Newsletter Archive | Dec 13, 2010

Happy Holidays - 2010

With Black Friday behind us, the Holiday season in front of us, and everyone’s focus turning to family, we thought we’d give you some thoughts on an old Holiday tradition - shopping online.

Chances are, you or someone in your family shopped online this month - whether it resulted in a direct purchase, or just learning more about a product - the internet continues to change (and influence) how we buy things.

It's not just during the Holidays either. Statistics Canada reported $15 Billion in total online orders in 2009, up from $12.8 Billion in 2007 - a sure sign that things continue to get better for companies that are strategic about their internet presence.

It's very possible that if a business isn't strategic about their ecommerce (managing the entire online buying cycle), it could hurt their brand and damage offline sales as well. Ironically some of the same age-old fundamentals that apply to retail shopping also apply to shopping on the internet. Consider some very obvious questions you should be asking, whether you have a physical retail space or an online store:

• Is it clear and obvious what your business sells? Are you making it easy for customers to find what they are looking for, or are you overwhelming them with too many choices?
• Are you updating your products regularly (adding new, removing old)? Are you giving your customers a reason to return? Remember, window shopping happens online too.
• Do you welcome visitors to ask questions, offer feedback, and provide lots of ways to approach you?
• Can customers shop quickly? Are there any speed bumps or roadblocks they might encounter from the second they walk in your door (or land on your site) to the moment they leave the checkout?
• Do you have a strategy for communicating back to your customers and prospects (with promotions, offers, etc)?
• Are you actively seeking new ways to bring in new customers, and seeing that they arrive at the right 'department' (web landing page)?
• Are you tracking results?

These are just a few of the questions you should be asking about the online shopping experience you offer. Too often we’ve seen clients get caught up in the technical aspects – the “add to shopping cart” buttons, the payment gateway, the check out and they forget the basic sales and merchandising tactics. When you are planning your online ecommerce website, approach it from a customer focused perspective. The technical stuff will come naturally. And besides, that’s where companies like ours come in – we can help you with both the customer experience and the technical processes needed to successfully sell your products or services online. Hey, even Santa needs a little help from his elves

From all of us at Webbuilders Group,