Tom Jenkins
E-Commerce (selling online) is important to your business as it gives you a whole range of opportunities from marketing to widening your product range. In the last 10 years, the inter-connectivity provided by the internet has revolutionised the way we commercially trade. The importance of adopting a commercial focus and gaining a competitive advantage is astronomical! According to BQ Live, the UK e-commerce industry is estimated to be worth £533 Billion! This signifies that a lot of business in the UK have e-commerce elements in their company as it’s very beneficial, so if your business isn’t e-commerce friendly, then you are at a huge disadvantage compared to your competition. How will people know your business is out there? How will they know anything about it? How will you even survive in a contemporary business landscape?
Keep an eye on our site because we’re releasing a series of 10 weekly blogs about the considerations you should think about when constructing an e-commerce site.
#1 - Show off your Brand
Showing off your brand can be done in many forms. The main one you should consider is a website because this will convey your professionalism more than a social media account. A website should be your main platform for customers to find everything they need to know as a social media page should be used to give small updates, show off ‘the best bits’ and to have an informal connection to the customer. For example, at DC we will post content that’s relatable to people or is a bit fun on our social media accounts to get potential customers engaged and wanting to find out more about us.
You know what your business does, but is it clear from the second I click onto your landing page? Does it clear state/ show what you do?
Your website needs to be easily identifiable with its products, services and brand values. For example:
Waitrose’s brand values are clearly shown all over their website by imbedding it in almost every segment of a page. They are also proud to show their status with their Royal Appointments.
Waitrose has a consistent Green & White colour scheme throughout the whole site. This a technique where you can programme the user’s mind to recognise that colour scheme with your brand. If you’re in love with the brand then you may want to try other products/ services that brand has to offer, for example, Waitrose have a many other products available and they put it nearer to the bottom of their homepage. This is so they can impress you with what’s available above it before they can show you what else is on offer.
To keep your customers engaged and have a line of contact with your brand, you should consider having a customer account feature available. This is both beneficial for yourself and the user because the customer can have products and information saved to make an efficient shopping experience, you can also collect useful data to suggest products to the users and you can send personalised offers to your users.
If you’re considering launching an e-commerce website, go to this Article by Forbes. It explores the 3 simple steps of how you should gather ideas to produce a professional e-commerce site for your business.
In next week’s blog, we will be exploring how a customer should experience your site.
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