If you have a smaller eCommerce operation going, there’s no shame in admitting that it’s pretty intimidating to compete with the largest businesses out there. Companies like Amazon and other behemoths have such a high market share than it might seem like the best days of eCommerce are over. In reality, this is not the case.
Even small eCommerce businesses have the opportunity to develop sites that have the same sort of rich features that large eCommerce enterprises have. It’s important to keep in mind that, no matter how large a site has gotten, it probably uses an eCommerce platform that you have access to, as well, and that can be developed to provide you with the same advantages that retailers have on the big sites.
Assess their Features
Look at the features that the big eCommerce sites offer. One of the most significant is the convenient way that they set up shipping and tracking for customers. If you’re working with a scalable eCommerce solution such as Magento, developers can integrate these types of features into your site and it probably won’t cost you as much as you think. It’s always a good idea to take a look at the most advanced features on large eCommerce websites and see what’s really involved in adding them to your site. If you have a scalable, expandable platform, adding whatever features you wish should be doable.
Check their Design
Look at the design of successful eCommerce websites. You’ll notice that each product page will include information such as how many products are left in stock, which vendors offer the product – if you’re dealing with a multivendor site – and customer reviews of the product. It is not only possible, but it’s actually not particularly difficult for a good developer to integrate these types of features into an eCommerce website. It comes down to the platform that you select.
Remember that good design principles can be adapted to any brand. You don’t have to make your website look like someone else’s to learn from their design successes; you merely have to take what works on their site and translate it into a form that would work on yours.
Be Very Careful with Platforms
Plenty of products on the market advertise themselves as convenient ways to set up your own eCommerce website. It would be more accurate if these products advertised themselves as making it easy to set up your own eCommerce website within some very limiting boundaries.
When you launch your website, plan for the future. It’s always better to have an eCommerce platform that is capable of doing more than you need it to do at the moment, but that won’t leave you high and dry when you do need to expand it. This is what marketers refer to as scalability. Platforms like Magento have a great deal of scalability and, if you want to compete with the big businesses out there, you’ll want to look into these sort of serious platforms and find good developers for them so you can continue expanding your site as you expand your business.
To your success!
Anton Pachkine @ Finestshops.com
Finestshops.com offers managed e-commerce for manufacturers and retailers who do not have a large IT department. Find out more at www.finestshops.com
