You have the domain, and the idea, and all you need now is to get that ecommerce website up and running. How hard could it be to set up an online shop? In reality, a lot harder than you may realise. As the ecommerce market continues to grow in South Africa, etailing is fast becoming one of the biggest industries. Globally, etailing is slowly starting to catch up to retailing, leading to many physical stores closing their doors.
Although there is no doubt that ecommerce will not be going anywhere, the growth of online shopping has resulted in one of its biggest challenges: market saturation. In order to compete in a crowded market places, your ecommerce website needs to be able to hold its own against competitors.
Things to Do Before Starting Your Ecommerce Website
How can you be sure that your ecommerce website stands out for all the right reasons? For starters, you can consider these tips before you get started.
Start marketing to grow your mailing list
Above all else, ecommerce marketing is quite easily the most important strategy for your store. You will need to start marketing well before you launch, or ideally, before you even start developing your website. This will allow you to start growing your mailing list, which in turn, will make it easier to launch to a larger audience. Investing in an ecommerce marketing strategy will help you build your social media presence, along with your mobile and email marketing strategies that will help you generate sales from the moment your store opens.
Invest in professional website content
You will also need to invest in professionally written content that is geared towards ecommerce. Product descriptions are a powerful tool that can help you either make that sale, or lose it instead. Keeping in mind that descriptions are scanned in a matter of seconds, you have just an instant to make an impression. All too often, content is treated as an afterthought rather than an essential element of an effective ecommerce site. On a related note, you will also need to invest in high quality photographs that can be used alongside your well-crafted product descriptions.
Invest in professional development
Finally, you will also need to invest in professional ecommerce development. This is your best chance of creating an easy to use, fully responsive website that has best in class navigation, a design that is geared towards conversion and a layout that encourages longer browsing sessions. Used alongside professionally written content and marketing, this is easily the most efficient way to ensure that your website is ready for customers.
Once you have these elements in place, you can proceed with your launch, knowing that your ecommerce website is ready to convert right from your launch.
