What is Ecommerce?

Ecommerce is the process of buying and selling of products and services online. Ecommerce is the new wave forward. With a variety of ways to start your online shop, it is important to know the essentials to best move forward.

WordPress offers an Ecommerce plugin named WooCommerce, which powers 25% of all online shops.

What Are The 3 Types of Ecommerce?

Ecommerce involves 3 types:

B2B

Business-to-Business is when one company sells products or services to another company. It is vital to improve a business’ efficiency and effectiveness of a company’s sales efforts.

B2C

Business-to-Company is when businesses sell things directly to individuals. Individual items sold to regular customers are part of the business to customer model.

C2C

Customer-to-Customer is the selling from one individual to another. This is a type of trade relationship where both the seller and the buyer are consumers, rather than businesses.

Why Create an Ecommerce Site?

Creating an Ecommere site is vital when you’re thinking of starting an online business, more so without the presence of a physical store. Ecommerce site’s allow for an establishment of a legitimate store, that guarantees your space on the digital web.

What Are The Ways to Sell Online?

Dropshipping

Dropshippers act as a middleman, choosing a popular product from the dropship supplier’s catalog, listing it online, afterwards sending an order confirmation back to the supplier for shipping.

The difficult aspect is promoting the product, therefore, it’s important to have a strong understanding of marketing when choosing the business model.

Whitelabel

White Labeling occurs when the manufacturer of the item uses the branding requested by the purchaser or the marketer.

Product Categories to Sell Online

Choosing what to sell online may be the biggest decision an entrepreneur can make. It’s important to choose something that fits your goal.

There are three main Ecomemrce product categories:

1. Physical Products

The most common type of ecommerce, and it includes the tangible items that customers can interact with.

2. Digital Goods

The intangible items that may include purchase via download, online lessons, software, and music.

3. Services

The actions given to shoppers including freelancers and consultants, such as marketing agencies offering their services.

Ecommerce Essentials Checklist

Design

Your website needs to make a statement, since first impressions are the lasting impression. When it comes to design, here is what to keep in mind:

Q1. Are your branding and colors consistent?
Q2. Do you use clear calls to action?
Q3. Are your visuals high-quality?
Q4. Are your payment gateways easily accessible?
Q5. Are your products displayed well?

Managing to answer these questions will help you better cultivate your overall website and bring your brand identity to life.

Functionality

If your website looks beautiful and makes an impression but doesn’t work, then you’re already losing customers.

Here are some questions to answer:

Q1. Do all of your links work?
Q2. Do forms work?
Q3. Is your contact information accurate and visible?
Q4. Is there a 404 page?
Q5. Does your site load quickly?
Q6. If you’re migrating from one platform to another, can existing customers access their orders?
Q7. Have you removed unnecessary data?

SEO

Search engine optimization takes time and effort, but it ends up landing you on platforms like Google, Yahoo, and Bing!

There are a variety of ways to put you a step ahead of most new ecommerce stores:

  • Include meta-descriptions
  • Add alt texts to your visuals
  • Make use of Headers with Keywords
  • Concise and definitive URL
  • Google Sitemap

Security

Having security on a website is essential. Without security, customers will likely find it hard to trust their data with you, which, therefore, will lead to increased bounce back rates.

Hosting providers often offer SSL certificates and firewall architecture to maintain your website security. However, here are some important steps you should take to secure your site:

Q1. Do you have a firewall set up?
Q2. Do you have SSL certificates?
Q3. Are you using strong passwords?
Q4. Do you have a spam filter set up?
Q5. Do you have backups enabled?
Q6. Is your website updated?

Ecommerce Essentials

By maintaining the following check list and ensuring every question is answered, you are able to start an online store that your customers can trust.

Be sure to reach out to a hosting provider that puts you and your business first. We would recommend GuruDesk, which offers websites to everyone.

By ensuring your website has speedy performance, 99.9% uptime, a three-layer firewall architecture, and SSL certificate, as well as a user-friendly website, you can guarantee that your customers enjoy their experience on your website.

Key Tips for Ecommerce Success

In order to start your ecommerce business, here are the key tips for success:

1. Customer Service:

Excellent customer service is an essential aspect of ecommerce. Responding promptly to customer inquiries and complaints, and always strive to exceed their expectations.

2. Analytics:

Track and analyze business performance for maximum progress. This includes sales, website traffic, conversion rates, and customer behavior.

3. Continuous Learning:

Stay up to date with the latest ecommerce trends and technologies. Attending webinars, reading blogs, and joining ecommerce forums and communities allow you to be up to date on new trends.

4. Product Quality:

Ensure your products are of high quality, and this involves content. This will attract customers but also lead to repeated purchases and positive reviews.

5. Partnerships:

Considering partnering with other businesses for joint promotions or cross-selling. This can help you reach a larger audience.

Ecommerce Essentials

According to Statista, ecommerce sales are projected to reach 4.9 trillion US dollars by 2021, accounting for 17.5% of total global retail sales. This highlights the immense potential and importance of ecommerce in today's digital landscape.

By focusing on design, functionality, SEO, and security, businesses can create a trustworthy and user-friendly online store that attracts customers and drives conversions.

Incorporating key tips for ecommerce success, such as excellent customer service, analytics tracking, continuous learning, product quality, and partnerships, can further enhance business growth and profitability.

With the right strategies and tools in place, businesses can tap into the vast opportunities offered by ecommerce and thrive in the competitive online marketplace.