Ecommerce has its own heading because it is big enough to be its own discipline. Selling online is such a complex problem that it deserves special treatment. Whether you are selling 1 product or a full range of 20,000, we have the experience and knowledge to develop a solution that works for you and the target market you are aiming at.
Electronic commerce, abbreviated to ecommerce, is a means of selling products and services over the internet. It is a vital outbound channel for any retailer.
It is also becoming increasingly important for business to business whose customers require OEM supply.
The advantages of selling in this fashion are myriad.
In relative terms setup costs are low. You can run your online shop alongside your existing business premises. Alternatively, if you're starting up, no physical premises are required and you'll need minimal staff numbers, if any. Reduced costs means you can potentially pass these savings onto the customer.
With a virtual shop-front customer reach can be extended nationwide, or even internationally if so inclined. In theory there are no geographical constraints in terms of how far you can cast your net.
Being online allows your business to be open 24 hours a day. This ensures maximum customer convenience and means you'll never miss an order due to opening time constraints.
An online store affords you opportunities for customer data gathering, personalisation and therefore a means of promoting up-sale opportunities. Buyers may not be aware of the promotions or alternative product choices available to them. Your site can be coded to present such options to each individual customer based on their previous visit and/or shopping habits.
First off we will comprehensively assess your business requirements as factors such as your current setup, market position and budget will play a big part in dictating what solutions we move ahead with.
For instance if you are just starting out you may only need a low-budget platform such as WooCommerce, an open source plugin for the popular WordPress content management system. This can be up and running in a relatively short amount of time, connecting to an easy to integrate payment gateway such as PayPal.
However if you are a well established business you may already have a long association with an accounting package or payment gateway which needs to tie into your system. You may require the website to automatically receive stock control information so your customers get the most update to date pricing and merchandise levels. In which case it will also be imperative that order information is fed straight into your accounting system to keep your ship running smoothly. In which case you will need a much more robust ecommerce platform such as Magento, or perhaps a bespoke system, something which can scale to your unique business requirements.
Prices can range between a few thousand to tens of thousands depending on your exact requirements.
Many platforms come with their own metric aggregates already built in. Popular free to use data composite systems such as Google Analytics also have the ability to show comprehensive sale information. This can be very powerful when combined alongside regular metrics.
Which ones you use will depend very much on your requirements, as well as your presentation preference.
When it comes to performance analysis itself, as well as your obvious touchstones such as order totals, there are other telling signifiers which can help paint a picture of how your business is progressing online. Data points such as repeat customer numbers and customer advocacy can demonstrate trust and loyalty to your brand, invaluable assets for creating sustainable growth in your business sector.
How can we help? Let's talk it through.
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