Tag Archives: e-commerce

Strategies for Developing An Effective E-Commerce Platform

E-Commerce industry has been experiencing steady growth over the years and is expected to keep growing. It has even been predicted by many that global retail e-commerce revenue will amount to over $4.6 trillion by 2021. 

Do your products have no real online presence? If the answer is no, now is the time to hop on that train! Here are a few trends you should be following to boost sales on your site.


Personalization

Have you ever opened up Amazon only to realize that the first page and all the recommended items for sale seem to fall directly in line with all your past interests and purchases? Well, you are not alone, websites such as Amazon and others use personal data such as previous search entries and purchase histories to develop a specific profile for each costumer. In turn, this allows Amazon to better tend to their consumers’ needs by creating a personalized experience. This type of customization is not only being used on Amazon but by other smaller sites as well. This trend will continue as personalization tech becomes easier to integrate into online shopping platforms. 

Another way you will see personalization popping up in e-commerce sites are subscription boxes. Sites like Stitch Fix offer to send you clothes each month based on a style quiz you take when you make an account. These are personalized boxes that are specific to the customer and their needs. Even big brands like Nordstrom have taken up on this trend. They are not just for clothes! You can get a subscription box  for just about anything ranging from food, makeup, video games, even one for your dog.


AI Chatbots

You will see Chatbots all over online stores these days. These bots are designed to enhance your consumers shopping experience by allowing  them a chance to get answers in real time. This feature allows your company to address your consumers concerns in real time while also gaining valuable feedback on your consumers shopping experience, interests, etc. 

AI assistants are capable of handling a handful of duties that normally tasked to a human. These tasks include, but are not limited to, overseeing inventory, managing the bookkeeping process, and fulfilling  customer service needs. These assistants are wonderful employees for due to the fact that their skill set is ever-growing and by being so capable these AI chatbots can take on a lot of time consuming tasks while not being as expensive as hiring a new employee. This allows you to ignore tedious tasks so that you can focus on running your business. While you scheme and strategize on how to better your business your AI chatbot will continue to evolve and learn from past experiences and consumer interactions. This means that your AI chatbot is always learning so that the consumers personalized shopping experience is as optimized and streamlined as possible. The good news is that they are not hard to set up! Many tools like HubSpot’s Chatbot Builder allow you to create your own bot for free.


Interactive Images

A good product image is vital for your e-commerce site. Consumers need to see the product when they are buying online, this means that they want multiple images with the option to zoom in and see the product in detail. Pictures are not just 2-Dimensional on websites anymore, there are a number of sites who have switched to using three dimensional (3D) pictures to showcase their products. This allows consumers to click, drag, and see the product from every imaginable angle while they rotate the product on the screen. This 3D picture technology is advancing rapidly so we can expect to see much more of this in the future. This is the wave of the future, but in the mean time a good substitute to 3D picture display is to accompany your pictures with a few quick videos on the site. 


Facebook Ads

Facebook is one of the most powerful advertising platforms in existence. Facebook allows you to target people with a level of specificity that is hard to recreate. They have accrued so much data on their users that they can target the most unique and specific target markets allowing companies to advertise with ease. 

First you will want to find a specific product you want to showcase on your ad. This product, whatever it may be, fulfills a need or a purpose, this need is unique to a certain group of consumers and that is who we are going after. It is best to run a few ads simultaneously while you are figuring out what works best for the audience you are targeting. After a couple weeks of testing you should be able to tell what is working best and what isn’t. The ads that aren’t working can be taken down while effective ads can be left in place. Remember to keep updating them though! People will lose interest if they keep seeing the same ads. 


Instagram Marketing

Instagram is a very powerful tool for growing your brands popularity and sales. 65% of people on Instagram are looking for online shopping inspiration or for  new brands to use. So if your brand doesn’t have a stellar Instagram presence then you are missing out on a lot of sales. 

Instagram allows you to market your products as you want, bolster your brand’s presence and image, and connect to your customers. If you want to read more about creating an effective instagram post click here.


Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most popular marketing strategies because many people check their email everyday. Email marketing allows you to send  promotional ads to people on your email list. Just today, I’ve received a promotional email from Dominos Pizza offering me 50% off all menu pizzas. Additionally, I also received one from backcountry.com offering free shipping and highlighting some of their new products. These emails are meant to catch my attention and make me start shopping.  Sending the occasional email with the announcement of a sale or telling customers about new products helps get people to your site. 

How do you start an email list? Well, you need a good offer for them to be willing to give up their email address. For example offer a 10% discount on a product or service that will be sent via email. Or offer a free e-book or informational pamphlet. These are just a few ideas but the options are really endless and every email you gain is a victory because it is one more consumer you can target for as long as you have their email.


Content Marketing

Creating content for your site gets your site more recognition from search engines like Google. This consists of all the data on your website including blogs, videos, and any other information or images you have up there. 

Many companies have found that writing blogs about their niche community really brought traffic to their website. In those blogs you can highlight a service or product you sell promoting sales. This also works with youtube videos. 

However make sure you are making content for subjects that have search demand to ensure you aren’t just adding useless and uninteresting content. 

When is it Time for a New Website?

Your website is your greatest asset for attaining new business. Especially in this day in age where people walk around with the internet in their pockets, constantly thinking of what businesses they can use for their needs and necessities, having a fully-functioning website puts the ball easily in your court. But not any website will do. Having a website that is outdated, or poorly designed, or isn’t responsive, works against your more now then it ever did. If this is the case for your, it’s time for a new website.

But my website is just fine! I don’t need a new one. Yes, you do.

If you’re on the fence, ask yourself these questions:

Is my website servicing my current needs?

Businesses continue to grow over time and that means you could easily be outgrowing your current website. Does it have features you need to showcase your brand new call-to-action? Does it showcase your up-to-date portfolio? Technology also grows and evolves in addition to your business, and it happens that things that were “super awesome” and “flashy” back in 2011 are just not ideal in 2016.

A new website just might be the thing you need to grow and evolve with the future.

Is there functionality I’m looking to have that my current website does not provide?

It’s 2016, if you’re website isn’t optimized for mobile aka Responsive Web Design, then you’re doing it wrong. In the last year, mobile searches have already surpassed desktop search, so if you’re website isn’t mobile-ready, you are missing out on a huge market of potential customers on the prowl for you business.

Not sure if you’re site is responsive? Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to find out.

Are you selling products physical or digital? Why not sell them online with your own easy-to-manage online store? It’s easier than ever to incorporate a an e-commerce store like Woocommerce into your website. Take orders, make customize your product, manage stock — there’s an array of flexibility without the hassle of an actual store.

Have my marketing efforts changed?

As your company ages, so can your branding and marketing efforts. If you’ve changed either of these things, it’s also probably time you redesign your website too. As said previously, your website is one of (if not the most) important business assets. If your current brand isn’t lining up with your website, your audience isn’t going to connect. It’s time to update.

Why can’t I make changes and updates to my website?

There’s no excuse to not be using a content management system (CMS) to manage your website. Systems like WordPress have come a long way in making it so much easier for you to be in control of what goes in and out of your website. Long gone are the days of having to edit lines of code to make a simple text edit, or upload some new photos.

Circling back to outdated and poorly designed sites, it’s time to redevelop your site to a fully-functioning and easy to use CMS that will allow you to keep up with the times and keep your website looking fresh.


If any or all of these apply to you, it’s time for a new website.

Ready to take the leap? We can help. Contact us today!

Marveling Redesign with Superpowered E-Commerce


Calling back to our Third Eye Comics Photo Shoot last June, we worked with local comic store, Third Eye Comics on a revamp of their website. The two main focuses were to implement both an easy-to-use online store as well as an active news feed that displays their latest highlights on a weekly basis. With that in mind, we designed and developed a simple and clean site that allows new customers and the Third Eye Faithful to stay up-to-date with all their recent comic releases.

From comics, to toys, to games, and everything in between the new Third Eye Comics makes shopping for comic-lovers and staying in the loop easy for anyone with any device.


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Features

  • Responsive Design: Desktop, Tablet, Mobile ready
  • Shopping Cart
  • PayPal and Credit Card ready
  • US, Canada, and Mexico automated pricing and shipping options
  • Ability to create coupons and sale items
  • Blog/News feed

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New Site:

Shop

News Feed

Looking to upgrade your website or start your own online store? Contact us today to get the conversation started.

Easy-Commerce: Taking Your Storefront Online

With e-commerce accounting for 1.2 trillion dollars in the last year and 40% (forty percent) of online product purchases, there’s no reason that an online store solution couldn’t be beneficial to your business. And it’s only growing.

E-commerce can be of benefit in a number of ways as it can be one of the cheaper means of running a store, reducing the cost of having to hire employees for store hour-type scenarios. There is no time restraint in having an online store either. You’re open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allowing shoppers to do their shopping at any hour of the day, from any device of their choosing (mobile, tablet, personal computer). So if you’re still on the fence about adding e-commerce to your business, this post will help you make the next move.

Adding Products

From t-shirts and toys to file downloads and subscriptions, you can add or edit just about any type of product in your online store. With an already easy to manage content management system (CMS) in WordPress, adding different variants like sizes, colors, or amount is just as simple as posting a blog. You can add or edit specific images per product so shoppers can choose whichever variant they deem best for their needs.

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Taxes

In terms of taxing your sales, configuring local tax rates and classes is a breeze, allowing you to control precise rates per product, state, and country if needed.

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Shipping

Whether it be free, flat rate, international shipping, or even local delivery or pick-up, your online store is customizable for any type of shipping needed for your business.

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Payments

Besides credit cards, your online store can extend into multiple payment gateways including the popular PayPal, or even accommodating for mailed payments and checks.

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A good, clean website is a great start to giving  past and future clients access to your company’s offerings. Adding an easy-to-use online store makes those offerings even more accessible to your clients. Start your online store today.