So you wake up in the morning and you take a bowl to eat cereal with milk, but then you realize you are out of milk!
What would you do? Order it online and get it delivered to your doorstep or you will drive to the supermarket, get the milk carton, wait in a long line, and then dive back home and have your breakfast?
Obviously, you will choose the first option, like most people!
And that’s one of the reasons that show how the eCommerce marketplace is changing and growing rapidly.
That being said, having a custom eCommerce store development will surely benefit you, but don’t forget how complex and time-consuming it is to develop a custom eCommerce store.
Building an online store surely gives your brand a unique feel and shows your customers what you are capable of and leaves a good impression on their mind.
What is custom eCommerce store development?
eCommerce stores are developed to meet the unique requirements of all users worldwide. While for a business owner, it’s an opportunity to explore their brand, put the business plan into action, and make an impression.
However, building an eCommerce store using Shopify development services comes with its own set of challenges.
If you are building an eCommerce marketplace for the first time, you will need a team of skilled developers and designers to create an imposing store with all the important features and functionalities that can serve your consumers’ interests.
Optimize your website’s ranking
After your stores go online, it’s time to bring potential customers to your stores. customers don’t generally visit the website directly. Often they will start by typing out random products on search engines.
And they are most likely to visit the brands or websites that appear at the top of the search results. So, if you want to appear at the top of search results, you need to focus on improving the SEO of your website.
That’s the reason why it is important to optimize your website ranking to grow in your niche market and start selling.
Optimize your eCommerce store for smoother performance
Long ago, it used to take a lot of time, budget, and resources to build a custom Shopify store. But with the advancements in technology and several pre-built eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce, it is very easy to build a custom eCommerce store.
So, with the help of the technology and pre-built eCommerce platforms, you have to build your own marketplace.
Now, you will need to contact the best eCommerce development company to keep your store optimized and can handle large volumes of monthly traffic.
And for that, speed is one crucial indicator to evaluate the website performance.
Make your eCommerce store as responsive as possible
If you are using Shopify for an eCommerce store, make sure your online marketplace is capable enough to adapt to different screen layouts including desktops, smartphones, and tablets, along with offering optimal and consistent performance.
And that’s the reason why you should opt for responsive website design as most people today access the internet on their mobile devices rather than desktops and tablets.
Keep your product inventory simple
Having more products in different categories will not only make your website look cluttered and disorganized but will do more harm than good.
Further, it will leave your customers with many choices, making them stuck in a decision paralysis mode. And as a result, they will end up walking away, negatively affecting your sales.
To avoid all this, organize your products into different categories and give your customers a menu bar to access various products.
Organizing your product catalog into categories will make your store look neat and clean and make it easier for your customers to pinpoint exactly where to go, streamlining the navigation process.
Moreover, you can implement Artificial Intelligence which will help your users recommend similar products.
Keep your website content short and simple
Content is equally important for any website and it goes the same for an eCommerce site as well. Some customers at first will take some time to research their favorite product, read descriptions and reviews, and check the rating before buying it.
Therefore, if your products just have the name and nothing else, chances are they won’t get sold. On the other hand, lengthy content or descriptions is also a no-no as they don’t do well in driving sales either.
To increase your sales, keep your product description short, informative, and simple. Highlight the products’ key features instead of listing various characteristics and components of the products. Also, you can add bullet points to highlight and make the content scannable if needed.
Offer a search bar
Another thing to incorporate while developing an eCommerce store is the search bar option. This way customers can search for anything they are looking for on the website.
Adding such a feature will enhance the growth and traffic of your website. Also, it will help your visitors to find any specific product, if they don’t find it in the category section, thus saving them time.
Another thing you can implement with the search bar is the filter option to improve your site’s search bar. This will allow your consumers to narrow down the different options and only look for the products they came for.
Remove any unwanted checkpoints
eCommerce stores should be pretty straightforward at all times, especially at the checkout stage. So, when you are developing one, try and make sure that you make the checkout process as convenient as possible.
Only ask your customers for their necessary information like name, shipping address, payment details, etc.
Also, remember that, don’t force your visitors to create profiles or register themselves just to buy your products. Making them register or create a profile just to buy one product can contribute to your site with a high shopping cart abandonment rate.
Let your visitors buy products with just a guest account. Also, you can request them to register themselves later to get the perks from your website.
Show the reviews
Showing product reviews and testimonials on your online marketplace is a great way to increase sales and conversions. In fact, some reports suggest that visitors will first read the reviews of any product before purchasing them.
If you have testimonials, post them on your homepage or create a special rating section for each product. That way, customers can find product ratings and reviews easily and purchase them as fast as they can.
Also, don’t hesitate to showcase any negative reviews or low ratings on a product, as different people have different tastes and perspectives.
Further, 100% positive reviews on each product may create doubt in your users’ minds. So, make sure you have some negative remarks on your store to add more legitimacy to your business.
Add pictures of the products
Before buying any products, shoppers generally look for pictures and descriptions. Therefore, having pictures of the products is a golden tip for your Shopify store.
Make sure you only add high-quality pictures as pixelated and low-quality pictures show signs of unprofessionalism, resulting in lower conversion rates.
You can add multiple pictures of the products from different angles and add a zoom-in feature if possible for small details. Adding more pictures means your shoppers can get convinced, thus increasing your chances of effectively closing the deals.
Check the quality of the website
Quality is the most important thing before launching an eCommerce store, right?
To grow in revenue and traffic, your online store should go through quality checks. That’s because no one likes a cluttered and error-prone website as it will only receive complaints instead of revenue.
Hence, test your online store properly before launching it in the market. If possible, test it as if you are the customer to find any possible issues. You can even ask for recommendations from your friends and family, to improve its quality.
Even after it goes online, your job isn’t done yet, as you will need to regularly check the store for any bugs and errors.
Maintaining your marketplace frequently will keep your site operating smoothly and provide your visitors with a seamless experience.
Moreover, it will also help you keep track of your site’s growth and visitors. With this information, you can optimize your store better in the future.
Wrapping up
The world is getting more competitive day by day and the same goes for the eCommerce industry as well. So, to make your online store apart from the competition, you need to focus on each and every aspect of it.
Therefore, plan and strategize every task of your eCommerce store development accordingly.
About the Author!
Mitul Patel Founder & CEO at Bytes Technolab Inc. with a demonstrated history of scaling up the company in the ever-competitive Software Industry. An elite mentor & problem-solver to a dev team of 120+ software experts. A growth strategist and dynamic tech consultant helping global clients to scale up their businesses. He has 17+ years of experience. His colleagues in the leadership team are like-minded with ONE GOAL – to use our expertise in web, eCommerce, and mobile app spaces to deliver digital excellence for global startups, SMEs, enterprises, and Fortune 500 brands. To serve at a global level, they have registered offices in the USA, Canada, and India. Their ODC in India has developed & delivered 300+ business solutions. And their clientele encapsulates 500+ clients from 30+ countries.
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