There are dozens of ways to scale up. While some businesses focus on high ticket items, others focus on dominating hyper-specific product categories; neither is necessarily right or wrong. But the key areas remain alike for all. To ensure that your end project is successful, have a look at following 101 ecommerce tips for new entrepreneurs, and get on the right track from the beginning.<\/p>\n
We have divided 101 actionable ecommerce tips into four sections as follows:<\/p>\n
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- Ecommerce marketplace pre-launch tips<\/a><\/li>\n
- Design and development tips for ecommerce website<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to market your ecommerce store?<\/a><\/li>\n
- More growth strategies for online stores<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Before launch<\/h2>\n
1. Don\u2019t rush the launch<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Whether it is B2B or B2C, experimentation is the driving force behind all the breakthroughs. Success in the ecommerce field doesn\u2019t rely on luck- it is about being courageous enough to try as many growth hacking experiments as possible. Building a culture of experimentation into the DNA of the business takes time and effort but once it gets done, you will avail the following benefits:<\/p>\n
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- It provides the possibility of determining what may be the best for target customers.<\/li>\n
- You may get something exceptional as an end product which multiplies your revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
2. Experiment like your business depends on it<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Make yourself unique, it will help you stand out of the competition. Experiment with your business as well as revenue model.<\/p>\n
![\"Business](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Business-Experimentation.gif\")
<\/p>\n3. Innovation is the key to success<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
With growing competition, lack of innovation may leave your business unable to diversify and compete. Being a broad spectrum term, the meaning of innovation can be:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Improving initial business processes to increase productivity<\/li>\n
- Improving products and services to meet the changing demands of customers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Benefits of Innovation:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Improve overall productivity and profitability<\/li>\n
- Improve brand recognition and relationships with partner<\/li>\n
- Provide a sense of autonomy that boosts job satisfaction among employees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
4. Start building relationships with relevant influencers<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Influencers are the best way to leverage word of mouth publicity. You can connect with their audiences as trusted peers. Their knowledge, opinions, and most importantly authenticity can convert your one-time customers into loyal customers. Benefits of having a relationship with relevant influencers:<\/p>\n
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- Builds trusts and credibility<\/li>\n
- Influencers help in driving quicker customer retentions<\/li>\n
- It boosts your SEO and increases brand awareness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Start](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Start-building-relationships-with-relevant-influencers-IS-B2C.png\")
Image Credits: B2C Blog<\/span><\/p>\n5. Find an ecommerce brand to look up to<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Select a brand that you can idealize or see as an inspiration, not like a fierce competitor. This brand should be like an ecommerce force that makes success harder for everyone else in the market. Then examine the strategies adopted by this brand to become a market leader. From CMS to selling techniques, learn everything about it. Benefits:<\/p>\n
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- You will start addressing pain points proactively<\/li>\n
- You can adopt testified features and strategies<\/li>\n
- You get access to more customer\u2019s insights<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
6. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Identify your competitors and analyze their past and current strategies. Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Know their preferred social media channels, how they distribute\/deliver, what their media activities are. Benefits:<\/p>\n
- \n
- You can turn their drawbacks into your advantages<\/li>\n
- You get to know about a newer side of your target audience.<\/li>\n
- You can do modifications in your business model and can make your product better than them<\/li>\n
- You get to know where you stand at the moment when it comes to technology, strategies and other business related things.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Analyze](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Analyze-the-strengths-and-weaknesses-of-your-competitors.jpg\")
<\/p>\n7. Find a readymade solution that can grow with you<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
When your business is in its budding stage, you are a bit short on time and money. Therefore, choosing a readymade solution<\/a> for setting up an online business is the wisest decision. Benefits:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Readymade solution is more economical than custom solution.<\/li>\n
- Buying and implementing a readymade solution takes less time.<\/li>\n
- It fulfills all the basic and generic needs of an ecommerce website.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
8. Ensure minimal downtime<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
If your ecommerce marketplace faces downtime, then you are literally losing sales. On July 16, 2018, Amazon website crashed for sometime, which led to a loss of $72 million-$92 million. Here\u2019s how you can decrease the risk of system downtime:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Properly monitor your infrastructure<\/li>\n
- Visualize metrics<\/li>\n
- Set up alerts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"We](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/We-will-be-back-shortly.gif\")
<\/p>\n9. Decide the demographics that you want to serve<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
The best part about ecommerce marketplaces is that you can easily serve across the globe without any hassle. For effective management, it is crucial to decide at an initial stage which demographics you want to serve.<\/p>\n
10. Find a niche with good growth prospects<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Ecommerce covers numerous categories, but rather than going all out, find a niche with maximum growth prospects in the region\/state\/nation you want to operate.<\/p>\n
![\"Find](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Find-a-niche-with-good-growth-prospects.png\")
<\/p>\n11. Map your target user base<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
It is necessary that before launching an ecommerce website you map your target user base, allowing you to focus on them more easily at a later stage.<\/p>\n
12. Partner with a specialist logistics service provider<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Although you can initially make use of courier services yet finding a logistics service provider in advance is a good option. These companies make CODs possible whereas courier services don\u2019t facilitate CODs.<\/p>\n
13. Test multiple revenue models (subscription or commission)<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
The best thing about ecommerce is that you can opt for more than one revenue streams and have scope for experimentation. Hence, testing various revenue models can help you choose the best.<\/p>\n
Suggested Read: 101 Actionable Best Tips: How To Make Your Website Sell<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Design and Development<\/h2>\n
14. Ensure that your website is mobile friendly<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Nowadays, people browse websites from a multitude of devices and usage on a smartphone is increasing day by day. This is why your website must be mobile friendly and incorporate responsive design.<\/p>\n
15. Make your website visually appealing<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
In the current times, a visually appealing design has become a crucial part of any website. If your website has an engaging design, then you already have won half the ecommerce battle.<\/p>\n
![\"Make](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Make-your-website-visually-appealing-IS-Neil-Patel-blog.png\")
Image Credits: Neil Patel Blog<\/span><\/p>\n16. Create native mobile apps<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
With more and more users shopping on the smartphones, having a native ecommerce mobile app<\/a> has become essential for every ecommerce brand. This helps in offering a more immersive experience to the shopper.<\/p>\n
17. Be specific with your product categories so customers can easily find exact products<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
If your ecommerce store offers thousands of products across dozens of categories, it is crucial for you to specify each and every category prominently, to make it easier for consumers to find the relevant product.<\/p>\n
18. Have a killer navigation<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Navigation is one of the key aspects of an ecommerce website having literally thousands of product pages. Without a good navigation, most of your customers will feel like standing in a maze unable to find their way.<\/p>\n
![\"Killer](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Killer-navigation.gif\")
<\/p>\n19. Use consumer friendly URLs<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Many webmasters ignore the importance of URLs for ecommerce websites. Having a clean URL that denotes the web page properly is essential for ranking benefit as well as to offer optimum user experience.<\/p>\n
![\"Use](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Use-consumer-friendly-URLs-IS-MOZ.gif\")
Image Credits: MOZ<\/span><\/p>\n20. Ensure you have a robust search feature to streamline the results<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Other than navigation, the one thing that makes it easy for customers to find relevant products is a search function. This is why your website needs a robust search functionality (with features like search-filters, autocomplete suggestions, etc.) to ensure consumers face no trouble while searching for products.<\/p>\n
21. Optimize your web pages to rank higher on search engine result pages<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
To ensure that your webpages, product categories rank prominently in the SERPs for target search terms, you will require help of SEO.<\/p>\n
\n\nGet Qualified Leads And Rank High On Search Engines With The Help Of SEO Experts<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Get In Touch<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n22. Use a product page design that compels people to buy<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
A visually unappealing product page will most definitely hinder buying decision of a potential customer. To maintain a good rate of conversion, design a clean and visually pleasing product page.<\/p>\n
23. Optimize your product images<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
The biggest hindrance that ecommerce websites have is that consumers cannot feel the product before making the purchase, which is why image optimization is crucial for an ecommerce marketplace.<\/p>\n
24. Incorporate product videos<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Having a product video embedded into product page also makes a huge difference as it is more engaging and offers better information about the product.<\/p>\n
25. Pick the right payment gateways<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
To ensure compatibility and secure payments, you must choose a payment gateway that is popular among the masses and is looked upon as a secure system. It helps in garnering trust among the consumers.<\/p>\n
26. Add multiple payment options<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Having just a single option for payment is not consumer friendly and it is always advised to go for as much payment options as possible. What if a consumer wants to buy something and their preferred mode of payment is not eligible on your website. You just lose a sale.<\/p>\n
27. Optimize your store for niche keywords<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
By optimizing web pages for niche keywords you not only help a web page rank better on the SERP but also ensure more relevant results when it comes to on site search.<\/p>\n
28. Create a FAQs page<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
An ecommerce marketplace or any website for that matter should have an FAQ page where they answer all the common queries of the visitors. This will not only enhance consumer experience but also reduce the number of support emails.<\/p>\n
29. Incorporate help chat<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
For complex queries, like information about a particular product or any other website features, an ecommerce store must have a help chat allowing faster redressal system.<\/p>\n
![\"Incorporate](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Incorporate-help-chat.png\")
Image Credits: ECN<\/span><\/p>\n30. Integrate product reviews and ratings<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
An ecommerce marketplace nowadays is incomplete without reviews and ratings. They have become an integral part of an ecommerce website with most of the buying decisions being taken in the light of third party reviews.<\/p>\n
31. Have multilingual and multi-currency support<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
If you are selling globally to an audience spread across multiple countries then you must integrate multilingual and multicurrency support.<\/p>\n
32. Use CTAs to increase conversions<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
CTAs (call to action) are an effective tool to increase conversions and enticing visitors into buying products.<\/p>\n
33. Use color psychology while designing<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
While red is often used by websites in the food sector, blue is generally associated with the service industry. Use color psychology<\/a> across your website design allowing your customers to build a visual association easily.<\/p>\n
![\"Wheel](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Wheel-of-Emotions.png\")
Robert Plutchik\u2019s famous \u201cwheel of emotions\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n34. Offer social login<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Using social media credentials streamlines the login and signup process resulting in faster checkouts and bypassing the boring account creation process. First time users prefer to use social login for their online purchase, so don\u2019t forget to add this option.<\/p>\n
35. Make the signup process as minimalistic as possible<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Other than social login, you must minimize the signup process requiring only essential details.<\/p>\n
![\"Make](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Make-the-signup-process-as-minimalistic-as-possible.png\")
<\/p>\n36. Offer the option to purchase without registration<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
You should also have an option for visitors to purchase products without the need for creating an account. It is not only user-friendly but also highlights your ecommerce brand as consumer centric. Offer guest check-out.<\/p>\n
37. Add favorites and wish-list option to save products for later<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
- Design and development tips for ecommerce website<\/a><\/li>\n
![\"Favourite](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Favourite-List.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Secure](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Secure-Payment.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ensure](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Ensure-that-the-page-load-speed-is-not-too-low.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Include](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Include-a-blog-on-your-ecommerce-website.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Make](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Make-marketing-your-main-focus.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Create](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Create-a-Catchy-Logo.gif\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n![\"Recover](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Recover-abandoned-carts.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Loyalty](\"https:\/\/www.fatbit.com\/fab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Loyalty-program.png\")
<\/p>\n