The 3 Fundamentals Every Ecommerce Platform Needs

Aug 10, 2017

The 3 Fundamentals Every Ecommerce Platform Needs

In case it wasn’t clear before, 2017 has definitively shown us the direction retail is heading towards in the future.

Kmart, Sears, J.C. Penney, and Macy’s are just a few of the major chains that have announced dramatic reductions in their retail storefronts this year. Overall, retail closures have increased by 218 percent from 2016, according to Fung Global Retail and Technology.

While brick and mortar locations of major retailers have seen sales plummet, ecommerce sales in the U.S. have been steadily climbing over the last 10 years and are predicted to eclipse $4 trillion by 2020.

It’s too easy to simply say that retail stores are losing out to the comfort and convenience of shopping online when the reality of the situation is due more to increased competition. A retail location is no longer just competing with other stores located nearby. They must now compete with every business in their industry worldwide.

A combination of convenience, selection, and typically lower prices has left many brick and mortar businesses struggling to survive in today’s ecommerce marketplace.

Online businesses are not immune to meeting the same level of scrutiny used by shoppers to determine who wins their hard earned money. In the incredibly fast-paced world of online browsing, potential customers have no problem quickly leaping to a conclusion. With so many options available to them, the first impression your website makes, as a retailer, means everything.

In many cases, it’s the smaller elements of your ecommerce website that can make all the difference between closing a sale or having a potential customer click away.

With that in mind, here are a few important components your ecommerce website needs to invest in if you want to keep an edge over the competition.

Visual Design

An exhaustive range of studies have been conducted on how the human brain processes images. While researchers have yet to reach a consensus on exactly how the brain works, one common finding is that humans process images far faster than they do text. This makes it worthwhile to invest in high-resolution images.

Without the benefit of being able to see and touch a product, ecommerce sites rely totally on presentation. No matter where you place product images on your website, they will eventually become the focus points to where the eye will gravitate. These images need to immediately capture a customer’s attention and imagination in order to create a compelling introduction for what your brand stands for.

Additionally, your photos need to be more than just eye candy, they need to persuade customers to take additional action.

Capturing the customer’s attention is just the beginning. These images should also help to advance the flow and navigation of your ecommerce website in order to get customers closer to completing a conversion.

Don’t worry if you’re not a professional photographer. Local Fresh can help you find the resources needed to create the visual effects that fit your exact needs.

Website Functionality

The home page of your website isn’t simply what customers will use to create their first impression of your business. It’s the face of your brand and the headquarters for all of your ecommerce operations. Trying to save money on the design and functionality of your home page will undermine the rest of your website.

Fortunately, we’re in an age where you no longer need to pay a small fortune to have a fully functioning ecommerce homepage. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify will provide you with a user friendly template complete with all of the features – such as hosting, transaction history, inventory tracking, and shopping cart – you need, while also offering the ability to customize your site to express your brand’s individual style.

For small businesses in need of assistance creating an ecommerce platform, Local Fresh can help you develop a customized website that will grow your brand. From web development, branding, and content creation, Local Fresh can work with you to design an ecommerce platform that encourages visitors to fully browse, discover, and ultimately purchase the wide selection of products your business offers.

Marketing Copy

Content marketing and ecommerce are one and the same, both on your website and off.

Once you’ve captured a visitor’s attention using dazzling images and have impressed them with outstanding customer reviews, you need to prioritize developing compelling content that helps you close the sale.

Developing compelling content is a combination of art and science. And while it’s hard to determine what separates good content from great, it’s easy to recognize poor content.

A compelling ecommerce platform needs outstanding writing in terms of developing product pages, email blasts, blog posts, information pages, and checkout pages. In ways both big and small, all of this content directly contributes to your sales strategy. The copy you use must be concise, flawless, consistent, and informative.

If you already have an ecommerce platform, you know just how great the demand for content is for your website. Most small business owners don’t have the time or ability to create that much content, which requires a team of dedicated writers to complete what can seem like such a daunting task.

Fortunately, Local Fresh’s team of marketing copywriters can help you create the type of topnotch content needed to reflect the brand persona you’ve worked so hard to develop.

Online shoppers are fickle. Even the smallest mistake or missed opportunity in your copy can cause them to click away rather than complete a sale.

 

While retail stores have been around since before the days of penny whistles and moustache wax hit the shelves, the rules of how to successfully run an ecommerce are still new and subject to change.

What will remain a constant, however, is the need to capture your customer’s attention with dazzling imagery, meet their needs with an easy to use interface, and to clearly explain to the them what separates your products from the rest.

If you need assistance developing the type of dynamic ecommerce platform your business requires to grow, click here to find out what Local Fresh can do for you.

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