Whether you’re a new business or have been in business for a while, getting more e-commerce sales will help your company move in the right direction. And as the e-commerce industry in Asia (Particularly Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia) continues to grow, there’s no better time to have this conversation than now.
To start with, the quality of your retail web design should be backed by successful examples and sound market research to entice customers and inspire them to make the purchase decision. In Asia, especially, online shopping is becoming more and more popular by the day. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and many stores don’t know to improve the user experience to increase the sales. This explains why online stores in cities like Hong Kong and Singapore have a cart abandonment rate of 70% and a purchase rate half that of the physical stores.
To help you tap in the growing e-commerce industry effectively, we’ve detailed some tips to sail through and succeed in this competitive market.
Consider Your Target Demographic and Get the Basics Right
It all starts with the people you intend to attract and sell your products to- make sure the design of your website appeals to the target demographic. For instance, research shows that millennials prefer websites with a large main image, celebrity photos, little text, and a search feature for preciseness. On the other hand, older users won’t mind more text as they trust information more, but avoid using flashy and moving objects and always break up the written content with large headings and section headings to get their attention.
And regardless of how immaculate your website design is, it’s important to appreciate the difference between the online and physical stores. Unlike the latter, where customers come in and physically touch your product, online stores rely on photos, product descriptions, and the website’s user experience. For this reason, make sure you provide excellent photos, clear and precise descriptions, and intuitive site navigation to boost the sales.
Add Social Features
Unlike in physical stores where you can showcase your creativity with the design to have the customer spend more time in the store and increase the conversion rate, the social features are the design tweaks for online stores. Provide users with options to either post a product to a social media platform or leave a review on their experience with the product. These features increase not only the traffic but also the average time spent on your website. Also, consider adding other features that simplify the shopping experience like a virtual shopping assistant or ‘Wishlists’ personalized based on the products the user spends more time on while on the website.
Adding the Social Features helps in creating community awareness of online shopping, something the online shoppers need before making a purchase decision. By allowing the users to share the products on social media platforms and write reviews, you allow your customers to get the advice from their friends, which in turn increases the conversion rate.
However, there’s more to be done in terms of helping users to get the best advice from close friends and family members before making the purchase decision. For instance, online retailers should allow users to create voting systems that integrate with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram from which the user’s friends can weigh in and comment on the product.
Borrow a thing or two from the Physical space
Shopping in a physical space allows you to move around comparing different brands or models of the product you want to help you make a more informed decision. And though online stores have Wishlists, the experience is usually hard when shopping online. However, online stores can develop collections to reflect similar products based on the search experience. This way, online shoppers can easily compare different brands and models of the products they want for a better shopping experience.
Also, online stores should curate their websites to offer customized recommendations based on the shopper’s preferences. To, nail this, customers should be allowed to create their own collections, from which the seller can determine the most appropriate suggestions to make to initiate a successful cross-selling campaign. This will not only encourage shoppers to buy a range of products, but it will also increase the overall sales volume.
Simplify the Checkout Process
Now that you’ve already enticed and convinced the customer to fill their cart with your customized recommendations, how do you ensure the shopper doesn’t bail out at the most important step? Easy- eliminate unnecessary clicks between the customer’s decision to buy and checkout. And how do you do that? Here are a few tips to simplify checkout;
- Provide an option for the customer to use their billing address as their shipping address to save time
- Provide information on shipping costs and policies upfront for familiarization
- Avoid asking customers to sign up to proceed with checkout, and instead provide opt-in choices after they have paid for the product
To sum it up, online stores are the future of the retail industry, and it only makes sense for businesses to be electronically prepared for this. So, whether you are planning to start a business or you already have one, appreciate the differences between online and physical stores, and adjust to inspire trust and encourage the user to actually make the purchase. And while this might sound easy on paper, it takes time and expertise to develop a successful ecommerce store. So, hire the best pro web design company or ecommerce store development company to assist in the development of a competitive platform.
Check out the 2Easy platform for recommendations on the best web and store development companies. The platform has been in business for a while now and boasts of the best professional in-house insights.
What Sets 2Easy Apart from Competing Platforms
- Clients receive recommendations only of high-grade professional services, not freelancers.
- Service providers go through stringent quality checks and extensive matching criteria before they are connected with prospective clients.
- 2Easy evaluates the client’s industry and working techniques before making the right recommendations of service platforms that match requirements perfectly.
For you are looking for the top Web Design & E-commerce Development agencies to improve your online store sale, please visit 2Easy for the top companies recommendations
