Have a Small business Setup? It’s Just the Right Time to be in eCommerce

Business of any size and specialty can touch the zenith of success – provided it continues to innovate and remains flexible.  Just think about the case of WhatsApp that has been recently bought by Facebook. The owner of this messaging platform had applied for salaried post in both Facebook and Twitter - and was rejected in both the places, only to go ahead with forming a business around a service that he believed in. The same is applicable for small business owners and especially those who intend to embrace ecommerce for their small business. To sustain in the present online market of extensive paid favoritism, one has to ensure that they have some ‘refreshingly’ unique selling point to proffer. This calls for innovative ecommerce strategy which is befitting the changes of market and user behavior of 2014.

Introducing change

As per eMarketer the global eCommerce sales is expected to reach the pinnacle point of $1.2 trillion in the year 2013 itself. This shows the evolution rate and to sustain in such a spree of trade one must make sure to take care of certain specific eCommerce approaching points.

Some of the factors for small Ecommerce owner to consider

For ensuring strong foothold in your niche one must concentrate over futuristic approaches and blend that with upgraded technical touch-ups. Getting the help of an authority for e-commerce web development services is what is needed primarily. Here are few of the major parts discussed in detail so that making use of this any small business tastes the sweet success of sales generation more often.

1. All hail to mobile: If you are still stuck with the concept that having an ecommerce portal is enough think again. You are missing a huge customer base if you are not considering having a mobile version of your site. It is estimated that by the end of 2014 around 67% of internet users will come through mobile and a considerable number from them will be using mobile as the medium of online purchase. In US itself 62% of the users go through mobile for price checking of any ecommerce store listed product.

2. Fast shipping option: Keep in mind that your competitor might be one step ahead of you. Thus, offering shipping options such as 15 day/ 7 day delivery is sure to ruin your business. This is because people come online for fast delivery on urgent basis in maximum cases. Thus, keep the shipping time really low if possible join hands with authority dealing in shipping ecommerce stores delivery exclusively to buck up the speed.  Amazon witnessed a growth of 25% in the sale by just adding an option of ‘same day delivery’.

3. Rich Content marketing: For small business owners seeking a ecommerce growth often needs the support for content marketing as it is cost-effective primarily and has the power to influence your buyers with blogs, press releases, articles, guest posts and viral marketing. Content of any form helps in establishing trust be it your YouTube channel videos or podcast.

If you are a small business owner, a world of opportunity awaits you with open arms. What you need is to armor yourself with the right tools and stay focused!

The Significance of 'Security' in Ecommerce Website

With the entry of every new ecommerce store comes a fresh risk for consumers. With the rise in number of ecommerce stores regularly the mainstream security measure meant for the protection of consumers have suffered hiccups. The number of fraud cases while doing transaction is on the rise and this has prompted store owners to look over the security factors while setting up the store. The global ecommerce sales has touched the pinnacle point of $1.298 trillion this yea, this has made it mandatory for keeping thetransaction pipe safe.

If you are a store owner you must be knowing the headache that comes while thinking about the various potential threat that an ecommerce store might face in the name of hacking, fraud or reputation attack. Also, to be a trusted name you must get the trust of people who visit your portal and that can only be attained with security measure tightening. There are certain nations where this fraudulent rate is totally high and people must make sure to stay away from purchasing from any portal related to that nation. For staying in a favorable spot while thinking about development of a store seek the support of an ecommerce website development Company in India.

One must keep in mind that information related to credit cards and bank details lies with any ecommerce store and this makes them the hot favorite of nuisance creating people.

Look before your take a leap

Prior to starting the online business journey along with the marketing pointers one needs to consider about having a robust platform on which the store is hosted and absolutely making no stones leave while ensuring strong security.Few of the most needed tips for successfully doing this implementation are shared below.

1. Using of SSL certificates mandatoryand confirmhaving PCI compliance: There are various standard parameter which are proposed by Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) which credit and debit card industry have made mandatory for merchants that process any kind of cared payment for any purchase via online store. One needs to have compliance with this norm. In case of sites with payment gateways the PCI compliance is a must as they too have with them sensitive customer data. One must adopt SSL authentication as that provides secure communication between buyers and online ecommerce portal server and keeps the trust strong.

2. Stay away from falling in love with customer data: One at no circumstances shouldkeep with them the credit card numbers and CVV2 number or even the expiration date of customer’s credit card. This is totally unethical and against PCI norms also it’s illegal.

3. Opt for multiple layers of security:  Choosing multiple layers while setting the security system is the best way to tackle with nuisance creating hackers and fraudsters. Such layers protect a store from attacks such as cross-site scripting &malicious SQL injections.

4. Make sure of having DDoS protection with cloud-based services: Off late attacks of DDoS have considerably gained number. To tackle withthis security hoe online store owners must opt for registering in cloud based services which filter out the suspicious traffic. DDoS attacks also can be fought with managed DNS services.

Conclusion:

This write-up will hopefully add value to your approach of making a store with higher security measures, but one need to keep on consulting with professionals of the niche to get latest buzz.

An Insight into the Evolution of Ecommerce Websites

These last 15 to 20 years have changed the way we see our life thoroughly. Who would have imagined back than that sitting in room from mobile people will be able to book rooms in Marriot, buy champagne and even book air tickets! If statistics are to be believed 66% of adults from America have bought something or other from the web space. Another fact that might startle you would be 93% of adults have looked for ecommerce product in internet (courtesy of data: Pew Internet & American Life Project), this shows the power of it. At a staggering rate of 19% the ecommerce sales is growing every year and had reached a height of $963 Billion in 2013.

But where all of these had started is really a fascination story. The computing technology along with the power of business idea made some visionaries about the market that hay can gram using the internet and sale they could generate. This gave birth to the skeletal idea of ecommerce in somewhat late 70’s.

Ecommerce in Web 1.0

On the outset of web era the business owners noticed great scope of opportunity as the target audience demographic location was the entire world, but at that point of time reaching to the mass effectively was simply a tough call. That was the time of static pictures and pages with only text. The presentation was done in the form of online catalogues by few names, but soon was forgotten due to its lack of engaging tone.

The whole information jungle was unidirectional and nothing much was being added to the pile from the end of users who were the real end-buyers. Less emphasis was given to the person who actually would purchase an item. 

The Revival of Web 2.0

The demand for bidirectional information sharing established the Web 2.0 era which is dominated by social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, twitter, etc. This is the time when user feedbacks, reviews and ratings came into the picture. The social authority of any brand considered as a search signal by Google. Targeted advertising and behavioral re-targeting came into implementation resulting into right information passing to the right person. But, amidst all these there has a pile up of huge redundant value or information which contributed to the spam amount in search engine.

Web 3.0: Keeping an Eye on the future

As the web world was getting more cramped with less valuable content and information were not organically coming in the SERP, rather were being pushed by inorganic approaches a need for drastic solution came forward. This is the time when we saw the rise of semantic era which is popularly called web 3.0 era. People now was getting the best filtered result and, based on location, habit, interested and age results are given towards them. This lead to mass revival of information structure over the web and spams got dumped. Ecommerce developer India has been contributing to the industry of ecommerce in Asia with authority for quite some time now. A gradual rise in the interest and implementation of ecommerce concept in various industries is pretty much visible.

Most of the popular ecommerce portals throughout the globe employed this feature in their portal and prompted people to make purchase those items which positively they might want to buy. The e-retail projected sale in Europe is expected to witness a rise of $64.9 billion in between 2009 to 2015.

Why Should you choose Amazon Webstore Interface for your eCommerce Website

Since its inception, Amazon effectively has been the trendsetter in eCommerce space, given its unique approach and interactivity. A major portion of the online merchants ply their trade in the popular medium owing to its effectiveness in reaching out to the target audience.

While there have been many competitors to Amazon off late, the eCommerce solution in India giant seems to still have the upper hand owing to its class leading features and benefits. An Amazon webstore developer will vouch for the effectiveness that the Amazon interface provides.

Core facets of Amazon webstore that makes it Invincible

Amazon webstore interface comes with a number of online conversion friendly features. It is imperative to say that on a purely gradation view, the Amazon features outpace its rivals’ by a fair mile. A graphical presentation of the various eCommerce features are provided below.

What makes Amazon interface so Popular?

As stated earlier Amazon continues to attract a major portion of e-retailers by virtue of it features. A detailed study of the eCommerce friendly features will give a fair idea why it is preferred over other platforms.

Turnkey based functionalities: The Amazon interfaced with laced with effective turnkey based eCommerce functionalities like integrated payment processing (with fraud protection) and store-branded custom checkouts. The Amazon hosted webstores employ the same technology as the Amazon site itself.

Custom website design tools: Amazon webstore interface endows the e-retailer with the ability to provide custom touch to their verticals. With pre-set templates and widgets one can provide brand-friendly touch ups at an instant. For advanced usage though, one can make use of CSS and JavaScript. Add to that the fully customizable content pages and we have a full package at our disposal.

Easy product merchandising: For any e-retailer merchandising forms a core part of the whole eCommerce experience. Amazon offers integrated merchandising options like color swatches, pan/zooming and more. The rating and review functionalities added with recommendations widget also comes in handy in getting leads from social media. Up-selling and cross selling are unique to many webstores using Amazon interface. The social media salability of product pages provides the webstores with organic and targeted traffic with minimal expenses.

SEO friendliness: The webstores come with meta-data customization features as well as custom URL structures. While these features take care of organic traffic building, the Amazon affiliate network is just the icing on the cake. Add to that VIP offers, coupon codes, free and discounted offers and the webstores do pull traffic from a vast demographic background.

Amazon Webstore Developer Integrated site management: Inventory management plays a pivotal role in eCommerce and Amazon offers plenty of opportunities there as well. From order reporting, advanced filtering to custom buyer communications, the Amazon webstores are laced with interactivity.

While these reasons are god enough to satiate any questions regarding the Amazon webstores feasibility one can also take a look into the integration of Amazon services like ads, Amazon prime shipping, marketplace shipping and more. To sum it all up it is true to say that Amazon does offer a ton of benefits which has enabled it to retain its position as an eCommerce market leader.

Employ the Best E-commerce Software Solution for Ensuring a Successfully Running Online Store

Choosing the right e-commerce software solution for creating your online shopping system is a pre-requisite to ensure your store's success. A number of e-commerce software solutions like osCommerce, Magento, Zen Cart, Prestashop, Shopify etc., are available nowadays that makes the task a bit simple. The main reason behind the popularity of these software can be related to their cost-effectiveness & efficiency. For sure, you will never like to pay for features that are unnecessary and so these solutions may serve the purpose ideally.

You will get almost everything including customizable site templates, integrated shopping cart, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), inventory management etc., to get started with most e-commerce platforms. Creating an account and employing online store management tools will customize your e-commerce presence to a good extent. A good way would be to look for a complete set of features in the e-commerce software that can provide you the required tools to establish your online store.

Robust e-commerce software solutions are essentially required to enable customers have better access to your advertised products & services.

 

Let's take an overview of the best e-commerce software available nowadays -

 

Pre-hosted E-commerce Solution: Shopify –
With Shopify, you don't require to deal with any sort of sophisticated technicality like SSL, payment gateway etc., but only have to add your products. It even provides you the facility to set up your custom domain, besides enabling creation of custom themes. You even get built-in e-commerce including mobile storefront and an iPhone app.

With this amazing e-commerce solution, you can customize your store's appearance as per your requirements. For maintaining your store via Shopify, you just need to spend $29 as the monthly fees. The most highlighted aspect of this e-commerce software is its offered user-friendly marvelous templates & stylish custom themes. It integrates well with Google Analytics, thereby allowing you track customer purchases linked to Google Analytics data. Take a look at the Shopify e-commerce site sample below -  

Flexible Enterprise-class E-commerce Platform : Magento -

With Magento, you can empower your online store in the way you like. This e-commerce software can be easily integrated with WordPress, Joomla and bank gateways. It offers you a highly customizable shopping cart besides other valuable support features. Magento is highly suited to the needs of businesses having a comprehensive database of inventory. Easy tracking of shipping, customer ordering & fulfillment, and a highly safe transaction environment further enhances its worth. Web users are already aware with basic interface elements of Magento as it is managed by eBay owners. Its Open source version is absolutely free while enterprise version comes with a price tag. Have a look at the Magento e-commerce site sample given below -

Run an Easily Customizable & Successful Online Store: Volusion –

It is actually the best option for businesses looking for an effective online store. Volusion offers a host of features making it the all-in-one solution for your e-commerce venture. Its clean & easy-to-use admin enables cultivating a successful online store. You get the option to choose from its range of high quality design templates to get a hassle-free and great looking online store.

It offers simplified product management enabling you to add exhaustive product listings with the necessary supporting images, video etc. Additionally, you get built-in social media & SEO tools to facilitate easy promotion of your business, while its extremely convenient payment & order processing system simplifies the purchasing process for your customers. Volusion offers an easily customizable, scalable and user-friendly interface for an amazing price of $15. Take a look at the Volusion e-commerce site sample below -

Therefore, its fairly evident that Shopify leads the chart of e-commerce software solutions in India owing to its host of features including terrific templates & stylish custom themes. However, the impact of Volusion and Magento also cannot be denied and so online businesses can have the best shopping cart system developed according to their precise requirements.