Every business owner wants to establish an online store to sell various goods and services to a broader audience to maximize profit. One of the main elements is developing a successful business plan because it spells out the services your company provides. You’ll be able to comprehend the items you require and your customer’s needs if you have a clear purpose and direction.
It is noteworthy that e-commerce business is the mainstream of today’s business; as such, people, in one way or the other, engage in e-commerce platforms, and with current credit card security concerns in-store, e-commerce platforms are considered to be more secure than visiting a physical store for your products.
Online shopping has been designed so people can have a safe and easy shopping experience that is seamless with customer satisfaction in most instances. However, there is a proliferation of e-commerce businesses in today’s world where the different platform is in the trade of similar products and services as yours, hence making gaining customers for your website challenging.
This means that you must have essential components that would give your business a competitive advantage of attracting more customers and, in turn, generating more revenue.
Essential Components of an E-commerce Business
1. Customer Engagement
According to the cliché, “first impression matters,” making a strong first impression is essential if you want a high customer conversion rate for your e-commerce business. Similar to the signpost of physical stores giving direction with the products and services a company offers, your website represents your online presence which requires creativity when designed.
The best website design may make a lasting impression, and simple website navigation can provide exceptional customer purchasing experiences. Therefore, ensure that you have a user-friendly website interface that is compelling enough to convert customers and make more sales.
It is also important to have essential features like an”About Us” page that briefly describes your business, its location, and the products and services it offers. You can also have a brief product description with high-quality images and frequently asked questions (FAQs) to enunciate more of your business while it looks appealing to potential customers navigating your website.
2. Store Security
One intricate factor that potential customers consider before making purchases from an E-commerce business is the online store’s security. Every customer wants to have confidence in their platform of purchase to ensure the safety of their funds and, by extension, their credit cards where necessary.
Therefore, your online retail shopping cart must be enabled with solid security measures to protect against unauthorized access to the personal data of your customers, which may lead to a great data breach, and possibly data loss. Unfortunately, this could soil your e-commerce business reputation if not handled properly.
There are different ways you can secure your e-commerce website. One of these ways is through SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate, which protects your website from an impending risk by data encryption. You can be assured of winning customers’ confidence when your e-commerce has a robust security infrastructure.
3. Product Quality
Gaining trust and the quality of your products might facilitate esteemed customers. This will positively save you money and time and reduce the risk of customers asking for a refund when they return defective products.
Most e-commerce platforms are notorious for selling products that, in local parlance, are referred to as “what I ordered versus what I got,” which is getting low-quality products compared to what the e-commerce business is marketing. In this instance, it will give the impression that the things you sell online are low-quality.
But you tend to have authority over your business when you sell products of real and high quality, which would enable your business to build a positive impression and excellent brand reputation.
4. Standard Product Prices
One significant activity of online shoppers is making price comparisons of similar products on different sellers’ websites. This can also be likened to going to physical stores to buy some products; there is the possibility that you may not buy from the first or second store if their prices are higher than the price that suits you.
In e-commerce, having a standard price for all your products gives your potential customers firsthand information about the products and how much you are putting them on for sale. But a lack of standard product price may dissuade some potential customers from engaging further with your products.
Your conversion rates are directly impacted by product pricing, which is seen as a marketing strategy, hence the need to review your product prices from time to time.
You can be sure of having a successful e-commerce business over time when you have a standard product pricing strategy.
5. Responsive Customer Support
It is one thing for an e-commerce business to attract customers, and it is another thing to retain these customers after the first purchase. More often than not, satisfying customers’ needs with quality products and reliable customer support is very important to the business. You can be assured of business authority for your brand if you successfully achieve these positive approaches.
Moreover, if your customer service swiftly responds to concerns, inquiries, and issues about your products’ purchase, payment, exchange, and delivery, this increases your brand’s dependability and trustworthiness.
Your customer service should also be accessible around-the-clock while using a top-notch methodology. This is important to an e-commerce business that is thriving to have both local and international customers, as a global time difference must be considered. While digitisation is taking over how we do business, you can use chatbots to establish personal connections with your audience.
Tips to Building an E-commerce Business
While the E-commerce economy is aimed at significant growth over the next few years, you will only experience this growth in your e-commerce business if you approach it the right way. There are some basic tips that would help you build a successful e-commerce business, some of which include:
1. Prepare adequately for your launch
One of the major mistakes most e-commerce business owners make is rushing to launch their website. When it comes to launching your website, you don’t want to mess up the first impression you would be giving to your customers and also intending customers. You will get no second opportunity in creating a first impression for your website, and messing it up can be a great deal for your business. Ensure to have done substantial work on content creation, SEO marketing among many others.
2. Focus on your Users
You are aware that one of the major setbacks of an e-commerce business is the inability to allow customers to see, touch or feel a product before making a decision. While there is no feasible solution to this yet, ensure to build a strategy that will compensate your customers some of which may include discounts on product, free delivery and other amazing offers that will make your customers or users feel good
3. Run Test Subsequently
Before launching your website ensure to check device usage friendliness. Think like your customer and include everything that will make navigation easy on any device. Moreover, you can run testing and analytics even during and after launch to improve users’ experience and as well find out what’s working and what’s not working well.
4. Engage Social media Platforms
As an E-commerce business, social media is the Heartbeat of your business, so you want to ensure to maximize different media platforms. Moreover, launching on your website would actually be mainly done via your social media platforms.
Pros and Cons of E-Commerce Business
| S/N | PROS | CONS |
| 1 | Easy Marketplace entry | Challenging delivery |
| 2 | Low | Easy price comparison |
| 3 | Increased customer base | No customer in store experience |
Conclusion
E-commerce business is raving global trade as many people prefer buying things online to going to physical stores because of convenience. This is because online shopping offers you a wide range of preferences in terms of products and product pricing without hassle. So e-commerce businesses need to consider their potential customers reasonably when incorporating different components into their business.
These components will undoubtedly help you create a successful e-commerce business plan, which would portend greater chances of making more profit in the highly competitive e-commerce market.
