Online selling has never been so necessary. We probably already buy on Amazon and are familiar with our favorite brands’ stores. Now, however, eCommerce extends to all our purchasing activities.
Lluís, manager of a large company in the meat sector, called us the day after the lockdown began. He challenged us: to build an online store in record time, adapted to the end-user. We had to conceptualize products, create the eCommerce structure, and handle promotion. 72 hours later, we made the first sale. Unstoppable ever since, with daily review and continuous operational improvement.
What is an Online Store?
Obviously, it’s a space where goods or services can be acquired online. But it must meet some basic requirements: have a catalog with products and descriptions, a shopping cart to add them to, a purchase process that collects data and communicates with the user, a secure payment gateway, and a user area to access repeat purchases or review past ones.
An eCommerce Must Generate Trust and be Easy to Buy From
Let’s review the critical elements and add those that make all this truly work. So that the web store doesn’t remain a beautiful but useless space. So that users of all kinds, with or without prior online shopping experience, feel comfortable and can make purchases without friction.
The payment gateway. The last, but most critical, element
A complete eCommerce cannot be discussed if a transaction cannot be made. We have different providers:
- Redsys, if we already have a POS terminal in the store. Integration is not simple, it’s poorly resolved, and causes problems. Traditional banks are slow. Furthermore, the conditions regarding commissions and the monthly rental of the POS terminal are opaque.
- PayPal. Integration is extremely fast. Creating an account is also fast. However, the commissions make you think twice. In its favor, it’s a very well-known platform and the most highly valued by people who usually shop online.
- Stripe. The latest addition to the world of payment gateways. It has all the virtues of PayPal, with the difference that you don’t need an account on the platform to use it. Oh, and the commissions are not as high as PayPal’s. It’s our default option.
- Bizum. We are awaiting the great hope for businesses. From individual to individual, it works very well.
User experience. Test, test, and test. And review again.
For an eCommerce to run smoothly, many tests are needed, and nothing should be taken for granted. The beginning might seem easy: selling like Amazon and therefore replicating the sales process as much as possible.
But once we accept that we will never be Amazon, the adventure begins. We know what we want users to do on our online sales website. Now we need to see what they actually do. Do they get stuck when adding a product to the cart? Or is it at the checkout step? Do they know how to go back and continue buying other products? Why don’t they repeat their purchase?
To understand what’s happening and improve the platform, we can randomly record sessions and, even better, directly ask users about their experience. The main source of information is undoubtedly Google Analytics.
Web Analytics, to Know What’s Happening
Google Analytics is the basic complement. This is where all the information about who has visited us and what exactly they have viewed is collected. We can analyze navigation flows even in real-time.
Positioning, SEO, or What Amounts to the Same Thing: Doing Things Well
An eCommerce is a website with a store added. As with any website, positioning is essential. At DMS3, we don’t conceive of any website without having worked on its SEO. Furthermore, we continuously dedicate ourselves to it as part of the continuous improvement process.
That is, we will have optimized the technical part: ensuring it loads very quickly, has an expected sitemap, and that Google knows we exist by having correctly configured Google Search Console.
We will also have adapted the content, images, and meta information. And yes, in a “sexy” way for everyone: people and search engines. Because ultimately, it’s about seducing, not setting up an aggressive sales display.
Is Promotion Part of eCommerce?
Of course! It’s our way of letting the world know we exist. That’s why digital showcases are social networks. We will have to explain ourselves, seduce, manage friends, clients, fans, and detractors. All with a specific order and intention.
Hence the need to have open digital channels. Mass-market ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. Or more private ones: WhatsApp, Telegram…
At this point, if you truly want to sell online, it’s time to contact us!
