The e-commerce market is constantly changing. With new trends and higher demand, it can be easy for an online retailer to fall behind.
If you’re hoping to expand your Web presence or want to start an online business, now is the time to do it.
Mobile has been essential to engage with customers, but it takes more than a mobile contact channel for a complete customer experience and to make the sale.
Follow these emerging e-commerce trends for 2014 to increase your online sales:
Cover All the Bases
Utilize all devices: Going mobile was essential in 2013, but customers are now going beyond smartphones to shop. IBM research showed that while phones shop, tablets buy.
Mobile customers made purchases from their tablets at a rate of 11.7 percent, while only 5.5% closed the deal on their phones. With technology developing so quickly, prepare for even more changes to available devices.
Create responsive designs: Beyond offering mobile-friendly website this year, it is increasingly important to utilize the latest designs to be more responsive on each device. Utilize the CSS Mobile Flex Box Layout, from the Mozilla website, to create a design that is optimized on any device. Customers will expect their shopping experience to be excellent, regardless of their device.
Keep It Personal with Your Customers
Use geolocation: Target your customers where they are. Geotargeting gives you the ability to focus locally and offer a more personal experience.
Offer more than the big guys: The big companies are putting the squeeze on small businesses. However, you can give your business the competitive edge over the larger merchants by offering a more personal, friendly, and helpful experience. Step up your customer service to a level above what they can offer.
Simplify the Shopping Experience
Browse less, find more: Today’s search capabilities are better than ever , allowing users a quicker path to the content for which they’re searching. As Google’s search abilities continue to evolve and improve, it’s crucial that your business keeps up. Make sure your site ranks well in your industry-related searches. The sites that score big on the search engines will be the winners for ecommerce.
Have you ever heard of Niche Scraper? Outsourcing or finding a product to sell on your Shopify store can prove to be a difficult task; most people end their dream of setting up an e-commerce store right before they own their store as a result of the hardship they encounter while finding the right product to sell on their store.
Make it easy for customers to pay: Abandoned shopping carts remain a large challenge in e-commerce. Use a service like Chargify to create a fast, secure payment method that reduces the number of lost sales from a complicated check out process.
Deliver the Goods and the Customer Experience
Offer rapid or free delivery: One way your small business can compete with the larger businesses is to offer rapid or free delivery. Consumer trends tend to lean towards supporting local businesses and small business owners. Offer a perk such as free delivery to reinforce this preference.
Break down borders: Many small businesses recognize that e-commerce offers a much broader market. Growth is breaking down boarders not only within countries, but enabling a global outlook for many businesses. For your small business to succeed, it needs to break the boarders down and expand.
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