right feel in order to stand out from the competition.

Protect Customer Information

Building an online store means that you’ll be collecting a lot of information from your customers. This data is a big part of what makes your eCommerce business successful, so it’s important to keep it safe. One way to do that is by choosing a platform that offers secure hosting and SSL certificates. Not only will this help protect your customer information, but it will also make browsing more comfortable for visitors.

Provide Excellent Customer Service

As mentioned above, providing excellent customer service should always be a top priority for small businesses running an eCommerce store. With so many different platforms, plugins, and marketing strategies to consider, it’s easy to lose sight of this. Always be on the lookout for ways to improve customer service — from the value of your product to prompt shipping and order fulfillment.

Consider an eCommerce Software Solution

If you haven’t already, you should also consider investing in e-commerce software. E-commerce platforms often have a built-in system for managing inventory and sales, but it’s not uncommon for sites to get especially complicated as the number of products grows. This is where ecommerce software can come in handy — it’s a good idea to use one option that will allow you to customize the layout and add additional features that help run your business better.

Promotion

Social media advertising is one great way that you can reach potential customers on a regular basis, as well as offer coupons for new products. Another idea is to offer items through premium advertising networks like Google AdWords, which can offer more targeted marketing and an opportunity to expand your reach.